Croque Monsieur

Making a GF replacement for the world's second most decadent sandwich (the first is of course the Monte Cristo) was surprisingly easy. GF roux and GF bread. If you have a loaf of GF bread on hand and your trusty GF baking mix in the pantry, Croque Monsieurs are easy to do. For bread, I'm really liking the pre-made loaf that you can find in the little GF Freezer section at Whole Foods. It costs $7 for the loaf, but I make it last for the entire month, and it reminds me of my favorite bread growing up, that super thin Pepperidge Farm sandwich bread that my mother never bought because it was too expensive. I had a boss lady in my early 20's who kept a loaf of that perfect Pepperidge Farm bread on hand, and I would make a fresh tomato and aged cheddar sandwich every day at work. Since I ran all of her errands, I made sure she was never short on bread, cheese, or tomatoes.

While in France, I marveled at the variety of Croque Monsieur and Madame sandwiches. I loved how every bistro and brasserie had their own house version, just like our gastropubs and bars pride themselves on their own house burgers. The variations on the Croque Monsieur are endless, and my recipe is based on Ina Garten's perfect Croque Monsieur boilerplate, which I then cut in half, tweaked, and made GF. Great part is that I made sandwiches for Husband and Daughter on regular sourdough bread while keeping mine GF without any trouble. This is the ultimate comfort food.

Croque Monsieur

1 tablespoon butter
2 tablespoons GF baking flour/mix
1 cup hot milk
1/2 teaspoon salt
1/4 teaspoon pepper
Pinch nutmeg
2 1/2 cups grated Gruyere
1/2 cup grated Parmesan (do not halve this ingredient--love the Parm!)
8-10 slices of sandwich bread (depends on the size of your bread)
Dijon mustard
1 pack of prosciutto, speck, VA ham, westphalian ham, whatever suits you (I used Speck, my favorite)

Preheat oven to 400.

Heat milk in little saucepan, but turn off heat before milk gets foamy.

In separate saucepan, melt the butter over low heat and add the flour, stirring with a wooden spoon for 2 minutes to make a roux. Slowly add in the hot milk, whisking constantly until the sauce is thickened. Remove from heat and whisk in the salt, pepper, nutmeg, 1/2 a cup of the Gruyere, and the Parmesan. Mix the cheese sauce well and set aside.

Toast the bread slices in the oven for 5 minutes on a baking sheet. Turn over the slices and toast in the oven for another 2-3 minutes, or as preferred.

Lightly spread half the toasted bread slices with the mustard and add a slice of ham to each. Top with half of the remaining Gruyere. Top with the other slice of toasted bread and slather the tops of the sandwiches with the cheese sauce. Sprinkle the reamining Gruyere on top and bake the sandwiches for 5 minutes. Turn on the broiler and broild the sandwiches for 3-5 minutes, until the top of the sandwich is bubbly and lightly browned.

Frankly, I didn't make it to the last broiler step because the Croque Monsieurs looked so good, we just needed to start eating them.