Recipe

The famous "Croque Madame"...or Bite Madame!

Method

Melt the butter in a saucepan and add the flour. Mix and let cook the “roux” for a minute, then add the milk and half of the grated Gruyere cheese.
Wisk slowly about 5 minutes until your obtain a béchamel not too liquid, season to taste with salt, pepper and ground nutmeg.
Spread half of the Béchamel sauce on 4 slices of bread, place one slice of ham, spread more béchamel on the ham and close with the other slice of bread.
Pour the remaining of the Béchamel sauce on top of your 4 croque Madame and spread evenely, add the remaining Grated gruyere cheese on top of each one and cook in a very hot oven for 15 minutes.
Heat the oil in a non-stick pan and fry the eggs.
Arrange the eggs on top of each Croque Madame.

Serving Suggestion

Straight off the hot oven or from under the grill, serve with fresh watercress and a sprinkle of crack black pepper.

Variation

You can remove the egg and the Croque Madame will become a Croque Monsieur, keeping everyone happy!

Ingredients

8 slices of Bread

4 slices of your favourite ham

150g grated Gruyere cheese

30cl semi skimmed milk

50g flour

50g butter

4 free range eggs

1 tsp vegetable oil

1 pinch ground nutmeg

2 pinch table or rock salt

1 pinch cracked black pepper

Serves 4

Franck's Advice

This is one of the most popular dishes served in French Brasseries and cafés. It is so easy to make that you can prepare a batch of ten and freeze some for later. Then just defrost and bake in the oven.