Happy Monday!
My weekend was fairly uneventful, but, like the last several, there was fresh snow and delicious food.
I made baguettes! I was pretty skeptical when they came out of the oven, thinking they were just boring white bread in stick form, but they’re actually quite good. Les baguettes sont bonnes! They have a nice, chewy crust and a soft interior. I wouldn’t put them up against baguettes from any boulangerie in France, but they’re definitely superior to the ones that you can buy at most supermarkets.
My real reason for making baguettes (other than their place on my list) was my desire for a niçoise sandwich. After reading David Lebovitz’s post about sandwiches in Paris, I couldn’t stop thinking about the tuna sandwiches that I ate more often than I care to admit during the summer I spent in France. They were often purchased from stalls in train stations and little hole in the wall restaurants, but I was a cheap college student and unpaid intern, and even cheap food is good food when you’re in France.
So why are you looking at a picture of a niçoise salad? A big salad for dinner sounded like a better idea than a big sandwich, especially after snacking on pieces of a freshly baked baguette a few hours before dinner. With the sandwich idea still in the back of my mind, I made sure to prepare extra ingredients to fill sandwiches the next day.
While I would have loved to be eating this sandwich while people watching in the Gare du Nord and waiting for the next train to Amsterdam, it was still delicious eaten in my apartment in Minneapolis. Maybe next time I’ll wrap it in parchment and head to the Amtrak station for a more complete experience.
In other news, I have a new favorite flavor of my favorite yogurt: coconut Liberté. It tastes like dessert and is currently on sale at Whole Foods.
And I’m still on my smoothie kick. This one included 1 small banana, about 1/2 cup frozen berries, 1 container coconut yogurt, and a splash of pomegranate juice.
