The first course for our medieval feast is Manchet, a medieval white bread, with cheeses.  For our cheese plate, the boys and I went around and around the cheese case at our favorite local grocery store trying to find the types of cheeses that we thought would have been available in the Middle Ages.

Brie was “buy one get one free” that night, believe it or not, and I imagined that with that fabulous moldy rind, the medieval peoples would have had similar cheeses to enjoy.  Sure enough, when I got home I did a little research and there is mention of the cheese from as far back as the time of Charlemagne.

Cheese is an enormous part of my life, so a second wheel of one of my favorites didn’t stand a chance of staying in the fridge for very long, even though two wheels is a bad, bad idea for someone watching their weight, which I am ALWAYS doing.  It’s probably pretty obvious why I must to anyone who has read any part of my blog.

After setting up a Pinterest account for myself and the blog to help me keep my creative ideas organized and new ones fresh in my memory, I decided to peruse my favorite food photographer’s photos once again.  She is the French artist and fabulous cook, Beatrice Peltre.  It had been a while since I had looked at her blog.  Fortunately, there were fresh, juicy berries in our fridge, something I crave after looking at her pictures.

A pair of baguettes I purchased to add to our garlic soup, another course to make up our medieval feast, were right at eye level on the shelf above the two packages of strawberries I was after.  To my right in the dairy shelf of the door was the brie, ham next to it.  I vaguely remembered a jar of strawberry preserves sitting unopened on a shelf in the pantry.  It was inevitable, the construction of this sweet creamy sandwich.

I’m not going to post an actual recipe.  That would be condescendingly stupid, but here is my little photo gallery of the six inch sandwich that we divided four ways.  I’m no Beatrice Peltre, but I am considering moving my kitchen outside when the weather warms up so I can pretend.  😉

I laid the slices of brie on the ham and top piece of bread then broiled them both before spreading on a little of the preserves and laying on the strawberry slices.  It literally melted in our mouths and was the perfect appetizer to tide us over while we wait for the late Fun Family Friday Night dinner we will have when my husband gets home from work in a few hours.

And to my local peeps, Bi-Lo is where President brand brie is BOGO right now.  Go get ya some!!  Oh!  And look on top of the case for the $1 off coupon.  It’s a steal!