A staple of French familial cuisine, ‘croque-monsieur’ (literally “bite-mister”) originated as a quick snack in French cafés and you can still find it at numerous restaurants in Paris. Besides the ham and cheese, the key is the ‘sauce béchamel’, which gives that creamy texture to the whole.
I grew up waiting impatiently for the next time we would make croque-monsieur at home. I’ve always liked devouring it alternating between a creamy bite of the ham-cheese center and a crunchy bite of the baked slices of bread.
For egg lovers, add a fried egg on top to make it a ‘croque-madame’.
Croque-monsieur
Course: Appetizers, MainCuisine: FrenchDifficulty: Easy4
croque-monsieur30
minutes10
minutes40
minutesIngredients
- For the ‘béchamel’ sauce
30 g 30 flour
30 g 30 butter
30 cl 30 cold milk
Salt to taste
Nutmeg to taste
- For the croque-monsieur
8 8 slices of bread
200 g 200 uncured ham
100 g 100 grated cheese (gruyère, emmental, or comté)
10 g 10 chopped chives
Directions
- To make the ‘béchamel’ sauce
- In a pan, melt butter on low heat.
- Add flour and whisk for a few minutes.
- Add milk little by little, while whisking.
The mixture will thicken after a few minutes. - Add salt and nutmeg to taste.
- Transfer to a bowl and let sit in the fridge.
- To make the croque-monsieur
- Spread ‘béchamel’ on all 8 slices of bread.
- Spread half the grated cheese on 4 of the slices.
- Add ham on top of the cheese.
- Stack up the slices together: the “naked” slices (i.e. those without cheese and ham) will go on top of the other slices.
- Spread the second half of the cheese.
- Bake at 175°C/350°F for 10 minutes, then use the broil mode for a couple of minutes, until the cheese is slightly golden.
- Take out of the oven and wait a few minutes until the croque-monsieur cool down.
- Cut in triangles (optional). Sprinkle some chopped chives before serving.
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