Croque Madame



Originated in France as a fast-food snack, and served in cafés and bistros, croque Monsieur is the hot ham and cheese grilled sandwich we all love. 
A croque monsieur topped with a fried or poached egg, is a croque madame, or in parts of Normandy, a croque-à-cheval.
I love this sandwich with french pressed coffee for brunch, and I also love it with a glass of wine for dinner. That’s particularly why I love this sandwich, because it can go either way: breakfast or dinner.



Ingredients (serves 4):

8 slices of white bread
4 tsp of Dijon mustard
½ pound smoked ham, thinly sliced
¾ cup shredded cheese (Gruyère)
3 tbsp unsalted butter
3 tbsp all purpose flour
2 cups milk
Dash of salt and pepper
4 large eggs

The sauce:
In a saucepan, melt 3 tbsp of butter, add 3 tbsp of flour and whisk continuously for abt 3 mn. Add the milk, whisking constantly. Bring the mixture to a boil, then simmer 5 mn, whisking periodically, until thickened. Remove from heat and add ½ cup of the cheese. Season with salt and pepper and stir until the cheese is melted and combined.

The sandwiches:
For each sandwich, apply about a teaspoon of mustard on one side of the bread. Pile the ham on top of the mustard. On the other piece of bread, spoon about 1 to 2 tbsp of bechamel-cheese sauce and spread it evenly. Add about 1 tbsp of shredded cheese on top of the sauce and close the sandwich. Repeat for each of the sandwiches.

Preheat the broiler.

In a non stick griddle pan, grill the sandwiches on both sides until golden.
Remove the sandwiches to a baking dish. Spoon about ⅓ cup of the sauce on each of the sandwiches. Place the dish under the broiler for approximately 2 minutes, or until the sauce is browned.

Now fry 4 eggs until the whites are cooked and the egg is just sunny side up perfection. On each sandwich, place one egg and serve immediately.



Ingrédients (4 personnes):

8 tranches de pain de mie
4 càs de moutarde de Dijon
4 tranches de jambon
150 g de Gruyère
40 g de beurre
40 g de farine
45 cl de lait
sel et poivre
4 œufs

La sauce:
Dans une casserole, faites fondre le beurre, ajoutez la farine et fouettez environ 3 mn. Versez le lait, petit à petit, tout en fouettant. Portez à ébullition, puis réduisez le feu et laissez la sauce s'épaissir tout en continuant de fouetter. Hors feu, ajoutez 100 g de gruyère et mélangez jusqu'à ce qu'elle fond. Assaisonnez de sel et de poivre.

Les sandwiches:
Sur un pain de mie, étalez une càc de moutarde. Déposez une tranche de jambon dessus. Sur l'autre pain étalez 1 à 2 càs de sauce puis saupoudrez 1 càs de gruyère dessus. Fermez le sandwich et répétez avec les autres pain.

Préchauffez le grill four.

Dans une poêle, faites griller les sandwiches des 2 côtés. Transférez les dans un plat allant au four. Étalez sur le dessus des sandwiches 2 càs de sauce. Placez les sous le grill 2 mn.

Faites cuire 4 oeufs au plat dans une poêle. Sortez les croque du four et déposez-y l'oeuf au plat dessus.

Comments

  1. Yum, It is breakfast time for me here in Sydney and this looks so perfect!

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  2. Mmmhhhh, terrific! That egg is cooked to perfection.

    Cheers,

    Rosa

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  3. Such a classic open sandwich. It's one of my favorite thing to have for lunch.

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  4. Oh heck yeah!!!!!! That looks like a perfect dish! I have a page ripped out of a magazine with a recipe for that and have been drooling over it for weeks. I am so happy a blogger friend made one of these!!! Now it is my turn!

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  5. This is beautiful - it's amazing how putting the egg on top of the bread (rather in it) can make it more substantial and classy.

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  6. Love this French classic. So simple but so delicious!

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  7. Croque Madame is one of my favorite foods! Beautiful photos : )

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  8. I love croque-monsieur and croque madame would be my second choice (I am not crazy about eggs); your photo is splendid!

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  9. What a delicious-looking sandwich! I've never had the Croque Madam and didn't know the difference between the two until now.

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  10. Fantastic! I wish I were so lucky as to have one of these right now.

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  11. I've never ate this before, but it looks delish! Merci!

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  12. That looks absolutely delicious! Beautiful photos :)

    Cheers,

    Tanja

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  13. Chicho, I just Love this French snack! Looks extremely delicious :)

    Great Shots,

    Cheers,

    Aldy.

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  14. A classic for good reason. The fried egg on top looks fantastic!

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  15. Oh man, you have got that egg fried just right. All that yolk melting into the cheese and given a meaty salty flavour by the ham. This is indeed a classic for a reason. Robust, tasty and quick to make. Ideal simple supper food.

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  16. ton croque madame est parfait! tellement plus "sexy" que le croque mr ;)

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  17. Oh my goodness!! That looks so unbelievably good! I love this type of dish for a late breakfast or even lunch. Heck, I would have it for dinner any time!

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