Croque Monsieur (Classic French Ham & Cheese Sandwich)

Croque Monsieur: the classic French ham and cheese sandwich.  When most food bloggers write about this dish, they have a compelling, nay personal relationship to the sandwich.  They ate it while living in France, they ate it while impoverished AND living in France, a French friend introduced them to the dish, Julia Childs shook their hand and made them Croque Monsieur, etc., etc., etc.  You get the picture–this French sandwich is as tasty as the history that often accompanies it.

Sadly, as much of a closeted Francophile as I am, I have never been to France.  My French is barely conversational, but my reading comprehension is pretty damn great.  One of these days, I will visit the land of the three striped flag and pointing phallic nineteenth-century buildings and eat authentic Croque Monsieur.  Plus, I will be smart enough to know that the cheese does, in fact, go on top (unlike other silly Americans).

So, that’s my Croque Monsieur story.  The one that hasn’t been written yet.  But, I can at least continue to prepare the dish and dream about a real, authentic, future French context, can’t I?

The best part about Croque Monsieur is that it’s easy, fast, cheap, and clearly delicious.  Although most French recipes call for classic ham and Gruyère cheese, feel free to use your preferred ham (such as Prosciutto), or another cheese (like Swiss).  Granted, the substitutions will not be a Croque Monsieur, but they will be clearly delicious.

Croque Monsieur

This recipe as usual, comes from Elise Bauer over at Simply Recipes.  However, there are several fantastic (and similar variations) available on the web.  See Closet Cooking’s variation or the one available at FoodNetwork from Ina Garten (the Barefoot Contessa).

Ingredients:

*2 tablespoons butter

* 2 tablespoons flour

* 1 1/2 cups milk

* pinch of salt, ground pepper, and nutmeg

* 1 1/2 cups grated Gruyère Cheese

* 1/4 cup Parmesan Cheese, grated

* 8 slices French Bread

* 12 ounces ham, thinly sliced such as Prosciutto

* Djon Mustard

* More butter for toasting

1.) Preheat oven to 400F.  Slice bread from French loaf approximating 8 mediumly sliced pieces.

2.) Prepare the béchamel sauce: melt butter in a saucepan over medium heat.  Add 2 tablespoons flour and whisk to integrate until bubbly (about 2 minutes).  Slowly add milk and whisk during the entire addition process.  Sprinkle 1/4 cup Parmesan Cheese and 1/4 cup Gruyère cheese.  Set aside.

3.) Meanwhile, toast the bread.  Lay 8 slices on a baking sheet and toast in oven for several minutes until lightly crunchy/toasted.  You may wish to add butter to half of the bread slices (or even all) if you’re into that chewy buttery goodness on top of the other ingredients.  However, this addition is based on personal preference.

4.) Remove toasted bread from oven and spread brown mustard/Djon over half of the bread slices.

5.) Add the ham to the other half of the slices.

6.) Sprinkle ham with cheese.

7.) Add remaining piece of bread on top of the ham/cheese/djon/bread combination so that you’ve officially created the sandwich.

8.) Toast in oven for another 5 minutes.  Remove sandwiches from oven and spoon 1-2 tablespoons béchamel sauce over the tops of the sandwiches.

Serve and enjoy! Makes 4-6.

Croque Monsieur (Classic French Ham & Cheese Sandwich), 5.0 out of 5 based on 2 ratings Google+