A Croque Madame is a variation of the famous Croque Monsieur recipe. It is a sandwich with baked ham, Gruyere cheese and béchamel sauce, topped with a fried egg.
Ingredients (for 2)
- 4 slices sandwich bread
- 4 slices ham
- 1/4 cup Gruyere cheese
- 2 eggs
- 1 cup milk
- 2 tbsp Parmesan cheese
- 2 tbsp butter
- 1/2 tbsp mustard
- 1/4 tsp nutmeg
- 3 tbsp wheat flour
- 2 tbsp vegetable oil
- salt
Directions
- Preheat oven to 400° F (200° C)
- Grate or thinly chop the Gruyere cheese and set aside
- Prepare the béchamel sauce: take a saucepan and melt butter at medium/low heat, paying attention that it doesn’t turn brown
- When the butter has melted, stir in the flour and continue stirring until smooth and with a sandy but not brown color (about 3-4 minutes)
- Start to gradually stir in milk, whisking constantly
- As the sauce starts to thicken, add more milk, calibrating the quantity to get to the desired thickness
- After a few minutes, your sauce will get glossy, smooth and thick
- Season with nutmeg and salt, add grated Parmesan cheese, stir and set aside
- Place the sandwich slices on a baking sheet and toast them in the oven, 1-2 minutes per side, until lightly toasted
- Remove from oven and brush half of the toasted slices with mustard
- Add the baked ham slices and 2/3 of Gruyere cheese
- Top with the other toasted bread slices
- Turn on the broiler in the oven and place the sandwich back on the baking sheet
- Pour the sauce over the sandwich and sprinkle remaining Gruyere cheese on top
- Broil for 3 minutes or until cheese on top bubbles and is lightly browned
- In the meantime, take a frying pan and fry an egg in vegetable oil
- When the sandwich is ready top it with the fried egg and serve!
Cambooza 