Thursday, August 17, 2006

Croque Monsieur

Oh, how I love a Croque Monsieur sandwich. I don't know if I'll ever be lucky enough to eat one at a cafe in Paris, but no matter. My version is pretty wonderful.

This is definitely NOT an everyday sannie. But for a bit of a fancy dinner, what is better than ham cheese and white sauce? Not very much.

4 sandwiches - for 2 to 4 people.

1 1/2 tb butter
1 1/2 tb flour
1 cup milk, warmed in the microwave
salt
pepper
nutmeg
2 cups grated Gruyere cheese
3 tb grated Parmesan cheese
8 slices white bread (Scott likes this sandwich because it's one of the few times he gets white bread!)
dijon mustard
8 slices of ham
Preheat oven to 425'

First, make your sauce:

Melt the butter over medium low heat, add flour and cook, stirring for 2 minutes. Add in the milk and whisk until thick. Add half of the cheeses and whisk until melted. Remove from heat and season to taste with salt pepper and nutmeg.

Toast the bread. Spread dijon on 4 pieces. Top with 2 pieces of ham each and spoon some sauce and cheese over top.
Top with the remaining bread, sauce and cheese. Place sandwiches on a baking tray and bake for 5 - 10 minutes.

Turn on broiler and broil until lightly browned on top.
Serve immediately.

7 comments:

kickpleat said...

wow, that looks pretty decadent! i've never had one and now totally want to. yum!

jasmine said...

You've just reminded me that I haven't had a croque monsieur in AGES.

I must do something to rectify that.

j

Stephanie said...

Matt and I adore these sandwiches, thought I've never tasted one quite so decadent as yours!

Sara said...

kickpleat - you need to make these! they're not hard and very wonderful.

jasmine - i hope you have one soon.

stephanie - yes, you can't have these very often, that's for sure.

Jen said...

yes this has to be one of my favourite comfort foods. And its so easy to make.

Ruth Daniels said...

It does look wonderful. It looks a little different to the croque I had in Paris a million years ago when I travelled through Europe with my sister. We ate ours in the students quarters - only place we could afford to eat!

Thanks for the walk down memory lane.

Sara said...

jenjen - comfort food is right.

ruth - sounds like a wonderful memory. how was your croque diffrent?