There is a ton of leftover baked ham in my refrigerator from Easter dinner this past weekend.  This is a good thing because it’s an opportunity to make a Croque-Madame.  I love the Croque-Madame and consider it to be a romanticized version of the typical grilled ham and cheese sandwich because it’s made extra special by topping with a Béchamel or Mornay sauce and a fried or poached egg.  Now that’s my kind of sandwich!

A good friend of mine told me about how a person can get arrested for eating a sandwich in Thailand.  Can you imagine?  Eating a sandwich in public gets you arrested?  Well, I did some research on it and, apparently this all went down when Thailand went under military rule last Spring.  In Bangkok, some student pro-democracy activists were staging sandwich eat-ins in lieu of protesting but the Thai military still saw it as an anti-coup intent and declared it criminal activity.  As a result, people got arrested for eating their sandwiches in public.  I tell you, there is some crazy sh*t that goes on in this world.  Anyway, my friend agreed with me about the world’s craziness so she suggested I make a sandwich and write a post about it.

In choosing the right “sammie” for this post, I thought “what sandwich would I be okay with getting arrested for eating?”  I mean, you can’t make any old sandwich and then get throw in jail.  Where’s the respectability in that?  It’s got to be a really great one, something special.  I knew then I would have to make my favorite brunch sandwich in the whole wide world, the Croque-Madame.  I love this sandwich so much that I would risk being locked up for an undetermined amount of time in a jail cell.  The good news is I live in the U.S. and I’m not planning on going over to Thailand anytime soon, so I can eat my Croque-Madame in total peace without becoming a member of the ‘orange is the new black’ group.

The Croque-Madame is a Croque-Monsieur with an egg on top.  The Croque-Monsieur originated in the early 1900s and was served as a quick snack in the cafés of Paris, France.  It’s a baked ham and cheese sandwich topped with a Béchamel sauce and more cheese.  I think it’s essential to use a really good fresh bread and to use Gruyère for the cheese.  When I made this recipe, my local bakery had some fresh Italian loaves with an everything seasoning on the crust (as in the same seasoning used for everything bagels, another one of my favorites).  That’s the bread I used and it was excellent!  I’ve also made a few changes to the typical recipe, like adding the Gruyère to the Béchamel to make it a Mornay sauce and frying my sandwich first in butter.  Extra butter=extra yum!

The Croque-Madame is so delicious for breakfast or brunch and yet is substantial enough for dinner.  Hope you make and enjoy this sandwich as much as I do.  Also, feel free to leave off the egg and have it as a Croque-Monsieur, if you wish

5.0 from 1 reviews

Croque-Madame

 

Print

Prep time

5 mins

Cook time

15 mins

Total time

20 mins

 

Author: Tasty Ever After

Serves: 2 sandwiches

Ingredients

• 4 Tb unsalted butter, softened and divided
• 2 Tb all-purpose flour
• 1 cup milk
• 1 cup Gruyère cheese, shredded and divided
• 1½ tsp Dijon mustard
• salt and pepper to taste
• freshly grated nutmeg to taste
• 4 slices of a good quality bread
• 2-4 slices of a good quality cooked ham
• 2 fresh eggs

Instructions

1. FOR THE MORNAY SAUCE:
2. In a small saucepan over medium-low heat, make a roux by melting 2 Tb butter and stirring in the flour. Cook for about 2 minutes and then slowly add the milk, whisking constantly for another 2 minutes. Reduce heat to low and simmer for about 5 minutes, whisking occasionally, until mixture thickens. Stir into the sauce ½ cup of the cheese, the Dijon mustard, and salt, pepper, and nutmeg to taste. Set aside.
3. Assemble the sandwiches by spreading 1-2 tablespoons of the Mornay sauce on one side of each piece of bread, layer with the ham and remaining cheese and place together to form the sandwich. Spread remaining butter on the outside of the bread slices and place buttered side down in a skillet over medium-low heat. Cook until both sides are golden brown and cheese is melted inside. Transfer sandwiches to a baking sheet. Set skillet aside to cook the eggs later.
4. Preheat broiler. Divide the remaining Mornay sauce over the top of each sandwich and broil until the tops are browned and bubbling.
5. While the sandwiches are broiling, lightly fry the eggs sunny-side up over medium heat in the skillet. Remove the sandwiches from the broiler and top each one with an egg. Use a fork and knife to devour the Croque-Madame and make another one because it's soooo good!

3.2.2929

The post Croque-Madame appeared first on .

Read the original on: Tasty Ever After