Croque Monsieur/Croque Madame

Apparently invented in Paris in the years before World War One, the original sandwich was the "Croque Monsieur." "Croque" is from the French verb "croquer," which has several meanings to do with eating, like: to munch, to bite, to crunch." The idea seems to have been a "man's," or "gentleman's," crunchy bite, as the toasted sandwich is crunchy. Decades later an egg was added to make the female version, "Croque Madame," supposedly because the egg was like a lady's hat topping off the sandwich. While these are sandwiches, they are not the kind of sandwiches you make while there are commercial breaks during your favorite television show. You need to make the sauce, you then need to make the basic sandwiches, then you need to fry (toast) those sandwiches, then you need to add the sauce, then you need to brown the top under the broiler, then you need to fry or poach the eggs and to add them, if you choose to use them. Nothing here is terribly difficult to do, although it does take a little time, but the result is well worth it, as the sandwiches are great.  

Ingredients (4 sandwiches):

Bechamel Sauce (actually a Mornay Sauce):

2 tablespoons butter
2 tablespoons flour
1 cup milk, with a pinch of thyme and a bay leaf, well heated, but not boiled/scalded
1/2 cup shredded Swiss or Gruyère cheese
1/4 teaspoon ground black pepper
1/4 teaspoon salt

8 slices of white bread
ham, thinly sliced, but not paper thin
4 slices Swiss cheese (Emmentaler or Gruyère cheese) + about 1/3 to 1/2 cup shredded  
"about" 3 to 4 teaspoons Dijon mustard
butter for frying the sandwiches (+ more if frying eggs)
4 eggs (if using) 

Heat the milk, pinch of thyme and the bay leaf over low heat. Remove the milk from the heat if it is heated before you finish making the roux (butter and flour). Melt the 2 tablespoons butter in a heavy bottomed pan over medium heat (do not brown the butter). Stir in the flour to form a paste and cook just about 90 seconds (do not let the roux brown), and turn down the heat if need be. Remove the bay leaf from the milk. Gradually whisk the heated milk into the roux, and let the milk come to a bare simmer, whisking constantly as the mix thickens. Season with salt and pepper and stir/whisk well again, turn off the heat. Heat a griddle or large skillet (cast iron is good for this) over medium heat. While the skillet or griddle is heating, on four slices of the bread, spread a thin layer of Dijon mustard. Top this with some thin ham slices and then some thinly sliced or shredded Swiss or Gruyère cheese. Butter one side of the other slices of bread and place them on top of the sandwiches. Place the sandwiches, buttered side down, onto to the skillet/griddle. Now lightly butter the top slice of the bread in the skillet (on the griddle). When the bottom of the sandwiches are nicely browned, turn the sandwiches over to brown the other side. Turn on your broiler, spread about 2 to 3 tablespoons of the bechamel sauce on top of each sandwich (the bechamel sauce should be nice and thick, but still fluid). Put the sandwiches on a baking sheet (bechamel side up) and let the sauce brown a bit under the broiler. Do not put the sandwiches too close to the broiler (I put my sandwiches about 10 inches below the broiler) and keep a close watch, as the bechamel sauce will likely brown pretty quickly. If you are making the "Madame" version, fry the eggs lightly in butter (they should not have crisp edges), or poach the eggs, if you'd like, and the yolks should be runny. Serve the sandwiches with the eggs on top and bon appétit! Or, as Charles Boyer would have said, "Bon appétit!" Ah... something wrong there?  

 A Croque Monsieur

A Croque Madame

WORD HISTORY: 
Bechamel-This word for the famous French white sauce comes from the Marquis Louis de Béchamel, an aide to King Louis XIV of France. While the sauce is very much associated with French cuisine, it actually "seems" to have been taken to France from Italy in the 1530s by the cooking staff of Catherine de Medici of Florence, who married Henry, who later became King Henry II of France. It was only later in the 1600s, during Louis XIV's rule, that the sauce was popularized with the Béchamel name. The term was borrowed into English circa 1770.