Take your ham and cheese sandwich to the NEXT delicious (and French) level with this cheesy and most amazing Croque Monsieur recipe
Why settle for a plain ham and cheese sandwich when you can have one of THESE Croque Monsieur?!?
Just a couple of more ingredients, ten extra minutes of your time and taadaaa: THE ultimate ham and cheese sandwich!
A creamy, cheesy and knock-you-off-your-dining chair AMAZING Croque Monsieur.
Done the way French people (...not Italians for once!) know best ;)
Made with gruyere cheese and a slice or two of tasty ham, squished between two thick slices of bread, drizzled ... or drowned (I'll leave that up to you!) in a delicate and scrumptious béchamel sauce. Toasted to a golden and melty perfection that will not disappoint you.
Ingredients I use for this recipe:
- some tasty cheese (I used gruyere, but Emmental is a good alternative)
- good quality ham (I used Italian prosciutto cotto that I got at a local Italian deli)
- good quality bread (I used white sandwich bread cut in thick slices, but you can experiment with your favorite )
- the usual ingredient for white sauce: butter, flour and milk, flavored with a bit of dijon mustard and a dash of nutmeg. So good!
Start by making the béchamel sauce:
melt the butter in a small sauce pan. Whisk in the flour when melted and cook for a minute or two. Gradually add the milk, while whisking until perfectly smooth.Cook until dense to your desired consistency. Add a little bit more milk if needed. Flavor with nutmeg and dijon mustard. Season with salt and pepper
To assemble the Croque Monsieur sandwich:
Place the bread on a baking sheet. Drizzle all slices with a layer of béchamel, all the way to the edges. Sprinkle with grated cheese.
Top half of the slices with one or two slices of ham. And close the sandwich (bechamel/cheese side in!), so that you end up with these layers: bread, béchamel, cheese, ham, cheese, béchamel and bread.
Magical combination, right?!?
But wait, that is not all!
The best part of this sandwich, and what makes it the messiest fork-recommended sandwich that you can eat: Top the sandwich with one more layer of béchamel and more shredded gruyere on top.
Bake in upper part of the oven for 5 to 10 minutes until melty, bubbly and golden! And simply amazing!
NOTES:
If the béchamel sauce is not smooth after whisking, you can use an immersion blender which will smooth it out quickly.
You can easily make this Croque Monsieur into a Crocque Madame, you just need to add a fried egg sunny-side up and place it on top of the sandwich.
Ready to try it too?!? Bon Apetit!
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