Croque Monsieur

The croque monsieur. The sibling of the croque madame. A French style sandwich that, once made, will be in your memory for a very long time. It is a sandwich unlike no other. If you were to compare it to a hot brown sandwich, as awesome and amazing as those are, it still does not compare. See there is something to be said about the crunch you get when biting into this sandwich. The nutty and sweet flavor of the Gruyère cheese, along with the smooth creaminess of the béchamel sauce really makes this sandwich stick out.

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(Serves 2)

Ingredients: [Print this Recipe]

• 2 tbsp unsalted butter
• 2 tbsp all purpose flour
• 1 1/2 cups of milk
• 1/2 tsp salt
• pinch of nutmeg
• 1 tbsp grated parmesan cheese
• 6 thin slices of Gruyère cheese
• 8 thin slices of Black Forest Ham
• 1 cup of grated Gruyère cheese
• 2 tbsp dijon mustard
• 4 slices of thick cut French sandwich loaf
• 4 tbsp unsalted butter, room temperature

Begin by making the béchamel sauce. Get two saucepans, and heat one on a medium low heat, and the other on medium heat. To the pan on medium, low heat, add the milk, and let it get warm. To the other pan, add the two tablespoons of butter, and let it melt down and begin to bubble a bit. Add the flour to the butter, and mix it very well to incorporate the two. Continue whisking for about two minutes, being careful not to let the flour mixture brown. Slowly add in the warm milk, and continue whisking until you everything is nice and smooth. You will whisk this for about 8-10 minutes, until the sauce thickens. Add in the salt, nutmeg, and the parmesan cheese. Give a good mix, then remove it from the heat until it is ready to be used.

Next, get a large skillet going on the stove, and bring that to a medium heat. Butter four slices of the bread, and lay them into the skillet, butter side down. The goal here is to get them nice and golden brown, without burning them. As they begin to cook, add a tablespoon of butter to two pieces of the bread. Lay down three slices of Gruyère cheese on top of the mustard, then top each with four slices of the black forest ham. Let them continue cooking on the skillet, lifting to peak every couple of minutes, until the have reached that golden brown color, and have a crunchy exterior.

Now for the assembly.

Get your broiler going on 475 degrees.

Add the slices of toasted bread to a baking sheet. Place the toasted bread on top of the bread with the mustard, cheese, and ham. Now take the bechamel sauce and generously spread it all of the top of each sandwich. Take half a cup of the Gruyère cheese and add that to the top of the bechamel sauce.

Place this under the broiler until the cheese is nice and bubbly and everything is warmed through, roughly 4-6 minutes.

Remove the sandwiches from the broiler, and place on a serving plate. Dig in!

This one is super delicious and has not left my mind since I last made it. It has that sort of impact. Trust me.