Croque Bloke

Bloke is a slang term for a man in the United Kingdom, Ireland, Australia, New Zealand and South Africa.

The gentle swooshing sounds of the crystalline waters of the Indian Ocean lap at my submerged feet. Not too warm nor too cold, goldilocks temperature. Toes wiggle in soft white sand, diamond sparkles glisten and dance like fireworks on water the colour of a spectrum of every shade of sapphire and emerald gemstones. A gentle breeze moves my hair and brushes my face. Around me the sounds of my son and his partner chattering with my husband, a dog barks at his owner asking for one more throw of the ball and kids excitedly run to the ice cream van. Whales play and breech near the horizon, turtles were here earlier popping their heads up and dolphins cruise by in the distance. The desert at my back the sun warming my face. I close my eyes and inhale a few moments of perfection.

I can see now why my son and his girl stopped here on their ‘big lap’ of our island home. It’s a place that does stop you in your tracks. The gulf a winter home to marine mammals from around the globe who somehow find their way back to the sanctuary of Australia’s most westerly point where nature has created a rich diverse and safe haven for their winter rest. Much like many travellers, like my boy.

Reaching the bottom of the plane’s stairway after landing couldn’t come fast enough knowing he was in the terminal waiting for us. It’s always a gift and precious spending time with our kids especially now they’re adults. The joy and pride that swells in our chests watching them chase dreams in adventure and exploration is immeasurable. It knocks me sidewise sometimes. As does the landscape we landed in. What an overwhelming week.

Aside from swimming in the Indian Ocean we soaked up some of his adventurous life. We went fishing for squid for dinner, unsuccessfully, time limited by my lack of sea sickness meds. We explored the Ningaloo reef in search of the elusive whale sharks the area is famous for and marvelled at the pristine exquisiteness of beaches blanketed in sand almost snow white and indescribably soft and caught fish for a dinner cooked for us by our wonderful, loved host.

He describes Exmouth as a place where the desert meets the sea. It’s a place where red dirt nudges up against white sand. We walked a gorge high above the coast with layers of sandstone and ochre of every colour of the desert, views sweeping in all directions as far as the eye could see and he took us to a cattle station inland. We camped near fine specimens of prime cattle and dined under the milky way with hundreds of other travellers who’d arrived from near and far for the famous burger night. The food was delicious, the setting sublime.

Finally after waking to the lowing of a mob of cattle, a delicious breakfast of the fluffiest scones I’ve ever eaten and amazing coffee ( yes all the way out there) we sadly wandered back to the airport. Tears, hugs and words of gratitude, love and pride shared we bid him and his girl goodbye.

Goodbyes with our boys are always sad. They always leave me missing them and each goodbye gets harder. Whilst I’m extremely grateful for the time we had together and our lad’s wonderful itinerary he’d planned for us this goodbye felt a little bit harder. They head off soon for the next part of their adventure. Travelling north and deep into the Kimberley towards the top end, they’ll see and experience even more wonderful sites and experiences. I’m even a little bit envious but will miss them and anxiously await each call and update until they return to some level of civilisation.

They’ll be fine though, he’s a very capable and resilient traveller and man. He’s also very adaptable and a wonderful cook. When I returned home to freezing Melbourne (literally freezing with sub-zero temps every night since returning) aside from needing to stay warm I also had a yearning for comfort food. Something that reminded me of my boys and that I think they’d enjoy. Hearty and delicious and easy to whip up. A toasty with some extra love from a Mumma’s heart.

An Aussie take on the French classic of a Croque Monsieur with far more ease and much quicker to the plate of a hungry bloke and his companion.

Below are instructions for one sandwich, scale up as required.

Ingredients:

2 slices of sourdough or your favourite bread. If you’re using fluffy sandwich loaf bread day old or more is best.

1 tsp Dijon mustard (I use this one, it’s insanely delicious)

2 slices good quality thinly sliced ham

Butter for spreading

1 spring onion/scallion. Green part only thinly sliced

Flavourful cheese for melting. I’ve used a mixture of bits from the fridge which this is perfect for. You need enough for two layers of cheese which is another reason it’s perfect for using bits up. I’ve used Irish cheddar and Gruyere.

1 egg

1 Tb cream, sour cream or milk. I prefer sour cream, but you do you.

Olive oil for frying

Method:

Preheat oven to 180c.

In a bowl wide enough for the bread, beat the egg and cream/milk together with a generous grind of black pepper, set aside.

Butter both sides of both slices of bread. On one slice spread the mustard then place a layer of cheese. Top with ham, sprinkle the spring onion over and top with another layer of cheese. Place remaining buttered slice of bread on top. Carefully holding everything together, place the sandwich in the bowl containing the egg mixture and gently press to help it absorb the moisture. Gently and carefully turn the sandwich over to soak up remaining moisture on the other side. Both sides should be well soaked, it helps to leave it to sit for a few moments while you heat the pan giving the sandwich another gentle press to make sure as much egg mix is absorbed as possible.

Place a medium heavy based pan (non-stick if you have one and oven proof. Most handles can withstand a brief period in the oven) over a medium heat with a generous drizzle of olive oil. Once heated reduce heat to low-medium, swirl the oil around to coat the pan. Return the pan to the hob and place the sandwich in the centre of the pan. Cook until the bottom layer of cheese is melty and the bread browned and toasty like French toast would be. Carefully place an egg flip utensil under and your fingers on top and gently turn over keeping everything in place. Cook similarly on second side until golden brown and cheese starting to melty.

 Remove pan from heat and place it in the preheated oven for 3-5 minutes to finish off the cheese in the centre while you potter around tidying up. Remove pan from the oven being very careful and remembering to wrap the handle in a potholder or tea towel. Serve immediately but eat carefully as it’s hot and delicious in the centre.

Apricot and Cardamon Sweet Buns

Earlier this week I was coaxed out early in the morning for my walk by the sudden burst of warm spring weather. My usual listening wasn’t available at the earlier hour so I searched for a podcast to keep me distracted. I was up to date on all my usual favourites so thought I’d search for something new and landed on this one. Listening to Ruth and Julia chat all things food was obviously right up my alley but the premise of the podcast and where that went was of greater interest. Julia invites older women (she’s 61) on Wiser Than Me, to chat about life and what it’s taught them. I was taken with the conversation enjoying listening to Ruth’s recollections on her career in food writing, but one statement jumped out at me, “the only thing that really keeps you young, is constantly doing things you don’t know how to do.” Somewhere in my subconscious I knew this to be so. We’re advised to do puzzles, learn a language or even a musical instrument to stay young, but hearing an older woman (she’s 75) who I admire, state it as her greatest piece of life advice brought it to the surface.

Also this week this substack dropped. I love reading Kate’s words, always beautiful describing her world and observations in a captivating and artful way. She described her experience of being stopped in her tracks, quite literally while driving from home through country Victoria, by the captivating site of a landscape jewelled by shades of gold and emerald. This moment in time that drew her to the roadside to inhale the ‘wonder’ of its beauty was the theme for her ponderings this week. Wonder and it’s importance in life, in moments and in the everyday. It felt both fitting and in keeping with the thoughts of Ruth. Wonder and knowledge and a fulfilling life.

A month or so ago I enrolled in and began an online course to improve my baking skills called The Science of Baking. I have a reasonable knowledge base for baking but lots of gaps and no real understanding of the chemistry of the ingredients I use and how everything interacts. Working my way through this course has been both enlightening and exciting. I know, very geeky of me but we all have our thing right? Anyway what’s been most exciting is the learning, joining the dots, filling the gaps and gasping at all the ‘lightbulb’ moments. Whilst educational it’s been enlightening and invigorating.

With a lifelong innate sense of curiosity flavour ideas often come to mind. Some work, some don’t. Sometimes my curiosity is driven by an unusual recipe with an ingredient combination I may not have previously tried or one I can’t even imagine tasting. Like the ‘Secret Ingredient Spaghetti” recipe, spoiler alert, dark chocolate in Spaghetti Bolognese doesn’t work. Other times classic combinations reimagined into something new is a delight and revelation all its own.

My newly acquired skills have inspired many flavour ponderings recently. Often popping in my head in the middle of the night, hi there hot flushes and insomnia, remembering these can be a challenge, “sit down brain fog.” Sometimes though I do manage to retain the idea and see it through to fruition.

Golden tangy apricots came to mind when my face was warmed by all this premature balmy weather. Juice dripping from glowing orbs one of summer’s great joys. But alas not yet. Still weeks to go until they, with their orchard fruit family, appear in stores, but the dried variety are ever present and available. Richer in flavour I remembered enjoying them in a sweet, yeasted bun as a child, encased in fluffy sweet dough and drizzled with white chocolate, they were a favourite bakery treat. As is my wont however, and armed with my burgeoning knowledge of yeast and wheat I pondered a reimaging of sorts of my much-loved childhood favourite. Imagining a more mature flavour pairing than the one of my youth I mixed and measured, waited and shaped and waited again. Like that child with anticipation, I perched near my oven, its light on, peering through the glass watching the ‘show’ of yeast, sugar and all their comrades at play growing into plump, fluffy yeasted buns of my own.

And there it was…wonder!

The union of learning and wonder colliding to create delight and awe. The invigorating realisation that at any step in our day and journey there’s always something round every corner to learn and take our breath away.

Seeing an idea evolve to a successful completion is a wonder all its own and one urge you to try. Don’t be shy of trying to cook with yeast. It’s an ingredient that can intimidate even the most skilled and experienced cook but one that is the root of some the most delicious foods in life and that has endured throughout centuries.

Ingredients:

Buns:

120 gm Dried apricots, roughly chopped

500 gm bread flour

3 tsps dried yeast

½ tsp all spice

2 tsp ground cardamon

80 gm golden caster sugar (white is fine if that’s all you have)

100 gm of very soft butter

200ml of room temp milk (you can microwave this for 30 seconds if you’re in a rush or baking spontaneously)

2 eggs, room temp again please

50 gm candied citrus peel

Finely grated zest of one orange

1 heaped tsp salt flakes

Icing:

2/3 c icing sugar

2 Tb sour cream

2 tsp orange juice from the zested orange.

Method:

In a small bowl cover apricots in boiling water, set aside to soak while you prepare your other ingredients.

In the bowl of a stand mixer combine all other ingredients. Drain, apricots and press you’re your hand to squeeze out remaining liquid and add to the bowl with other ingredients.

Set stand mixer to med low until all dry ingredients are amalgamated, 1-2 minutes, then increase speed to med and knead for 8 minutes. It’s quite a sticky dough, don’t be tempted to add flour, just let it do its thing. I like to stop a couple times during this part and scrape the sides down to help things along.

While the dough is mixing, grease a large glass bowl with butter (see notes), set aside.

When kneading is complete, turn the dough out onto a lightly floured surface. Again, don’t be tempted to add more flour, just a light sprinkling if it needs help to not stick to the bench and your hands. Give the dough a light knead by hand just to make sure the fruit is evenly distributed. Place smooth side up in the greased bowl loosely covered with cling wrap and set aside in a warm draft free spot to prove until double in size.. see notes.

If proving in the oven, remove. Preheat oven to 180c and line a baking tray with baking paper.

When doubled in size (about two hours) turn out onto a lightly floured surface again. The greasing in the bowl should help this along. Gently divide the dough into 12 equal sized pieces shaping into ball shapes. Line up on the tray and leave in a warm spot again with a tea towel over the top. This will let them puff up slightly and relax after being handled. Rest them for 30 minutes.

Brush with an egg wash and bake for 30 minutes.

Allow to cool completely and ice with combined icing ingredients. You may like to sprinkle with roasted almond flakes or toasted coconut flakes.

Or you could rip one open hot and slather in butter and enjoy with the oozy butter running between your fingers, your choice.

Notes:

If it’s cooler where you are or you lack a warm spot for your dough try this tip. Turn the light on in your oven when it first occurs to you to cook buns. The ambient warmth from the light will be just right for a consistent temperature to help your yeast along and of course an oven is guaranteed draft free.

While your dough is in the mixer fill the glass bowl with hot tap water to warm it up. The dough will be a nice temp from mixing to kick off the proving process, warming the bowl first ensures the dough isn’t ‘shocked’ by being transferred to a cold bowl.