I know this is going to sound a little odd and try not to call the feminist brigade on me, but I think being a wife has made me a better daughter to my Dad—at least repaired some of the damage done after I left the super cute can do no wrong phase and entered the shut up and chauffer me around the city while I stare out the window phase. Anyway, maybe its just maturity, or maturity combined with spending more time thinking about what movies or dinners Husband would watch and eat without gagging, but I think my ideas on building conversational bridges, usually based on food, with my Dad are getting better. Which brings me to Lunch.
The other day I decided to make Dad lunch, not just lunch, but man lunch, which surprisingly turned into non other than….a Croque Madame.
Seriously, I was going to start with grilled cheese and soup, then I remember my Dad is a grown man and my feel-better lunch, which has been pretty consistent since the second grade, may not be his, so, remembering a trip to Paris with Husband, I decided to try the Croque Monsieur instead, which is a simple, yet amazing, French ham and cheese (the secret is the Béchamel sauce drizzled over before its baked/ broiled slightly, ouuuuuuu).
A text or two later and Husband suggests something which is a consistently good idea….add a fried egg. Which interestingly enough, turns this into the far superior Croque Madame…
So here’s the recipe I fanangled: it’s got an American twist, because my parents don’t appreciate smelly cheese so unless I bring it it’s gonna be Kraft singles. None the less, it was delightful, and I’d almost bet a Euro one would be so yumied by the buttery ham and egg awesomeness one wouldn’t be thinking on how Kraft singles usually suck, because this recipe sure doesn’t.
¼ stick butter
1 tbsp. flour
¾ cup milk
Sea salt
Fresh cracked black pepper
Pinch dried cilantro
5 slices of cheese
2 slices loaf bread (I used a rosemary olive loaf, yum)
Jilly Mustard (recipe to follow, or just use Dijon)
3-4 thin slices of ham (or as much as you want)
1 egg
Preheat oven to 350
Béchamel: in small saucepan on low heat melt a slice of butter, sprinkle on the flour and whisk, then add milk slowly while whisking, don’t be afraid of the whisk, its fun. Keep stirring around until smooth, about a min, then add a slice of cheese, in bits. When it’s smooth and melted again, about a min and a half, and this is completely non-traditional but just something I like to do for color and perhaps taste, sprinkle and stir in some dried cilantro, powdered between your fingertips. Put to the side, add some cracked black pepper if you like that sort of thing (I do), and if you used unsalted butter, a small pinch of salt.
Bread:
Heat up a skillet; add a sliver of butter for good measure. Butter the bread slices like you’re making my mothers grilled cheese, i.e., excessively. Toast the pieces of bread on the skillet on each side until brown buttery and delicious. Remove form skillet.
The Rest:
Apply mustard the one side of each slice of bread; add cheese and ham and if you need me to explain how to put a sandwich together mustard side in I don’t want you reading this anyway. Now, sandwich in sandwich form, drizzle Béchamel over the top, use your finger if needed to slick it over the top and sides. Now put it in the oven (regular or broiler for extra crispiness, I suggest the latter), for the length of time it takes to fry an egg, and that’s not a weird way of measuring time, actually fry the egg.
Now egg done, remove Croque Monsieur form oven, pick up the top, gingerly because it is obviously hot, slide that fried egg on top, put the bread back on and voila! A Croque Madam.
