How appropriate to be posting a French sandwich recipe during a week long celebration of Julia Child’s 100th birthday, but this recipe didn’t come from Julia. It came from the lovely Nicole over at The Daily Dish Recipes. She posted this for a #SundaySupper a while back. Never having made a Croque Monsieur before I was intrigued. I love a good sandwich and this promised to be just that.

Starting out I thought they were rather on the small side, but turned out to be quite filling. Have leftover bechamel sauce? We ended up eating it like fondue with bread and carrots while we waited for the sandwiches to toast up.

Croque Monsieur

Serves 4

Adapted from The Daily Dish Recipes

Ingredients

• 1 loaf of French bread, cut into fourths
• ½ lb Boar’s Head ham, sliced thin
• 2 cups grated swiss cheese
• 1 ½ cup hot milk (microwave milk 1-2 minutes to warm)
• 2 tbsp butter
• 3 tbsp flour
• Dijon mustard
• Pinch of pepper & nutmeg

Directions

1. Preheat the oven to 400 degrees

2. First on the stove top we will make a béchamel sauce. In a sauce pan on low heat melt the butter and allow to boil for 1-2 minutes. Add the flour and whisk until smooth. Whisk in the hot milk until combined. Continue to whisk while sauce thickens. Remove from heat and whisk in 1 ½ cups of shredded cheese and a pinch of pepper and nutmeg and set aside.

3. Slice the bread and toast lightly 4-5 minutes.

4. Assemble each sandwich, divide ham evenly among each, top with shredded cheese, and a thin layer of Dijon mustard on the top slice of each sandwich.

5. Replace the tops and pour the béchamel sauce over each.

6. Toast the sandwiches in the over for 5 minutes then switch to the broiler for 1-2 minutes. Until the béchamel on top is light brown and bubbly.

7. Allow to cool slightly before eating.