Beef 'n Brie

This weekend I wanted a SANDWICH. Not just ham and cheese or PBJ. A GOOD sandwich. Normally, I’m a find-a-good-recipe-and-follow-it kind of cook. The exceptions are sandwiches and pizza. Those are my two experimental zones. Maybe it’s because if it sounds good on a sandwich, it is good on a sandwich. If it sounds good on a pizza, it is good on a pizza. And there are less variables involved with sandwiches and pizza. The base is simple on both: bread? check. easy tried-and-true crust recipe? check. So all that’s left is to figure out how to doctor up that bread into something more than sauce and cheese.

Ok. back to this weekend. Inspiration struck when I needed it most—something that definitely doesn’t happen for me in the kitchen that often. Our fridge was conveniently stocked with a nice wheel of Brie cheese, and it got me thinking. Here’s what happened, in stacking order:

1 piece of homemade half-wheat half-white bread
a spread of real mayo
a thin spread of dijon mustard 
2 pieces of deli roast beef
a sprinkle of herbes de provence
a handful of fresh spinach
1 wedge of brie cheese, sliced up
1 piece of homemade half-wheat half white bread

Before adding the spinach, I opened up the sandwich with brie on one side and the herbed roast beef on the other side and toasted it in the toaster oven for a few minutes till the bread was tanned and the brie was bubbly. Then I slapped on the spinach, cut it in half, and sunk my teeth into beefy brie nirvana. The herbes de provence had toasted slightly in the oven, making them extra herb-a-licious. The light spread of dijon mustard provided just the right level of tang to offset the herbs and creamy brie.

Right after my first bite, I dashed downstairs holding the sandwich and made Jeff take a bite. He was transported to beef n brie bliss as well, so I knew it wasn’t just my post-5 mile hunger that made it taste so yum.

I’m not trying to boast, I’m just sharing the joy. I was surprised with how readily the combo of ingredients came to my mind and how amazingly the flavors blended on my palate. Normally I do not choose beef. Ever. I’m kind of a beef-a-tarian…or an everything- but-beef-a-tarian? Something along those lines. Now I have two reasons to buy beef: the Costco frozen pre-cooked hamburgers and the beef n brie sandwich.

PS: The other food-spiration of the weekend was chicken cordon bleu pizza. Less original in its ingredient combo, but still a tasty alternative to our other usual zas. It’s the first new pizza I’ve attempted in almost a year! I added a little mayo and plenty of mustard to our classic white sauce and threw it on the crust with deli ham and sliced chicken nuggets. Swiss cheese on top. Bake it up. Chicken cordon bleu pizza. Quite tasty.

Also, this month I finally invested $26 in two shiny new pizza pans. They are the round kind with holes in them. I tried a pizza stone back on Jeff’s birthday, but it was nightmarishly inefficient for us. These holey pans are the perfect middle ground. The crust was light and chewy, not soggy, and actually ROUND! (before now it’s been straight-up soggy 9x13 cookie sheet-zas around here).

To adapt a favorite quote from a favorite book: “eating good food ruins you for enjoying bad food.”