Monet’s Favorite Sandwich

By Libbie Summers (recipe from my book, Sweet and Vicious –baking with attitude, Rizzoli)
Food Photography by Chia Chong

My obsession with the dining habits of Claude Monet began in college. I feasted again and again on the few English translations available of the notebooks he kept from his home in Giverny. At a time when my cooking skills were constrained by the size of my dorm room hotplate and my wallet, I would dream about the elaborate lunches Monet held promptly at 11:30 each day for guests like Renoir, Cézanne, and Degas. Some of the local ingredients that were mentioned in the notebooks included capons, chickens, berries, cheeses, and wonderful breads.

It wasn’t long after that I started making what I call Monet’s Favorite Sandwich.

I’ve yet to meet anyone who doesn’t love this sandwich. It has everything. Savory chicken, sweet raspberry preserves, creamy/salty brie, and the yeasty crunch of a baguette. Like Monet himself, this sandwich is kind of sweet and vicious.
Monet, Giverny, France
(Monet’s dining table at Giverny)
Monet, Kitchen Designs, Giverny, Libbie Summers
(The view from the dining room into Monet’s kitchen at Giverny)
Monet, Chicken Sandwiches, Libbie Summers, Lunch Recipes, French Sandwiches
Monet’s Favorite Sandwich
(warm roasted chicken, brie + raspberry jam on baguette)
Serves 4

What you need:
1 baguette, split in half lengthwise
1⁄4 cup raspberry preserves
1⁄2 small roasted chicken, bones removed and meat sliced or torn into large pieces
4 ounces brie
Fresh parsley leaves (optional)

What to do:
Preheat the broiler.

Line a baking sheet with parchment paper and place the bottom half of the bread on it. Spread the raspberry preserves over the bread. Top the preserves with the chicken. Cut the brie into chunks or slices and spread across the top of the chicken. Broil for 3 to 5 minutes, until the cheese is just melted. Top with parsley if you like. Place the top half of the bread on the sandwich and cut into four equal pieces.
Serve warm.

Giverny, Monet's home, Libbie Summers, France
(me exhausted after a long day of travel but giddy with excitement standing at Monet’s stove at Giverny…starving and wishing I could make everyone there Monet’s Favorite Sandwich)

 

 

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