CROQUE MONSIEUR AND CROQUE MADAME

I have been away from my blog for awhile. First, I spent some time with family at Thanksgiving. That was a lot fun. What has not been fun is frustration in uploading my images to Word Press. Over the last several days, I have worked closely with the folks at Word Press. They demonstrated remarkable knowledge and incredible patience. Together, we were unable to solve the problem. Then I changed to an old wireless router I had replaced a while back and everything – well, nearly everything – worked again. Frustration over.

Recently I wrote about baking pain de mie for the express purpose of making croque monsieur and croque madame sandwiches. That is exactly what I did with the bread. If you are a big fan of these sandwiches, you already know that there are many, many recipes  some of them not much more than an American grilled cheese and others very elaborate

There are, however, some absolute essentials: good bread (hence the pain de mie), the best sliced ham you can find, and Gruyère cheese. Of course for the croque madame, you will need a perfectly fried egg.

You can sauté the sandwiches  in a pan, broil them, toast them in a panini press, or use a traditional French sandwich mold that makes them look a bit like a giant madeleine.  Then you have to decide whether or not you want to go to the trouble of making a béchamel to moisten the contents and provide a topping  – with more Gruyère, of course – that can be browned under a broiler.

Inside patterns of the French sandwich toaster

Sandwich toaster in the closed position

Toasted croque monsieur

Croque monsieur with béchamel and broiled Gruyére

This, then, is only one version, but it was fun to make. I chose to use the French sandwich press that has been hanging for years on our kitchen wall as a sort of decoration. I also added some béchamel.

Frying eggs for the croque madames

Croque madame

RECIPES

Béchamel

Ingredients

• 2 tablespoons butter
• 2 tablespoons flour
• 1 cup whipping cream
• salt and white pepper

Method

1. In a small saucepan over medium heat, melt the butter and then stir in the flour. Cook for a few minutes, stirring constantly, to make a light roux. Be careful not to brown.
2. Stir in the cream and bring to a simmer. Stir until the sauce is thickened. Remove from heat.
3. Adjust seasoning with slat and white pepper.  Set aside.

Croque monsieur

Ingredients

• 4 slices pain de mie
• 4 tablespoons béchamel
• 4 thin slices ham
• 2 slices Gruyère
• 4 tablespoons butter, melted
• béchamel
• sliced Gruyère

Method

1. Spread béchamel on one side of each slice of bread
2. Arrange one slice of ham on each slice of bread. Then place a slice of Gruyère on two of the slices. Form into two sandwiches.
3. With a pastry brush, paint both sides of both sandwiches with the melted butter and arrange the sandwiches in the sandwich mold.
4. Close the sandwich mold and heat over an open flame on your range, turning once or twice until the sandwiches are well-toasted on both sides.
5. Place the finished sandwiches on oven-proof plates, top with more béchamel and Gruyère, and place briefly under a broiler until the sauce is bubbling and the cheese is lightly browned. Serve immediately.

Croque madame

Ingredients

• 1 croque monsieur sandwich
• 1 fried egg

Method

1. Top the sandwich with the fried egg.
2. Serve immediately