Hey all! Here’s my latest Food 101 column, published in The Orange County Register’s print edition today. It’s not on the OCR site, so I’ve placed it here. Enjoy!

Go for croque
By CYNTHIA FUREY
Special to the Register

Not many can resist the call of buttery, crunchy sandwiches oozing with Gruyère and piled with lacy slices of Black Forest ham – especially the ones that require a knife and fork. These lunchtime and brunch-time French staples, called croque-madame and croque-monsieur, are simple ham and cheese sandwiches with toppings to dress them up. A bonus: The sandwiches can easily be prepared at home, usually for a fraction of the cost that a single croque would fetch at any restaurant.

Croque-madame and croque-monsieur are toasted in the oven so the ham heats through and the cheese melts into a blanket of gooey bliss. Croque-madame has an egg on top, its yolk serving as a sauce. Ditch the egg and ladle on some Mornay sauce, and you have a croque-monsieur. Because there is little preparation time, you can make both croque versions without spending all afternoon over your stove.

Traditionally, croque-madame’s egg is served sunny side up, but an egg cooked over easy works just as nicely. Part of the fun of eating a croque-madame is piercing the yolk with a fork and watching it dribble over the sandwich and rest in a puddle underneath. The other fun part is sopping up the puddle with the sandwich bread.

For the croque-monsieur, you will be making a Mornay sauce, which is essentially a béchamel sauce with cheese added. A béchamel is a milk- or cream-based sauce. It’s considered one of the five classical “mother sauces” – the others are Espagnole, made with brown stock; velouté, white stock; hollandaise, butter; and tomato sauce. With the addition of other ingredients, hundreds of sauces are derived from these five.

Start the béchamel by making a blond roux, made of equal parts butter and flour. Heat this mixture until the flour’s starchy flavor cooks away, leaving behind a nutty smell and flavor and an ivory or off-white mixture. The roux will help thicken the sauce once the milk is added, and the little bit of Gruyère added at the end will transform the béchamel into a Mornay. Once the sauce is ladled onto the sandwich, an additional bit of cheese goes on top to give that gorgeous, bubbly look when the sandwich is heated under the broiler.

You can serve these sandwiches with a spring salad, with french fries or as appetizers: Cut the sandwiches into smaller servings, skewer with a toothpick or wooden skewer and place on a tray. (Click on “Read the rest of this entry” for recipe.)

CROQUE- MADAME/MONSIEUR

• Yield: 4 servings
• For sandwich:
• 8 slices French bread, about 3/4 inch thick (loaf size, not baguette)
• 2 1/4 cups Gruyère cheese, grated and divided
• 1/2 pound Black Forest ham, sliced
• 1/4 cup melted butter
• 4 eggs (for Croque-Madame only)

• For béchamel sauce (For Croque-Monsieur only):
• 3 tablespoons butter
• 3 tablespoons flour
• 3 cups whole milk
• 1 teaspoon salt
• 1/4 teaspoon pepper
• 1/4 teaspoon grated or ground nutmeg
• 3 tablespoons Gruyère cheese, grated

Procedure:

For Croque-Monsieur:

1. In a small pot over medium-high heat, melt butter. Add flour and make roux, stirring constantly for 3 to 4 minutes or until it turns a very light yellow and has a nutty smell.

2. Add milk, bring to a boil and reduce heat to simmer for about 6 to 7 minutes, until sauce is smooth and nappe (thinly coats the back of a spoon). Add salt, pepper, nutmeg and Gruyère. Remove from heat and stir until cheese is melted. Season to taste. Cover surface of béchamel with plastic wrap until needed. Turn oven broiler on.

3. Lightly toast French bread slices in toaster or oven and place toasted slices on a parchment-lined baking sheet. Brush both sides of slices with melted butter.

4. Spoon 1 tablespoon of béchamel sauce over each slice of toast. Layer 1/4 cup of cheese, and ham slices over sauce. Assemble into four sandwiches and top with two tablespoons of sauce and 1/4 cup Gruyère cheese. Place sandwiches under broiler for 10 minutes or until sauce on top is bubbly and cheese is melted. Serve immediately with remaining sauce on the side.

For Croque-Madame:

1. Preheat oven to 400 degrees. Brush both sides of bread slices with melted butter and place on parchment-lined baking sheet.

2. Layer cheese and ham over bread slices. Assemble into four sandwiches and top with remaining grated cheese.

3. Place in oven and toast for 10 to 15 minutes or until cheese is melted. While sandwiches are toasting, fry eggs sunny side up in a nonstick frying pan.

4. Remove sandwiches from oven and place an egg on top of each. Serve immediately.

– Cynthia Furey

Side note: March madness is a month-long challenge in which I will post Monday through Friday for the entire month. Thank you for reading!

This entry was posted on Thursday, March 26th, 2009 at 4:10 pm and is filed under In the kitchen. You can follow any responses to this entry through the RSS 2.0 feed. You can leave a response, or trackback from your own site.