Croque Monsieur Sandwich Recipe
Grilled cheese sandwiches can be temperamental. Get them too hot and you can scorch the bread. Not hot enough and the cheese doesn't fully melt.Using clarified butter helps, because you can get the pan hotter. But even heating is as important as the temperature itself. So unless you have a griddle on your rangetop, it's best to cook one sandwich at a time, in a single pan.
Therefore, this recipe makes one sandwich. If you want to double the recipe and make two sandwiches at once, use two separate pans.
For this recipe you'll also need a small amount of béchamel, a basic white sauce.
Prep Time: 4 minutes
Cook Time: 5 minutes
Ingredients:
- 2 slices white bread
- 1 Tbsp clarified butter (or unsalted butter), soft
- 2 tsp Dijon mustard
- ¼ cup grated Gruyère cheese (Jarlsberg or Monterey Jack may be substituted. See variations below.)
- 2 Tbsp béchamel sauce
- 2 oz. sliced ham (1 slice)
Preparation:
- Trim the crusts off of the bread, making the slices as square as possible.
- Spread both slices of bread with butter, then flip them over and spread them lightly with Dijon mustard.
- In a bowl, combine the cheese and béchamel sauce and mix until the cheese is fully coated.
- Spoon the cheese mixture onto the bread, half on each slice, and spread it evenly. Lay the sliced ham atop one of the sandwich halves, then press both halves together. You should now have a sandwich that is buttered on the outside, with a slice of ham between two layers of the cheese mixture.
- Spray a bit of cooking spray onto the surface of a nonstick pan. Heat the pan over a medium heat until the oil is hot and glistening but not quite smoking.
- Place the sandwich into the pan and cook for about 2 minutes, or until the bottom of the bread is a nice shade of golden-brown.
- Use a nonstick spatula to flip the sandwich over. Lower the heat a bit and cover the pan. Cook for another minute or two, or until the second slice of bread is also golden brown and the cheese inside the sandwich is fully melted.
- Slice diagonally and serve right away.
- Muenster, Gouda, Fontina and Comté are good to use instead or in combination with the Gruyère.
- Substitute sliced cooked chicken breast for ham.
- Instead of white bread, use sourdough. Leave crusts on.
- Top finished sandwich with a fried egg to make a Croque Madame, possibly named because the egg resembles a ladies' hat.
