Recipe: Croque Monsieur
A Croque Monsieur is a hot ham and cheese grilled sandwich. It’s a popular French bistro or café sandwich. The name means "crispy mister"... the origin of the name is unknown. The original Croque Monsieur was simply just a grilled ham and cheese sandwich using emmentaler or gruyere cheese. Numerous more involved variations have developed… this recipe is among them.
The recipe I have grills the sandwich… then adds a thick Mornay sauce (béchamel sauce with gruyere cheese)on top…sprinkled with some more grated cheese then set under a broiler to melt the top cheese and brown slightly.… this version is absolutely delicious! recipe makes for a very thick sauce… which is desirable… you essentially spread it on the top of the grilled sandwich before broiling it… if you make Mornay sauce for any other purpose… it would be a somewhat thinner sauce.
This recipe makes 4 sandwiches.
I hope you try this version of a Croque Monsieur..
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Recipe: Croque Monsieur
All you need:
For the Mornay Sauce:
2 tablespoons unsalted butter
2 tablespoons flour
2 cups milk
½ cup Sargento Artisan Blend Shredded Swiss and Gruyere Cheese
½ cup grated Parmesan cheese
Salt to taste
Pepper to taste
Pinch of nutmeg
For the Sandwich:
8 slices of bread (I use white sandwich bread)
About 2 tablespoons of butter or margarine (for spreading)
½ lb. baked deli ham
About 3 cups of shredded Gruyere and Swiss blended cheese
Dijon mustard
All you need to do:
To make the sauce:
In a small saucepan, melt 2 tablespoons unsalted butter.
Add the 2 tablespoons of flour and stir well.
Cook for about 2 minutes to “cook off” the flour taste.
Slowly pour the milk into the saucepan, whisking constantly with a whisk.
Whisk vigorously to make sure there are no lumps. Sauce will thicken fairly quickly.
Remove from the heat and add the shredded cheese, Parmesan cheese, salt, pepper and nutmeg. Stir well until cheese is melted… about 2 minutes. Sauce will be very thick..
Preheat the oven to broil.
Place grilled sandwiches on a baking sheet.
Put a generous helping on of Mornay sauce on the top of each sandwich and spread over the top.
Sprinkle about ¼ cup shredded cheese on top of the sauce.
Broil sandwiches until the top has slightly browned and started to bubble. Remove immediately.
Watch carefully because once the sauce and cheese starts to turn brown… it will quickly burn if you don’t take it out of the oven immediately.
Serve hot.
4 comments:
I grew up eating Crocque Monsieurs, and Croque Madames too for that matter. Our variation would be to put a slice of tomato between the ham and cheese (Monsieur) or a slice of (canned) pineapple (madame). The cheese we laid down was usually a slice of Gruyere or other swiss cheese rather than the grated kind. if you have a sandwich maker, It makes a delicious crispy lunch!
ikke
My mouth is watering for this! It sounds soooooo good!
Sounds delicious ikke!
Oh Katy... it is delicious and not hard to make either!