Barefoot Blogging: Croque Monsieur

WARNING! Extreme cheese overload is ahead!

Just kidding, y'all. Our second Barefoot Blogging Recipe this month would be Croque Monsieurs, chosen by Kathy of All Food Considered. For those that have no idea what it is, then think of it as a grilled ham and cheese sandwich. On crack. It's pronounced "Croak Mon-suer" The literal translation of Croque Monsieur from French to English is "Crunchy Mister". For some this reason, it gives me the giggles thinking of some crunchy french man.

Let's begin making this Crunchy Mister, shall we?

Ingredients

• 3 tablespoons all-purpose flour
• 2 tablespoons unsalted butter
• 2 cups hot milk
• 1 teaspoon kosher salt
• 1/2 teaspoon freshly ground black pepper
• Pinch nutmeg
• 12 ounces Gruyere, grated (5 cups)
• 1/2 cup freshly grated Parmesan
• 16 slices white sandwich bread, crusts removed
• Dijon mustard
• 8 ounces baked Virginia ham, sliced but not paper thin

Turn your oven on to 400 degrees.

Go ahead and stick your cheese in the freezer before you grate it. It makes things MUCH easier when it comes to grating. The Gruyere has a tendency to get soft as it comes to room temperature.

Now we're going to make a sinfully delicious cheese sauce.

Melt your butter in a small saucepan.

Using a spoon, mix in the 3 TBS of flour and cook for 2 minutes to get rid of that flour taste.

Slowly add your 2 cups of hot milk, whisking to avoid lumpy sauce. Whisk and whisk until the sauce has thickened.

Take your sauce off the heat and add your salt, pepper, nutmeg, all of the Parmsean cheese, and 1/2 cup of the shredded Gruyere. Mix until combined. Set aside and we shall begin assembly.

Take your crust-less slices of bread and lay them out on a baking sheet, baking them for 5 minutes, turn them over, and bake for another 2 minutes. They should be toasted when they come out.

Lightly spread the dijon mustard on all of the toasted bread. Add a slice of ham to 8 of the slices.Sprinkle 1/2 of the remaining Gruyere cheese over the ham slices. Oh yeah. This will be good.

Top the ham and cheese with another piece of toasted bread.

Slather each of the tops with the sinful cheese sauce.

Top with the remaining shredded cheese.

Bake these sandwiches for 5 minutes, then turn on the broiler and cook for an additional 3-5 minutes, until the cheese is bubbly and light brown.

I served these with sliced green apples, because I love that tart crunch with the salty cheese, it's perfection.

If you need the printable recipe, then please click here! :)