Croque Madame Americano

This is a real diet buster, but it was a great Sunday brunch for the two of us.  I took the classic Croque Monsieur recipe from the Barefoot in Paris, using what I had in the refrigerator, and came up with this delicious breakfast sandwich.  Below I will have the original recipe and next to it in parentheses, I will put my substitutions.  I also cut this recipe by 4 for the 2 of us. 

Ingredients: 

2 T flour

3 T all-purpose flour

2 C hot milk (non-fat milk)

1 t kosher salt

½ t pepper

Pinch of nutmeg

12 oz Gruyere cheese, grated (cheddar cheese)

½ C Parmesan cheese

16 slices white bread, crusts removed (rye & pumpernickel swirl bread, crusts on)

Dijon mustard

8 oz baked Virginia ham, sliced, but not to paper thin (baked chicken breast luncheon meat sliced)

Directions:

1.      Preheat the oven to 400 degrees.

2.      Melt the butter over low heat in a small saucepan and add the flour all at once, stirring with a wooden spoon for 2 minutes.

3.      Slowly pour the milk into the butter-flour mixture and cook, whisking constantly, until the sauce is thickened. 

4.      Off the heat add the salt, pepper, nutmeg, ½ C cheese and all the Parmesan.  Set aside.

5.      Toast the bread.

6.      Lightly brush half the toasted bread with mustard.  Add a slice of the meat on top of each half and top with half the remaining cheese. 

7.      Top with the other bread half and slather with the cheese sauce.  Sprinkle with the remaining cheese. 

8.      Bake the sandwiches for 5 minutes.

9.      Turn on the broiler and broil for 3-5 minutes, or until the topping is bubbly and lightly browned.

10.  While broiling the sandwiches, 1 fried 2 eggs in a non-stick skillet to top the sandwiches when they came out, thus turning the Croque Monsieur into a Croque Madame.  In my case Croque Madame Americano.