What the heck is that?
The words are French and are simply French grilled cheese and ham sandwich. They are the exact same sandwich with the ‘madame’ having an egg on top and no egg on the ‘monsieur’.
The translation is fun! It’s either Mr. Crunch or Mrs. Crunch. The ‘crunch’ makes sense once you toast AND bake it.
What do I need?
Bread: traditionally a country bread is used for that signature crust, but you can use whatever you’d like. In my video, I used a homemade milk bread for the soft texture. Just keep in mind that you will be toasting this bread AND baking it, so your bread will become pretty hard depending on what you start with.
Sauce: the sauce is the trickiest part, but truly you can tackle this, easy peasy. You can’t walk away from this sauce, you have to stir and watch it! You’ll start making a béchamel sauce using butter, flour, and milk. You’ll kick that up adding nutmeg (it is optional, but I love nutmeg!) and some funky gruyere cheese. You don’t need to double this sauce, it’s not a gravy, just an ingredient 😉
Dijon Mustard: yes, it has to be dijon for that wine taste! I had serious doubts about these tastes coming together, but it’s an amazing pairing!
Gruyere Cheese: yep, this funky, nutty cheese is amazing by itself, but makes this sauce incredible!!
Ham: you won’t want a super pungent ham for this. Keep it plain and simple.
Fried Egg: only if you are making the ‘madame’ version. You can make your egg sunny side up or over easy or over hard. We like the effect of the runny yoke 🙂
Croque Madame
Equipment
- 1 Oven Safe Pan you'll be using one pan for both the cooktop and the oven
Ingredients
Mornay Sauce
- 2 Tbsp butter
- 2 Tbsp all-purpose flour
- 2 cup whole milk, warmed*
- 1 tsp ground nutmeg
- dash salt and pepper
- 1 cup gruyere cheese, shredded
Sandwich
- 8 slices bread
- 4 Tbsp butter, softened
- 4 Tbsp Dijon mustard
- 3 Tbsp Mornay Sauce
- 12 slices ham
- 1 cup gruyere, shredded
Fried Egg
- 4 large eggs
- butter for frying
- salt and pepper
Instructions
- Preheat oven to 350°, you'll want that ready to go.
Mornay Sauce
- In a sauce pan over medium heat, melt butter, then sprinkle in flour. Whisk that together and keep whisking until foaming. Slowly pour in your whole milk, then the salt, pepper, and nutmeg (optional). Whisk your sauce until bubbly and thick. Whisk in shredded gruyere cheese. Once fully incorporated and smooth, remove sauce from heat.2 Tbsp butter, 2 Tbsp all-purpose flour, 2 cup whole milk, warmed*, 1 tsp ground nutmeg, 1 cup gruyere cheese, shredded, dash salt and pepper
Building Your Sandwich
- For Toasted Bread: Place your oven safe pan over medium heat. Spread each slice with soft butter and toast the buttered bread (butter side down) in your pan. Then turn heat off while making sandwiches. On non-buttered side of bread: spread Dijon mustard, Mornay Sauce, 3 slices of ham, a handful of shredded gruyere, and top with another slide of bread. Spread a little more Mornay Sauce on top of the bread and finish with more gruyere cheese.8 slices bread, 4 Tbsp butter, softened, 4 Tbsp Dijon mustard, 3 Tbsp Mornay Sauce, 12 slices ham, 1 cup gruyere, shredded
- For Non-Toasted Bread: In an oven safe pan, butter one side of your bread, place slices of bread (butter side down) into the pan. On non-buttered side of bread: spread Dijon mustard, Mornay Sauce, 3 slices of ham, a handful of shredded gruyere, and top with another slide of bread. Spread a little more Mornay Sauce on top of the bread and finish with more gruyere cheese.
- Bake your sandwiches for 15-18 minutes. Watch for burnt edges (which I happen to like, but it's up to you).
Croque Madame
- Fry your egg how you like it, season with salt and pepper, then place one egg on top of your sandwich. Enjoy!4 large eggs, butter for frying, salt and pepper