Ham and Cheese Tart

 Ooey gooey with melted swiss and black forest ham wrapped in a flakey crust of puff pasty...perfect addition to a cheese board for wine and cheese night.

I do have one ingredient that is hard to find.  Sel Gris Aux Herbes.  Gray sea salt with herbs.  This coarse herbed sea salt adds a nice savory salty crunch to your flakey pastry that is hard to duplicate with any replacement.  Try ordering online M. Gilles Sel Gris Aux Herbes.  Its a great finishing salt on steaks, fish and poultry too, you'll thank me later if you do buy it.  

Ingredients

• 1 box (2 sheets) Pepperidge Farms Puff Pastry sheets, thawed
• 8 0z black forest ham - deli sliced
• 1 T Dijon mustard
• 5 slices swiss cheese
• 1 egg
• 1 T sesame seeds
• 1 t Sel Gris Aux Herbes

Assembly

Preheat oven to 425F

Line baking sheet with parchment paper.

Carefully unfold 1 sheet of pastry onto the lined baking sheet.  Using a pastry brush lightly spread the Dijon mustard on the pastry sheet leaving a 1/2 inch margin on the edges.  Layer the ham on the mustard maintaining the 1/2" margin.  Place the cheese on top of the ham using the one piece to trim to fit any gaps you have on top of the ham.  

In a small bowl add the egg and a tablespoon of water and beat to make an egg wash.  Using a new pastry brush, brush on a thin layer of the egg wash along the edges in the 1/2" margin. Place the remaining sheet of pastry on top of the layered ham and cheese.  Crimp edges with a fork.

Brush the entire top of the pastry with the egg wash.  Sprinkle on the sesame seeds and Sel Gris Aux Herbes.

Place in preheated oven and bake 20-25 minutes until rich golden brown.  Cool 5 minutes then cut into 9 squares.  (A long bladed serrated bread knife works best).  Place on cheese board and serve.

Easy Coq au vin (chicken stewed in wine)

Coq au vin is literally rooster (cock) cooked in wine.  Its a classic French peasant dish that is oh so very tasty.  Of course when you use an old rooster, its all tough as it is an old bird.  My version is using regular store bought chicken parts that are generally from young birds.  The meat is infinitely more tender and as such doesn't need to soak in wine forever to marinate and break down the meat.

Of course I cheat even more by buying already whacked chicken parts at Fresh & Easy Neighborhood Markets.  I use both the chicken thigh and chicken breast.  Both bring different flavors to the dish more like you'd get with a whole chicken.  Also its damn easy which is a good thing in my book.

This version also is heavily influenced by Janna who asked about cooking with flavored salts on another post.  Yes, indeedy, I used my sel gris aux herbes in the marinade and did not regret it one bit.  Yowsa- its some good stuff there Maynard.

Easy Coq Au Vin

• 1 2 lb package chicken breasts
  
• 1 2 lb package de-boned chicken thighs
  
• 2 c red wine (I used a shirah/cab blend from Callaway Crossing)
  
• 2 t fresh cracked black pepper.
  
• 2 t sel gris aux herbes (substitute herbs Provence and sea salt)
  
• 2 T fresh garlic - chopped
  
• 8 sprigs fresh thyme
  
• 1 c flour
• 1 T black pepper

• 1 yellow onion halved then sliced
  
• 1 stalk celery with tops (approx 1c chopped)
  
• 1 carrot chopped
  
• 1 t +/- sel gris aux herbes to taste
  
• 1 t fresh cracked black pepper
  
• 2 bay leaf
  
• 1 -2 14oz cans chicken broth
  
• 
  
• 8 oz cremini or similar small dark mushroom - halved
  
• 1/2 c fresh chopped parsley
  

In large non-reactive bowl place one layer of chicken some of the sel gris, garlic and a couple of sprigs of thyme.  Repeat until all chicken is in the bowl.  Add the wine it should just cover the chicken.  Cover bowl with cling film and set in refrigerator to marinade at least 2 hours.

Pull chicken from marinade and pat dry on paper towels.  RESERVE MARINADE. 

Heat saucier over medium high heat.  Add extra virgin olive oil and heat til shimmering.   Dredge dried chicken pieces in the flour, knocking off the excess and sear all sides until nice deep brown.  You will need to do in batches so as not to crowd the pan in order to get a good sear instead of steaming.  As each batch is seared put on a platter until you are ready for them.

Add the onion, carrot and celery with a bit more oil if needed.  Cook 5- 10 minutes, stirring and scraping the bottom of the pan as you go.  When onion is translucent add the reserved broth.  Cook and scrape the bottom of the pan until all the browned bits are removed.   Cook about 5 minutes or until liquid is reduced by half.  

Add reserved chicken.  Add enough chicken broth to just cover the chicken.  Cover and reduce heat to simmer at least 1 hour.  Or you may cover and put in 325 oven to simmer 1 hour.  Add mushrooms and simmer 15 minutes longer until cooked through.

Remove lid and stir in parsley, cook 1 minute.  Serve in bowl with mashed potato or boiled potato on the side.  

Sel Gris - grey sea salt en francais

Toss the iodized salt once and for all.  Sea salt has a wonderful flavor without a nasty metallic after taste.  I did so years ago and am glad I did.  The last year or so has been experimenting and tasting different salts.  The all are salty but some do a much better job of brining out the natural sweetness and depth of flavor in your food than others.

I first heard about "sel gris", literally "salt gray" in french several years ago as that is what chef Michael Chiarello uses, liberally.  His show "Napa Style" started out on FoodTV and now has moved over to the Fine Living Network.  Its good viewing though at times his parties in the vineyard are so far fetched for us regular folks.

I've sorta half-assedly look for the stuff and stumbled across a jar of "Sel Gris aux Herbes" at Surfas a while back.  (Literally Salt Gray with Herbs.)  I grabbed a jar a few weeks back and only recently decided to crack it open and wow...what a different level of flavor it brings.

I used it with some vegies I sauteed to put with some couscous.  The "Sel Gris" was tossed on the hot veg just before I added it to the cooked couscous and folded it in.  Wow.  Just plain old wow.  Yes you got little bits of salt that just exploded with herbal goodness and a "sweet" finish.

Next experiment is on some Sourdough bread I am baking at the moment.  

Doing a little research I found out that "Sel Gris" is actually a very healthy salt.  It gets it dark gray color due to the high mineral content in the salt.  Those trace minerals also are what we need in our diet.  Getting them naturally has to be way better for us than getting white salt that has been "iodized".  Am not an expert but that is my take on what I've read.  If I'm wrong then I may have kicked off a good urban legend.

If you can't find it locally you can always order your own stash at Surfas Online.

ps...you will be allowed to use a good kosher salt for general baking, cooking and pickling, sea salts are way too expensive to use for the general stuff, they are a finishing salt.