Inspired By Summer: Basil Cream and Strawberry Pie

Yes, I've been a little lazy about getting this post up. I blame summer. And to be fair, summer inspired it so it deserves a little reward.

I think I was first inspired to try this idea by the farmers market. The perfectly delicious strawberries and fragrant basil spoke to me. In fact, it may have been their idea. And it really is a perfect summer pie. It is light and refreshing while the basil custard surprises those who don't expect it and has won over those who were skeptical of the idea before they tried it.


I truly love this pie and am so proud of this creation. Even if the strawberries and basil ARE responsible for the idea, I'm going to take all the credit for this pie.

Basil Cream and Strawberry Pie

Pre-baked 9” Pie Shell

1 lb. Strawberries

For the custard:

2/3 cup Sugar

3 Tbsp Cornstarch

3 cups Milk

½ cup loosely packed Fresh Basil leaves

4 beaten Egg Yolks

2 Tbsp butter, cut into small pieces

To pre-bake pie shell:

Line pie dish with rolled out pastry.

Line with aluminum foil and fill with beans or pie weights. I find it works best to fill the entire pie shell to the top with your weights.

Bake on the bottom shelf at 400° for 20 minutes.

Decrease oven temp to 375°.

Remove foil and weights. Poke holes all around the shell with a fork, twisting the fork slightly as you go.

Continue baking at 375° until the inside is golden brown and the shell is fully baked. Check at five and ten minutes, using the back of a spoon to press down any spots that puff up.

Cool shell before filling.

For the pie:

Wash and quarter the strawberries. (Reserve a couple of the prettiest ones if you would like to use them for garnishing.)

Separate ½ cup of the cut up strawberries. Mash slightly. Mix with remaining cut up strawberries and set aside.

In a medium bowl, slightly beat the egg yolks and set aside until needed.

In a medium saucepan, stir together sugar and cornstarch. And milk and whisk to combine with the dry ingredients.

Add basil leaves.

Heat over medium, stirring constantly, until thick.

Once thickened, whisk about a half a cup of the hot milk mixture into the egg yolks, tempering them to prevent scrambled eggs from forming in your custard.

Add egg yolk mixture back into the saucepan while whisking, continue heating about 1 more minute while continuing to whisk the mixture.

Remove from heat and add butter, stir until melted completely into mixture.

Pour mixture thru a fine strainer to remove clumps and basil leaves.

Spread strawberries in an even layer across the bottom of the baked pie shell. Top with basil custard. Refrigerate until set, probably 4 hours is sufficient but I refrigerate overnight.

Garnish as desired with additional strawberries, bail leaves, and/or whipped cream.

Beyond Grilled Cheese: Smoked Salmon Croque-Monsieur, Two Ways

I first heard of a croque-monsieur several years ago watching episodes of Rachel Ray. She is crazy about them and makes a few variations regularly on her shows. Once I tried one, I was pretty crazy about them too. If you like grilled cheese, you will like this.


Traditionally, a croque-monsieur is made with ham, and I generally use veggie ham but I was halfway thru putting this post together when I got my hands on some really good smoked salmon. (This stuff is amazing, truly the best smoked salmon I have ever had and you can get it here).  The light bulb went off, and next thing I knew I was starting from scratch with smoked salmon replacing the ham.

The first time I made croque-monsieurs I must have gotten lucky because we did everything right. Since then I have made some that, while not bad since it is probably impossible to make this sandwich bad, were not as good as they could be.  But along the way to getting it right again I learned a few things. So, let me share the secrets with you.


#1: Use sandwich bread. It normally seems intuitive that better bread equals better sandwich, and most people (like me) consider a fresh loaf to be better then bagged sliced bread. In this case however, sliced bread is the way to go (and according to my french roommate how you will find them made in their birthplace, Paris).


#2: If you are going to make these with cheese on the outside, shred it with a fine grater. This sticks to the bread better and gives a more uniform and thin layer.


#3: If your grilling it with cheese on the outside, grill it beyond the point of just turning golden. Grill it until the cheese gets crispy.  When the cheese is still soft, the whole sanwich just seems kindof mushy and greasy.


Most of the recipes I have found include a few defining components: ham, swiss-style cheese (swiss, gruyere, emmental), and sauce (bechamel or mornay), and the bread.


How these components are combined also has general trends but still a variety of styles. Sauce on the inside and cheese outside. Cheese inside and sauce plus more cheese outside. Sauce and cheese inside, neither outside. So play around with it, and find your way.

After trying a few variations I have settled on two I like in particular, presented in this post: Extra Cheesy and Monte Cristo Style.


The Monte Cristo style is the Rachel Ray version I first encountered, with cheese and sauce inside the sandwiches, then dipped in egg batter and fried.


For the extra cheesy style I decided I like the cheese on the outside AND the inside. Yum, cheese...

Smoked Salmon Croque-Monsieur, Two Ways:

For Both Sandwiches:

Bechamel Sauce

2 servings

1 Tbsp Butter

1 Tbsp Flour

½ cup Milk

2 pinches Nutmeg

2 tsp Dijon Mustard

salt and pepper

Melt the butter over low heat in a medium saucepan

Sprinkle flour over melted butter and whisk to combine into roux

Add milk and increase heat to medium-low. Whisk to mix roux into milk so no more think lumps remain.

Add nutmeg and dijon mustard, a pinch each of salt and pepper.

Continue whisking, over medium low to medium heat, until sauce thickens to the consistency of country gravy.

Taste and add more salt and pepper if necessary.

Monte Cristo Style,(from Rachel Ray):

(2 sandwiches)

Smoked Salmon, enough for 2 sandwiches (I used about 4 ounces)

4 Slices Bread

1 recipe Bechamel Sauce

1-1/2 to 2 cups grated Gruyere (or other swiss style cheese)

1 egg

1/3 cup Milk

Beat together egg and milk, set aside.

Spread all 4 slices of bread with Bechamel sauce, then sprinkle each with a thin but complete layer of cheese.

Top 2 slices of bread with smoked salmon, then top with remaining two slices of bread, cheese side down.

Heat large skillet over medium-high heat. When hot, swipe with or melt a little butter in pan.

Dip sandwiches into egg mixture and place in heated skillet. Fry until golden brown, about 5 min.

Flip and fry second side until golden.

Remove from pan, slice in half, and serve immediately.

Extra-Cheesy Croque-Monsieur

(2 sandwiches)

Smoked Salmon, enough for 2 sandwiches (I used about 4 ounces)

4 Slices Bread

1 recipe Bechamel Sauce

3 cups grated Gruyere (or other swiss style cheese)

2 Tbsp Softened Butter

Spread all 4 slices of bread with Bechamel sauce, then sprinkle each with a thin but complete layer of cheese.

Top 2 slices of bread with smoked salmon, then top with remaining two slices of bread, cheese side down.

Butter both sides of each sandwich with softened butter.

Spread a thin but even layer of finely grated cheese on a plate or cutting board. Press sandwich into cheese. Repeat so all 4 sides are covered in a thin layer of cheese.

Heat large skillet over medium-high heat. When hot, swipe with or melt a little butter in pan.

Place sandwiches into the hot skillet and grill until the cheese later becomes brown and crispy, about 10 minutes.

Flip over to cook opposite side.

Remove from pan, slice in half, and serve immediately.