We have bread and then we have cheese and both of those go so well together. Be it a traditional Swiss cheese sandwich, with Emmenthal on dark crusty bread, spread thick with butter. Or a French baguette, sliced in half – again spread thick with butter and topped with either Gruyere or creamy Camembert. Leaving continental Europe, you’ll encounter the grilled cheese sandwich – buttery bread, fried long enough in a pan to melt whatever crazy cheese combination you choose. Be it the basic Kraft cheese slice or adding a slew of veggies, bacon and other meats to fancier cheeses. I guess, one could determine that a large amount of people love bread combined with cheese.
When I lived in Paris, a typical café meal would be a Croque Monsieur – again, bread with cheese. But being French, said bread and cheese was elevated by adding decadent Béchamel sauce and baking the sandwich to create a heavenly concoction – which by no means was good for the hips – but at barely 20 years of age and miles of walking in high-heeled boots, there was no reason to stop eating it.
15 + years later (ouch!), I order a Croque Monsieur at our local French bistro restaurant here in Ottawa. It’s amazingly good and amazingly decadent. Because I don’t walk that much in this city – it’s best not to order it too often. But then I made it at home, and I don’t even feel guilty, because it was so good! Well, maybe I worked off the guilt with an early morning hot Yoga class the next day.
Ingredients
- Approximately 3 tablespoons unsalted butter
- Approximately 1/4 cup all-purpose flour
- 2 cups milk - room temperature or warmed
- 1 cup Gruyere cheese, grated, plus 8 thin slices
- Coarse salt
- Freshly ground white pepper
- Freshly ground nutmeg
- 8 slices brioche, cut 1/2-inch thick
- 8 pieces of thinly sliced baked ham
Instructions
- Preheat oven to 450 degrees. Cover baking sheet with parchment; set aside.
- In a medium saucepan, melt butter over medium-high heat. Add flour, and cook until foaming, whisking constantly, for 3 minutes.
- Slowly add warm milk to butter-flour mixture, whisking to prevent lumps from forming. Bring mixture to a boil. Reduce heat to low, and cook 2 minutes more. Remove from heat and stir in 1/2 cup grated cheese, and season with salt, white pepper, nutmeg, and cayenne. Continue stirring until thickened - about 2-3 minutes.
- Place 4 pieces of bread on prepared baking sheet and spread each piece with a 1/4 cup of sauce. Cover sauce with a slice of cheese, a slice of ham, and another slice of cheese. Top each sandwich with remaining 4 slices of toast. Spread each sandwich with 1/4 cup sauce and sprinkle evenly with remaining 1/2 cup grated cheese.
- Bake sandwiches until heated through, about 5 minutes. Preheat broiler; transfer baking sheet to broiler and broil until golden brown and bubbly, 2 to 3 minutes. Serve immediately.
Notes
Add a fried egg to the top of the sandwich and make it a Croque Madam - a decadent breakfast choice.
