Cheap, yet delicious French food

I have a new favorite food: croque madame! It's a ham and cheese sandwich with a couple fried eggs on top. Traditional french cuisine, yet fairly cheap, and absolutely delicious.

Lunch one day last week: croque madame and a cafe creme

There are other traditional french dishes that have very similar ingredients: quiche lorraine and galette complete.

I have learned how to make a mean quiche lorraine. I eat it with the family about once every two weeks. Here is the recipe (all amounts are approximated)

Quiche Lorraine
1 Pate brisee (my host mother told me that in the US, Pilsbury comes the closest to the traditional French quiche dough)
1 cup chopped ham
3 eggs
2 tbsp creme fraiche (http://www.joyofbaking.com/CremeFraiche.html)
1/2 cup emmental cheese

Preheat the oven to 180C (356F) Place your pate brisee in your tart pan. Put in the oven for approximately 5 min to precook. Take the dough out of the oven and spread the cheese evenly over the dough. In a bowl, beat the eggs, then add the creme fraiche. Stir until smooth and add ham. Pour the mixture into the dough and bake for 40 min. Voila!

Galette Complete- photo courtesy: http://www.poopoopidoo.com/category/cinema-cinema/

On Friday night, my friend Margaux had me over for dinner. It was the first time I had ever had galette complete. I had seen the crepe-like discs in the supermarket before, but I assumed they were used for fast crepe making. Boy was I wrong. These crepes are specially made for salty dishes. The galette originated in Brittney (northern France) and was seen as the "poor man's dish" because you can fill them with almost anything... basically toss your leftovers in the galette and call it a day! It's very traditional for the galette to include ham, cheese, and an egg.

Alongside our galette complete, Margaux taught me how to make her homemade dressing. It is so easy, yet so good. I doubt I'll spend money on pre-made dressing again. I have to share!

Margaux's Homemade Salad Dressing
2 parts balsamic vinegar
1 part extra virgin olive oil
Dijon mustard to taste

Easy variation: Instead of mustard, add just a little honey!