Brie and Honey Butter Sandwiches with Homemade No-Knead Bread

There’s no other way to say it: you got to make this sandwich, and you better do it with homemade bread. The sandwich is so simple that every ingredient counts, and this is no place to skimp on quality or calories! 

The sandwich is just bread, brie, honey, and butter, but it’s a heavenly combination that you can use on repeat. At tea parties, picnics, or just as a Sunday afternoon snack, there’s no place this sandwich doesn’t fit it (unless you are maybe going to a picnic with a friend who is both dairy AND gluten-free, which in this case, why are you eating a meal with this person?!?!). 

Z and I had this sandwich at Shed, and it was so delicious that we wanted to recreate it at home. I’m glad we did! It forced me to try the speedy no-knead bread recipe from The Times. I like the speedy recipe compared to the original because it allows for more flexibility; no waiting a full 24 hours here. It’s one of the simplest recipes around, and one of the greatest dinner party tricks. “Hi friends, you made a salad, that’s cool, well I made BREAD”. No need for your friends to know that the salad was probably harder to make than this loaf of bread. 

Is it the most perfect bread loaf around? No. But it’s pretty delicious and goes great with cheese, so make sure to stock your fridge with Brie!

Brie and Honey Butter Sandwiches with Speedy No-Knead Bread

From The New York Times

For Bread:

3 cups bread flour

1 packet instant yeast

1 1/2 teaspoons of salt

Oil as needed

For Sandwiches:

Serves 2, adjust as necessary

2 tablespoons softened butter

1 1/2 teaspoons honey, plus more for drizzling

6 thin slices of brie (3 for each sandwich)

2 slices of bread (use 4 if you want it to be a closed sandwich, but I prefer open-face here)

Combine flour, yeast, and salt in a bowl. Add 1 1/2 cups water, stir until blended. The dough will be shaggy. Cover dough with plastic wrap, and let it sit for 4 hours at warm room temperature, about 70 degrees. 

Lightly oil a work surface, and place dough on it. Fold the dough onto itself once or twice. Cover loosely with plastic wrap and let sit for 30 minutes. 

Immediately start heating up the oven, setting it to 450 degrees. Put a heavy 6-8 quart heavy pot in the oven. When the dough is done resting, carefully remove the pot from the oven. Put the dough into the oven, seam side up. Shake the pan once or twice. 

Cover the pan with a lid, and bake for 30 minutes. Remove lid, and back for another 15-30 minutes, until loaf is beautifully browned. Cool pot on a rack, then take out bread and slice.

Combine honey and softened butter together in a small bowl. Spread the butter equally over the two slices of bread. Top with 3 slices of brie on each piece of bread, and drizzle more honey over if desired. Enjoy! 

Homemade Ricotta and Ricotta Toasts

Hope you all had a fabulous weekend! I had such a wonderful weekend, and I am sad it is now at an end. Zach was visiting DC for work, and our weekend was filled with chocolate chip cookies, long walks, and a beer tasting with friends.

When Zach is in town, I use him as a guinea pig on new recipes, and homemade ricotta was calling my name. Homemade ricotta is deceptively quite simple to make! From start to finish, the recipe only took 10 minutes of active cooking time. 

This ricotta would make a great food gift (in a beautiful container and a hand-written note) or would be perfect for entertaining. Even if you serve it with store-bought bread or pasta, everyone will be impressed that you made the ricotta!

I made both sweet and savory ricotta snacks. One is simply bread, ricotta, roasted tomatoes, olive oil, and fresh black pepper.  The sweet ricotta dish is bread, ricotta, raspberries, and honey. Try them out next time you have friends over!

Ricotta Cheese

from Bon Appétit Magazine

about 1 cup of ricotta

2 cups whole milk

1 cup heavy cream

1/2 teaspoon kosher salt

2 tablespoons fresh lemon juice or distilled white vinegar

Combine milk, cream, and salt in a pot, and cook over medium heat until it just begins to boil. Remove from heat. 

 Add lemon juice (or vinegar), and stir gently until mixture starts to curdle. Let stand for 5 minutes.

Pour mixture into a fine-mesh sieve lined with two layers of cheesecloth, set over a medium bowl. Chill until the cheese is spreadable, at least 20 minutes and up until 12 hours. The cheese should last for about three days covered in the fridge.

Cacio e Pepe

A few years ago, my family and I spent a summer traveling Europe. Though we were in Rome for only one week, the city stole my heart. I loved the dichotomy between the Roman ruins and the young vibrant culture. And, I especially loved the trattorias filled with homemade pastas, fried artichokes, pizza, and espresso granita. 

Cacio e Pepe, or spaghetti with pecorino and pepper,  is a Roman dish that I became obsessed with, and I pretty much ordered it anytime I saw it on a menu. Despite its humble ingredients, the dish is hard to find here in the US. 

When I am longing for a dinner overlooking the Tiber and the Forum or a warm walk through the Piazza Navona, I will instead reach for this pasta dish. It's quick and easy to pull together, so it's perfect for a weeknight dinner. It will taste almost as good as the pasta I had in Rome, as long as you make sure to follow these basic instructions!

Cacio e Pepe

From Patricia Wells

Serves 4 

3 tablespoons coarse, freshly ground black pepper, preferably Tellicherry peppercorns

2 tablespoons extra-virgin olive oil

2 tablespoons salted butter

3 tablespoons sea salt

1 lb spaghetti

3/4 cup freshly grated Pecorino Romano cheese, plus extra for garnishing

3/4 cup freshly grated Parmigiano-Regiiano cheese, plus extra for servicng

Place the pepper in a large skillet over medium heat and toast it, shaking the pan, until fragrant about 30 seconds. 

Add the oil and the butter and stir until the butter is melted. Remove the pan from the heat.  

In a pasta pot, bring 8 quarts of water to a rolling boil over high heat. Add the salt and pasta, stirring to prevent the pasta from sticking. Cook until tender but firm to the bite. Remove the pasta pot from the heat. Drain the pasta, shaking to reserve some of the excess water. Reserve some of the cooking water for the sauce.

Return the skillet to the heat. Add about 4 tablespoons of the pasta water to the oil mixture and stir to blend. Add the pasta and toss until it is evenly coated.

Add the cheeses and toss until the pasta is evenly coated. If the pasta is dry, add more pasta water. Serve immediately with additional grated cheeses.