Croque Monsieur EDITED

[elleng]

WHY THIS RECIPE WORKS
We were looking for a truly impressive version of this French bistro favorite—one with crisp, buttered bread; salty-sweet ham; a creamy white sauce; and plenty of nutty Gruyère cheese. We chose to amp up the béchamel sauce

GATHER YOUR INGREDIENTS

Sandwiches
8 slices hearty white sandwich bread
4 tablespoons unsalted butter, melted
12 ounces thinly sliced Black Forest deli ham
¼ cup grated Parmesan cheese
4 ounces Gruyère cheese, shredded (1 cup)

Mornay Sauce
2 tablespoons unsalted butter
2 tablespoons all-purpose flour
1 cup whole milk
4 ounces Gruyère cheese, shredded (1 cup)
¼ cup grated Parmesan cheese
½ teaspoon salt
¼ teaspoon pepper
Pinch ground nutmeg

INSTRUCTIONS
For the sandwiches: Adjust oven rack 6 inches from broiler element and heat oven to 375 degrees. Line rimmed baking sheet with aluminum foil and spray with vegetable oil spray.

2
Brush bread on both sides with melted butter and place on prepared sheet. Bake until light golden brown on top, about 10 minutes. Remove sheet from oven and flip slices. Return to oven and bake until golden brown on second side, about 3 minutes. Reserve 4 slices for sandwich tops; evenly space remaining 4 slices on sheet.

3
For the Mornay sauce: Melt butter in small saucepan over medium heat. Whisk in flour and cook for 1 minute. Slowly whisk in milk and bring to boil. Once boiling, remove from heat and quickly whisk in Gruyère, Parmesan, salt, pepper, and nutmeg until smooth.

4
Spread 1 tablespoon Mornay on each slice of toast on sheet. Then, folding ham slices over themselves multiple times so they bunch up, divide ham evenly among slices of toast. Spread 2 tablespoons Mornay on 1 side of each reserved slice of toast and place slices Mornay side down on top of ham.

5
Spread 2 tablespoons Mornay evenly over top of each sandwich, making sure to completely cover toast, including edges (exposed edges can burn under broiler). Sprinkle sandwiches with Parmesan, followed by Gruyère.

6
Bake until cheese on top of sandwiches is melted, about 5 minutes. Turn on broiler and broil until cheese bubbles across tops of sandwiches and edges are spotty brown, about 5 minutes. Serve.

https://www.americastestkitchen.com/recipes/11134-croque-monsieur?

((Fancier than those I've had, but a favorite. BEST one I've had was, of course, in Paris, @ Montmartre.))

[msongs]

1. login required nt

[usonian]

2. Some no-login alternatives.

All the recipes except one that I found use a béchamel sauce.

This is typical for a béchamel based one.
https://www.thespruceeats.com/traditional-croque-monsieur-recipe-1374995

Now, for lazy folks, this one doesn't, and it's more like my "slap things together and heat them" Reuben.
https://www.foodnetwork.com/recipes/croque-monsieur-recipe-1915918

Uses tomato for your veggie boost.

In 2 paragraphs:
2 cups grated Gruyere or Swiss cheese
1/2 cup mayonnaise
3 tablespoons Dijon mustard
1 tablespoon prepared horseradish
6 slices Pullman bread or other high quality white bread
9 to 12 slices ham
2 tomatoes, thinly sliced
Butter, as needed

In a medium bowl, mix the grated cheese, mayonnaise, Dijon mustard, and horseradish. Place a liberal layer of the cheese on 1 side of each of the 6 slices of bread. Place the ham and tomato slices on 3 of the pieces of the cheese topped bread, then top them with the remaining 3 slices of bread to form a sandwich. Place butter in a large saute pan over low to medium heat. Add the sandwiches to the melted butter and slowly brown them on both sides while allowing the cheese to melt inside.

I use Paprika Recipe Manager to scrub and save recipes in a clean format. Even works on NYT. But nothing breaks the ATK login wall.

[hippywife]

3. I've never made them...

probably because it's hard to justify the price of gruyere, but always thought this recipe looked incredibly good (even tho Bruno Albouze can be somewhat annoying to watch.)

[elleng]

4. I enjoy eating them A LOT,

but sadly none reasonably available to me any more.