Croque-Monsieur

Tonight's dish is compliments of the movie "It's Complicated" starring one of my favorite actresses, Meryl Streep. In the film, Streep plays a divorced woman who begins an affair with her ex-husband (Alec Baldwin) and a friendship with a sweet, funny architect (Steve Martin). At one point in the movie, Streep and Martin are having a dinner at her house that he is redesigning and she makes dinner for the two of them. The delightful sandwiches she makes are called croque-monsieur. Being myself, I HAD to find out what these sandwiches consisted of! Turns out, they are a simple grilled ham and cheese sandwich. 

As always, from Wikipedia, "A croque-monsieur is a grilled ham and cheese sandwich. It originated in French cafes and bars as a quick snack. Typically, Emmental or Gruyere cheese is used. The name is based on the verb croquer ("to crunch") and the word monsieur ("mister"). The sandwich's first recorded appearance on a Parisian cafe menu was in 1910. Its earliest mention in literature appears to be in volume two of Proust's In Search of Lost Time in 1918."

There is a variation of croque-monsieur called a croque-madame that is served with a fried or poached egg on top. There's a ton of other variations but I've never tried any besides the croque-madame because my hubby likes them. 

Now, if you've never had a recipe that calls for it, you may not know that Gruyere cheese is super-duper expensive. I mean, like basically, just place a couple twenty dollar bills on your sandwiches instead. So, being cheap like I am, I don't use Gruyere. I use mozzarella or swiss or pepper jack, or whatever I happen to have on hand. I usually don't use cheddar because I like the taste of mozzarella or swiss better. Also, I use lunch meat ham slices and in this instance, I used regular wheat bread. Typically, I will use bread that I've made myself but being busy and sick, I didn't feel like making bread today.

What You Need:

• sliced bread
• sliced ham
• mozzarella or swiss cheese slices
• butter
• grated parmesan cheese
• mustard
• cookie sheet
• aluminum foil

How to Do It:
First, put aluminum foil on your cookie sheet and preheat your oven to 350° F. Next, place a slice of bread on the foil and then stack your ham and cheese on top. Butter a slice of bread on one side. Finish off your sandwich with the slice of bread, butter side up, and shake some of the parmesan cheese over the bread. Pop your sandwich into the oven for about 15 minutes or until the parmesan is starting to brown and the cheese is starting to melt. After your kitchen starts smelling heavenly, remove the sandwich from the oven and serve with mustard. I usually like spicy brown mustard but regular works too. As well as any other kind that floats your boat.




Disclaimer: I will warn you that thin bread slices, like the kind I used can turn out soggy because of the water in the ham slices. I prefer homemade bread and if you need a good recipe for it, I've got one so be sure to comment if you'd like to know how to make it!

Bon Appétit!