Mid Week Meal Time + Croque Madam
Even though I've just moved house, I actually haven't been home all that much. I think I'm a little exhausted. So as you can imagine, my food intake over the last little while hasn't been all that great. Toast has featured heavily, as well as the the sandwiches I've been nicking from work to take home for dinner. Not being a big bread eater normally, I'm starting to suffer!
Even though this dish involves more bread, it was my dinner of choice for a couple of nights......
Croque Madam
Paris to Provence Cookbook - Authors - Ethel Brennan and Sara Remington
2 tbsp butter | 2 tbsp flour | 1 1/2 cups of milk | nutmeg | salt | 2 tbsp butter | 1 tbsp Dijon mustard | 4 slices soft bread | 4 slices of good quality baked ham, thinly sliced | Gruyere cheese, sliced | 2 eggs |
- For the béchamel, melt butter in a small pan. Remove from the heat and add the flour and stir until smooth. Return to a medium heat and gradually add the milk, whisking continuously into a smooth sauce. Simmer gently until the sauce has thickened and no longer tastes like flour. Add the nutmeg and salt and pepper to taste. Set aside.
- Butter the outside of each slice of bread and spread the mustard on the unbuttered side. Arrange the ham and cheese. The recipe calls for adding the bechamel sauce to the top of the sandwich and placing the sandwich under a grill. This is great if you can get your grill to work, so I simply spread the bechamel inside the sandwich and cooked it in the frying pan.
- Meanwhile, fry the eggs until the white is cooked but the yolk is still soft, or to your taste. and place the toasts on a plate and top with the egg.
- Note - any extra sauce can be easily frozen for next time.
...wow, my pants are starting to feel tight....whoa nelly!