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.

---