Name: Croque Monsieur
Prep time: 10 min
Cook time: 15 min
Total time: 25 min
Yield: 2 servings
Cuisine: French
Ingredients: 40 g unsalted butter; 40 g plain flour; 450 ml whole milk, warmed; ¼ tsp freshly grated nutmeg; 1 tsp Dijon mustard; ½ tsp fine sea salt; 8 slices pain de mie or good white sandwich bread; 250 g cooked ham, thickly sliced; 200 g Gruyère, coarsely grated; 30 g unsalted butter, softened; Black pepper

Croque Monsieur

The Parisian café sandwich raised to its proper form: ham and Gruyère between buttered pain de mie, blanketed in béchamel and grilled until the top blisters. It is a toastie only in the way a soufflé is an omelette.

25 min total Serves 2 servings Easy

Béchamel on top rather than butter alone is the whole trick — the milk proteins and lactose brown far faster than bread does, so you get a mottled, savoury crust before the interior overcooks. Toasting the bread lightly first builds a moisture barrier that stops the sauce soaking through into a wet middle.

How to Make Croque Monsieur

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Melt the butter over medium heat, whisk in the flour and cook for 2 minutes without colouring — this cooks out the raw starch taste.
Add the warm milk in three additions, whisking smooth after each. Simmer 4 minutes until it thickly coats a spoon, then stir in the nutmeg, mustard and salt. Cool slightly.
Heat the grill to high and set a rack about 12 cm below the element.
Butter one side of each slice of bread and toast, buttered side up, for 2 minutes until barely golden.
Turn four slices over. Spread each with a thin layer of béchamel, then a quarter of the ham, then a third of the cheese in total across them. Close with the remaining slices, toasted side down.
Spread the tops generously with the remaining béchamel, right to the edges, and scatter over the rest of the Gruyère.
Grill for 4 to 6 minutes until the top is bubbling and blistered dark brown in patches. Grind over black pepper and eat immediately, with a knife and fork.

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Tips That Matter

For a croque madame, fry an egg in butter until the white is set and the yolk still runs, and land it on top.
Grate the Gruyère yourself. Pre-shredded cheese is dusted with anti-caking starch that stops it melting into a sheet.
Béchamel that is fridge-cold will tear the bread. Let it come to a spreadable, thick-custard consistency first.

Pairs Well With

A green salad with a sharp mustard vinaigrette · Cornichons and Dijon on the side · A glass of dry cider or a cold lager

Leftovers and Storage

Best eaten within minutes of grilling. The béchamel keeps 3 days refrigerated with cling film on its surface; loosen with a splash of milk before using.

The Numbers per Serving

No nutrition figures are given for this recipe: they cannot be worked out reliably from its ingredient list (some ingredient lines cannot be read). Why some recipes have none.

No Added Sugar