Croque Monsieur

This is my fallback recipe for when I need to eat something very quickly. This is my recipe for croque-monsieur, there are hundreds of variations out there, this is mine. Mine I say, all mine.

Just for your information and elucidation a croque-madame is the same but with a fried or poached egg on top. Hmm, I wonder why?

Follow these steps and you will have a lovely hot sandwich on your plate in 8 minutes.


You will need:

2 slices white bread
Thin slices of emmenthal of gruyere cheese, enough to cover two sides of the bread
2 thin slices of good quality ham
Dijon mustard
Butter


And then you need to:

Put a frying pan on the hob over a low to medium flame

Place the two slices of bread on a plate and thinly spread mustard on both the slices.

Lay the slices of cheese on both slices so that the whole sides are covered.

Lay the ham on one side, and flip the other slice on top to close the sandwich.

Spread soft butter on the top of the uppermost slice of bread and then place the whole sandwich buttered side down into the dry, hot frying pan. Now spread butter on the uppermost side.

Cook for about 2 minutes then flip. Cook for a further two minutes until browned and serve.

Viola!