“Open-Face” Croque Monsieur
by Val Cucine“Open-Face” Croque Monsieur
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Category
Sandwich
The name here is based on the word Croque implying "crispy" and the word Monsieur meaning "mister".
It was believed that the concept of this sandwich accidently came to be, when French workers left their lunch pails by a hot radiator and came back later to discover the cheese in their sandwiches had melted.
However, no one knows for sure that theory is true, but we do know that the sandwich's first appearance was on a Parisian cafe menu in 1910 and its earliest mention in literature appears to be in the volume two of Proust’s In Search of Lost Time in 1918.
The Croque Monsieur is a classic French ham and cheese sandwich covered in cheesy béchamel. It becomes a Croque Madame when a fried egg is placed on top of it.
Croque Monsieur is casually referred to as a Croque and has many recipe variations, as it has cooks. This crunchy sandwich is served as an appetizer, snack, or a casual meal.
Ingredients
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1 tablespoon unsalted butter
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1 tablespoon all-purpose flour
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1-½ cups whole milk
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4 thick slices of good French bread
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1/8 teaspoon grounded nutmeg
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1/8 teaspoon grounded black pepper
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2 cups grated Gruyere cheese (about 4 ounces), divided
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4 ounces smoked ham, sliced
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2 teaspoons Dijon mustard
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A couple sprigs of Italian parsley, finely chopped
Directions
Preheat the air fryer @ “ROAST” to 390F/200C; spray the wire basket with cooking oil spray.
Make the Bechamel sauce by melting the butter in a small saucepan over medium-low heat. After a few minutes it will start to bubble.
Once the bubbles are seen, add the flour and begin to whisk continuously. Cook, whisking, for two or three minutes until smooth and bubbly.
Pour the milk in very slowly while continue to whisk.
Cook and whisk for another 4 or 5 minutes, until thick. Once the sauce is thick, turn off the heat and add the nutmeg, the black pepper and 1/3 of the cheese. Set aside.
Meanwhile, place the bread in the oven and toast for 4-5 minutes until lightly brown, depending on the thickness of the bread.
Remove the toast from the oven and spread the mustard on one sides of the bread.
Now spread a healthy portion of the Bechamel sauce over the top half of the bread, place one half the ham over each piece of the bread and over the sauce in a pile.
Drizzle a little more of the Bechamel sauce over the ham and then more of the Gruyere cheese.
Place both the sandwich halves under the broiler for another 4 minutes.
After the sandwich halves are out of the oven, sprinkle some black pepper & chopped parsley over top, serve immediately.