Croque Monsieur Recipe - Laura Vitale - Laura in the Kitchen

 Hi guys, I'm Laura Vitale and on this episode of Laura in the Kitchen I want to share withyou one of my favorite, what I call fancy sandwiches.  It is something that I make oncein a while for my husband and I.  It is a real treat, but I love getting this every timewe go to a French cafe or a French bistro.  It is a Croque Monsieur! It is really a Frenchham and cheese sandwich.  Not to be confused with a Monte Cristo, that is a different kindof sandwich.  I often hear people confuse the two.  This is a Croque Monsieur and in a differentvideo I will show you how to make a Monte Cristo.  But the ingredients you will needare not very many - not any fancy ingredients.  I have got some Swiss here but you could usegruyere and I have got some ham, this is just deli ham and some Swiss cheese.  You will needsome Parmigianino Reggiano, nutmeg, butter, flour, milk, salt and pepper, Dijon mustardand some bread.  I am using my homemade honey wheat bread because it is hearty enough tostand up to this dish, gives it a touch of sweetness with the salty cheeses and the saltyham.  It is just a really incredible combination - it is amazing.  Traditionally use a whitebread or like a rustic French bread.  But that is what I am using.  I use different kindsof bread all the time depending on what I have on hand, what I decided to bake thatweek.  So that is what I am using.  Now I have got my oven preheated to 400F degrees.  WhatI am going to do is, I have a baking sheet that I have lined with some aluminum foiland I am going to brush a little bit of melted butter on both sides of my bread because Iam going to toast this.  I want the bread to be toasted because I feel like it holds upto the sandwich much better when it is toasted.  So I am just going to brush it on both sideswith some butter because it gives it not only great flavor but it also helps it get niceand golden brown.  Do that on both sides.  Good I used up all my butter.  I am going to putthis into the oven for about ten minutes or until it is really beautiful lovely goldenbrown and toasted.  I am most likely going to flip it half way through or just keep myeye on it and flip it if I need to just to make sure both sides are golden brown andtoasted.  In this little saucepan I have got my butter melting and I am going to add tothat my flour.  Now what we a making is a really quick béchamel, a really quick and easy creamsauce because traditionally Monte Cristo has béchamel with it.  Now don't think to yourselfI am not going to go through all that trouble for a ham and cheese sandwich.  This literallytakes minutes to do and it is a total treat, something that I would make for the weekendor something like that.  Now I just added my milk and you can see that the flour is stillin clumps but once everything heats up everything melts and it is just perfect.  It really isone of the most delicious fancy sandwiches and my husband and I absolutely love it.  Ilove this with a frisee salad with some lardons and maybe even a poached egg if I am feelingfancy.  If I am not feeling like doing a poached egg maybe I will do a Croque Madame whichis a Croque Monsieur with an egg on top.  I will show you that in a different episode,it is delicious.  I am just going to let this cook until everything thickens and I am waitingfor that flour to pretty much melt completely.  This should not take very long at all.  Thatis looking good, nice and thick.  I am going to add my grated Parmigianino, I just gratedsome Parmigianino Reggiano.  I am actually going to turn that off.  And now I am goingto add some salt and pepper and a touch of nutmeg.  Easy on the nutmeg because it cango from delicious to pumpkin pie spice.  It is a pretty strong spice so you want to makesure that you go kind of light on it.  But it does, I think, add a world of a differenceto your cream sauce.  Stir that in.  It is going to be nice and thick especially now that youhave added your cheese it is really thick.  I am going to set this aside and check onmy bread, get it out and assemble and we are really close to eating actually.  My breadis nice and toasted so now we are ready pretty much to assemble.  I am going to take someDijon mustard, I love Dijon mustard, I really, really do and I especially love Dijon mustardwhen it comes to ham and cheese.  I just think it is a fantastic - it is just like a matchmade in heaven.  I have to say that Dijon mustard and coarse ground mustard are my favorite. I am going to put a good layer on one of the pieces of bread.  You can do them both if youwant, does not matter.  I am just going to do one piece of bread because I don't wantit to be too, too strong.  And then I am going to take some swiss - I do one slice - I amgoing to cut this in half like that.  Then you take your ham and do a couple of slicesof ham because these are really thin slices.  Which by the way that is how I like it.  Ifyou can chitchat with your deli person, which you should be able to, you can tell them "heylisten, cut my ham a little bit thinner. " Because I don't like it to be too thick, eventhough I am using a couple of slices, I really do feel like the flavor is better if it isthinner and just put a couple of slices on there than you originally thought you woulduse.  Hope that makes sense.  And then I am going to put the other slice of cheese onthe top and so it is two slices and two slices.  Then I go ahead and put the top on.  Now thisis a knife and fork sandwich, this is not a pick up with your hands and eat kind ofsandwich.  Now, our sauce has got really thick because it has been sitting here while thebread was toasting, but that is what it does.  Once it goes into the oven, which by the wayat this point, I have my broiler preheated.  I am going to put some of my sauce on here,it is full of Parmigianino.  Which you guys know I love! I am just going to smear thislike so and it looks weird but trust me it is heaven in your mouth.  As soon as this comesout of the oven it really is.  It gets hot and it is bubbly and it is just fabulous. Then you take one piece of cheese like so and I am going to pop this under the broiler. Don't put this directly under the broiler.  I actually put this on my lower rack so itis almost the furthest away from the broiler so that it can stay in there a little bitlonger to get everything heated up.  And then once the cheese is bubbling and it is meltedand it is golden brown, we are ready to serve.  I mean that is it! But I am telling you thisis award worthy that is how good this sandwich is.  It really isn't a sandwich because youneed a knife and fork to eat it.  I just took these out of the oven and look at that, Imean, that is just perfection.  I am going to cut into this so that you can see.  Smellsphenomenal, it is cheesy, it is just glorious.  It is very hot at this point.  But if anyonewill risk eating a hot sandwich for you guys it is this chick.  Let me get a bite of this,oh I cannot wait.  Look at the ham, look at the cheese, look at the bubbliness on top. It is perfection.  Give me a second though because this is really hot.  A bigger bitethan I thought.  That is money.  Salty, but not too salty, it is cheesy and creamy onthe top.  The bread is nice and toasted so it really holds the shape really well.  Andthat mustard, it is just amazing.  That is definitely a sandwich "sandwich" fit for company. Go to LauraintheKitchen. com to get this recipe.  I hope you have enjoyed spending time withme guys and I will see you next time.  Bye bye.

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