Croque-monsieur

A recipe from cooking-ez.com

For 6 Croque-monsieurs, you will need:

• 1 12 slices sandwich bread
• 2 3 slices ham
• 3 250 g bechamel sauce
• 4 150 g grated cheese
• Total weight: 1,030 grams

Times:

Preparation	Cooking	Start to finish
25 min.	25 min.	50 min.

Step by step recipe

• 1: Begin by cutting the crusts off 12 slices sandwich bread.
• 2: Cut 3 slices ham to the size of the bread slices.
• 3: Lightly fry the slices of ham in a very hot pan for just a few seconds on each side.
• 4: Spread béchamel sauce on 2 slices of bread (tip: use a broad-bladed knife or palette knife).
  Place a piece of ham on top of the sauce on one slice of bread.
• 5: Then put the other slice of bread on the ham and sprinkle with grated cheese.
• 6: Place the croque-monsieur on a baking sheet.
  Preheat the oven to 200°C (390°F).
• 7: If you are making several croque-monsieurs, it is worth setting up a production line, i.e. spread béchamel sauce on all the bread, then arrange all the slices of ham, etc. This is much faster than doing one at a time.
• 8: Once all your croque-monsieurs are assembled, put the baking sheet into a hot oven.
• 9: Cook for about twenty minutes, watching carefully for colouring.
  You can put them under the grill to brown if necessary at the end.
• 10: Serve hot or warm if possible, with a green salad for example.

Remarks

You can use whatever ham you prefer; I find that it's best with smoked ham, but it's a matter of taste. The same goes for the cheese. Gruyère, or even better Comté, will give you the best croque-monsieur.
yYu can cut the left-over crusts into small pieces and fry them in a little clarified butter or oil, to make small croutons which are great for adding to salads, for example.

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