Croque Monsieur? Oui, s'il vous plaît!

Fancy ham and cheese toasties - french stylie (Serves 2)

Babbled intro:

I’ve been wanting to make this for ages, I’ve done the bastardised version of course - just plain old cheese and ham sarnie grilled. But the proper version, with the thick cheesey mustard sauce is such a taste sensation. Decent ham made the world of difference too. I would point out that I took one look at the recipe and thought that one round each wouldn’t be enough, but trust me, it is.  Can you believe the turning point to making me try this was watching the new Meryl Streep film 'It's complicated'.

Ingredients:

50g butter, really softened
4 thick slices white bread
1 heaped tsp plain flour
5 tbsp whole milk
1 egg yolk
2 tsp Dijon mustard
75g Gruyère, grated

2 slices oak-smoked gammon ham or a similar ham

Method:

• Butter all the slices of bread then place face down on a chopping board.
• Melt the remaining butter in a small saucepan over a medium heat and add the flour. Stir them together until they are blended, then add the milk gradually until the mixture has become smooth and thick enough to spread. Remove the saucepan from the heat and stir in the egg yolk, the mustard and the grated Gruyère, then beat the sauce until the cheese has melted.
• Spread the Gruyère mixture over 2 unbuttered sides of the bread. Put the slices of ham on the cheese-topped slices. 
• Take the other slices of bread and place one on each of the cheese-and-ham-topped slices. Press them down lightly. Heat a frying pan over a medium heat and cook the sandwiches for 2-3 minutes on each side until they have turned golden and crisp. Remove them from the pan, cut into diagonal halves and serve.

My conclusion/Review:

This is lovely, buttery and rich – a really naughty lunch which probably should be balanced with a healthy green watercress salad. But curled up, on a sofa in front of the TV on a cold Saturday afternoon it was the perfect meal. I would definitely do it again.

James's verdict:

"7/10 - lovely, but one round would probably do it (otherwise you're being greedy!)."