Our sandwich series continues as we head over to France to indulge in a Croque Monsieur. And when I say indulge, I mean it.
Now, I’ve been to France…oh, a handful of times, and I can’t say that I’d ever had this sandwich. This Croque Monsieur. Truthfully, if i were to get something like this, I’d be getting the Croque Madame, which is this same sammy but with a runny egg on it because you all KNOW how much I love a runny egg. But, since the next two sandwiches do include one, I figured I’d leave it off this one.
Just this time though.
In its essence, this is nothing much more than a ham and cheese sandwich. Ham is just your best and favorite deli ham, cheese is a lovely, shredded Gruyere. But, after all miss, this is France and dinner here is never second best. Which means this particular ham and cheese sandwich has a béchamel sauce to take it up a notch. And then it’s baked golden, into the stratosphere.
If you’ve never made a béchamel sauce, it’s pretty much a milk sauce, made simply with butter, flour, milk, and a bit of nutmeg, salt and pepper for pizzaz. It’s how all good macaroni and cheese recipes start, but we don’t take it that far here. It’s simply cooked until thick and spreadable, and works its magic between two slices of your best bread. The bread I used was actually a few days old which worked out quite well. I think super fresh, hot from the oven bread would just be too soft. The day-old variety had enough dryness to keep the whole thing from falling apart, and frankly, pretty perfect.
Still, I’d recommend a fork and a knife with this one. It seems like the proper, French way to do things, after all.
Croque Monsieur
Classic French Croque Monsieur sandwich, filled with fresh ham, shredded Gruyere cheese and a lovely, homemade béchamel sauce.
Ingredients
- 2 TB unsalted butter
- 2 TB all purpose flour
- 3/4 cup milk
- 1/4 tsp salt
- 1/4 tsp fresh black pepper
- pinch nutmeg
- 2 heaping TB Dijon mustard
- 4 slices thick sliced white bread (sourdough or country), day old
- 8 slices deli ham
- 1 cup shredded Gruyere
- 2 TB fresh parsley, chopped
Directions
- Step 1 Melt the butter over low heat in a small saucepan and add the flour, stirring with a wooden spoon or a whisk until the flour has cooked, about 2 minutes. Slowly pour the milk into the butter and flour mixture and cook, whisking constantly, until the sauce is thickened. Off the heat add the salt, pepper, nutmeg, and mustard set aside.
- Step 2 Preheat the oven to 400F.
- Step 3 Assemble the sandwiches. Spread one side half the slices with the béchamel, divide the ham between each, and sprinkle each with a quarter the Gruyere. Top with another piece of toasted bread. Slather the tops more béchamel and the remaining Gruyere, and bake the sandwiches for 5 minutes. Turn on the broiler and broil for 3 minutes, or until the topping is bubbly and lightly browned. Sprinkle each with parsley, and serve hot.
