Hey there Honey's and New-Bees!

Before learning how to cook I ate A LOT of sandwiches since they were easy to make, hard to screw up, and I knew I made some damn good sandwiches. However, once I started learning my way around the kitchen I stopped making sandwiches since I always had leftovers and was always having so much fun trying out new dishes that I could master for breakfast, lunch, and dinner. It wasn’t until Romeo and I went to Paris a couple years back and tried our very first Croque Madame….It was seriously the BEST sandwiches either of us had EVER had.

Put simply a Croque Madame is a grilled ham and cheese sandwich topped with a fried egg…but really it’s sooo much more! Needless to say I knew I had to make this myself! 

I was a little intimidated the first time I made this sandwich since it requires a little more time and effort than your regular sandwich; however, not only was it worth the extra time but I learned throughout the process, like how to make a mornay sauce (which I had never done before), and found a new use for leftover pork roast.

Most importantly, although it took a little bit of time to make these sandwiches the first time, each time I’ve made them since the process has gone smoother and quicker, which allows me to appreciate how far I’ve come and remember that a little challenge can go along way 🙂

Hope you enjoy the recipe below and please let me know how your Croque Madame turned out!

Part of what makes a Croque Madame so enjoyable is the creamy cheese filling. Although we’re going to melt the cheese we put in the sandwich the secret ingredient that adds richness is the Mornay sauce.

Mornay sauce is a béchamel sauce with cheese added to it. If you’ve never made either don’t worry, I’ll help you out and make things a little easier. So first things first start by making a béchamel sauce by melting 1 TBSP of unsalted butter and whisking in an equal amount of flour. Continue to whisk until the flour and butter form a thick paste, add a bayleaf then gradually whisk in your milk/cream. Stir consistently until your liquid has thickened and voila, you’ve made a béchamel sauce- pretty simple right!

Now all you have to do is add 1/4 cup of parmesan with 1/2 of your granted gruyere cheese and mix well until all your cheese has melted. Once melted remove your pan from the heat and you’ve now made a Mornay sauce 😋

Once you’ve made your sauce it’s now time for the fun part – building and grilling your sandwich. If you haven’t already, take your leftover pork roast and slice it as thinly as possible. Although I’ve seen plenty of recipes out there that call for deli meat rather than leftover pork roast, deli meat just doesn’t compare. I usually (always) make these sandwiches for brunch the morning after I’ve made a my pork roast which is a divine treat on it’s own.

Now that everything is prepared take your sourdough bread and spread a generous amount of mornay sauce on one side of your bread, sprinkle some cheese, add a layer of pork roast*, sprinkle a little more cheese then top, spread some moray sauce on another slice of bread and close your sandwich (make sure to leave a little bit of cheese aside for later).

After all your sandwiches are built, melt a generous amount of butter in a large frying pan. Once the butter has melted transfer your sandwiches to the frying pan and grill them on medium heat for about 2 minutes on each side (or until the bread is golden brown on each side) then transfer them to a baking sheet lined with parchment paper.

*I sometimes like the add a small dollop of mornay sauce in between the pork, but thats totally optional.

So you now have your grilled sandwiches but now you just have a couple of quick steps left before you’re done. First thing you want to do is spread the remaining mornay sauce on top of each sandwich and top with the remaining grated cheese and broil them in the oven for about 3 minutes (or until the cheese is golden).

While the sandwiches are in the oven, fry your eggs for the same 3 minutes (or as desired). Once the sandwiches are out of the oven, top each sandwich with a fried egg and serve.

On a side note you can omit the fried egg and you will have made a Croque Monsieur (but the egg is totally worth it)!

ENJOY!