Croque Monsieur - French Cheese and Ham Toastie

Introduction & method

A properly made croque monsieur makes our humble cheese and ham toastie look like a very sad thing indeed. 'Croque', by the way, means 'crunch' or 'bite'. 'Monsieur' is 'man' or 'gentleman', so this is a crunchy bite for a bloke.

Croque Monsieur - French Cheese and Ham Toastie Recipe

Make béchamel sauce

Melt the butter in a small saucepan then stir in the flour and blendit with the butter so it forms a paste. Let it cook for a minute then add half of the mixed milk and cream. Keep stirring and when it thickens add the nutmeg, salt and pepper. Keep cooking until the sauce has a consistency like soft butter. Remove from heat and set aside - it doesn't matter if it cools somewhat.

Assemble the sandwiches

The cheese can be a mixture of your choice as long as the cheeses are tasty and melty. Gruyere, emmental, cheddar and comté are all good. The best bread for this is thick-cut sourdough - ordinary pre-sliced sandwich bread won't be strong enough to hold everything together. Lightly toast the bread on both sides - your toaster slots probably won't be wide enough so you'll need to do it under a grill/broiler. Spread one side of each slice with béchamel, but save about half of it for topping. Grate your cheeses and mix them together with half of the mustard. Spread half of this on two slices of bread. Cover the cheese with ham and spread the ham with the remaining mustard. Dollop on the rest of the cheese and close the sandwiches with the remaining bread slices.

Fry the sandwiches

Melt the butter in a frying pan or skillet over medium heat. Place your sandwiches in and cook for two minutes on each side. Remove from the pan.

Bake/grill the sandwiches

Heat your oven to 180° Celsius (356° Fahrenheit) for a fan/convection/airfryer oven, or 200° Celsius (392° Fahrenheit) for a conventional one, or gas 6. Place thesandwiches in and cook for 10 minutes. Remove from the oven and switch on your grill/broiler. Spread the croques monsieur with the remaining béchamel sauce and sprinkle with the cheddar and parmesan mix. Sit them under the grill until the cheese is melted and bubbling - about 3 minutes. You'll prabably need to use a knife and fork to eat this - bon appetit!