Our Homemade Croque Monsieur Recipe: Simple and Gourmet!
by Karine Lemoine
The Croque-Monsieur isA classic of French cuisine. It is served in Parisian cafes and in all bakeries in France.
It is a sandwich that consists of 2 slices of bread in particular“sandwich bread”square in shape. The croque sir istopped with ham and cheese at the base.
Croque-Monsieur can be eaten hot directly prepared or even cold, it is just as good to enjoy!
A precision, the traditional toasted sandwichMade with real breadand not brioche or brioche sandwich bread.
A fairly common variant for the filling, béchamel is added to it even if at the beginning Croque-Monsieur was made without béchamel.
The alternative to Croque-Monsieur isCroque-Madame with the addition of an eggOn the platter straddling the top of the croque.
Today, croque Monsieur can be found in all forms with Reblochon cheese, raw ham or even pineapple.
It may seem like a simple banal sandwich but for connoisseurs, Croque-Monsieur is no joke. Its 4 ingredients are sufficient by themselves, it is a pure delight of gluttony.
We expect an authentic taste!
Before the Croque-Monsieur maker arrived at home, Croque-Monsieur was cooked on the stove withA manual cast iron called a croque iron sir. It still exists and it can also be found in a waffle version, yum!
The Croque-Monsieur iron is composed of2 square-shaped soles fixed on a rotating axiswith a long handle to avoid getting burned.
I remember my grandmother's in my childhood memories. I see her handling the iron again by turning it over itself to heat both sides.
At the time, you could imagine that you had to be very patient to feed an entire family and that you had to have a lot of energy to handle the rather heavy cast iron.
Nowadays, we have gained in comfort and speed, we use the toasted sandwich maker. We have doubled the yield of the number of Croque-Monsieur and we no longer even have to take care of the cooking, the appliance tells us when the Croque-Monsieur is ready to eat.We will prefer multifunction devices for practicality and space saving on the worktop.. You can make your Croque-Monssiers but also your paninis or grilled meats.
Also to be read:
Top 10 of the Best Sandwiches - Comparative 2022
If you are not equipped with a Croque-Monsieur machine, you can also cook the Croque-Monsieur in a pan to maintain the same cooking equivalence. The oven is another possibility if you have no other choice but the result is not at all the same because it dries out the breadcrumbs.
The Croque-Monsieur isA good idea for a simple meal for lunch, during the week or eating out. It is easy to make, quick to prepare and requestonly 4 ingredients.
Recipe tested and approved by family and friends
The ingredients:
- 8 slicesOf sandwich bread
- 4 slicesOf white ham
- 8 slicesof melting cheese or160 gramsGrated Gruyère
- 40 gramsof butter,Some blueRough to close for the taste!
For an ultra-easy version and especially when you don't have time at all, sandwich bread can be bought fresh and sliced in a bakery.
We absolutely avoid commercial plasticised sandwich bread, we ban it.
The sandwich bread in its bag is full of additives and preservatives and really has no taste compared toBaker's sandwich bread.
The ideal is toMake your own sandwich bread, we find the real taste of homemade using fresh bread! There is no comparison.
To make your own sandwich bread, you can use the oven or to save time the bread maker. All you have to do is combine the ingredients, choose the right program and you're done. In just 5 minutes, you have started your bread and the machine takes care of the rest.
Take advantage of our homemade sandwich bread recipe: soft and easy to make!
The preparation steps:
Important: there is an order to follow when filling your Croque-Monsieur!
1.Open the 2 slices of sandwich bread. Place a square of melting cheese in it, with the ham slice folded, adapted to the size of the bread to prevent it from sticking out and then a final slice of cheese.
2. Close the 2 slices of bread together. An essential step: it's butter. Melt it for 10 seconds in the microwave first, then brush generously on both sides of the sandwich bread.
This last step will prevent the bread from sticking to the cast iron plates of the appliance or in the pan. But above all, the butter will be able to soak the bread and give it flavor while bringing crispness to the outside. As for the ham, it retains all its humidity surrounded by the 2 melting slices of cheese.
For a nice presentation, cut the Croque-Monsieur diagonally to obtain 2 triangles and highlight the layering of the ingredients inside, it's more delicious!
For a balanced plate, all you need to do is accompany the Croque-Monsieur with a raw meat salad or even a soup.
All variants are possible in Croque-Monsieur.
► a cheese with more character such as Reblochon or goat cheese.
► a slice of tomato.
► raw ham.
► season the inside with pistou sauce or honey if you prefer sweet/salty.
► if you are making a Croque-Madame, you can beat the egg and dip the slices of sandwich bread before assembling if you use a pan.
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Image source: home cooking
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