Croque Monsieur

According to a Facebook post, today is National Sandwich Day. Good excuse to make sandwiches for dinner! But not just any kind of sandwich, tonight I made Croque Monsieurs. For those unfamiliar with this French-bistro staple, they're basically dressed up grilled ham and cheese, but this is absolutely a case of the whole being greater than the sum of its parts. Fortunately, they're not really all that complicated, well, for French food anyway.

What you'll need:

Soft butter (I used Land O'Lakes spreadable butter with canola)
Good bread (I used Italian bread from the bakery at our local Publix grocery store)
Ham deli meat (I used Boar's Head Virginia Ham)
Swiss cheese (I happened to have sliced on hand, but you can just use grated for both inside and on top) -- Gruyere and Emmentaler would be ideal, but you can use just about any kind of Swiss, I used Emmentaler and a block of regular generic Swiss for the top because I didn't feel like paying $10 for six ounces of cheese
All Purpose flour
White Pepper
Nutmeg
Ground Mustard Powder
Milk (neither the hubby nor I drink milk and we had heavy cream on hand, so I used it and it worked fine, so really milk, half-n-half, or cream can be used)

Step one: assemble sandwiches

Heat the ham (about 4 slices per sandwich for thin-sliced deli meat) in the microwave first
Butter one side of one slice of bread
Layer slices of Swiss or some of the grated Swiss and the ham and then top with butter slice of bread

Putting together sammies

Assembled sandwich ready to go into hot skillet

Step two: make the bechamel sauce

In a skillet over medium heat, melt one tablespoon of butter

Add one tablespoon of all purpose flour to the melted butter and whisk to combine

Cook flour-butter mixture for about 2 minutes

Add a pinch of nutmeg (freshly grated is always best) and about 1/4 tsp each of white pepper and ground mustard

Add one cup of milk (heat in microwave for 30 seconds before adding), whisking as you pour it into the skillet

Continue whisking until mixture thickens and is smooth

Remove from heat and set to side

Completed bechamel sauce

 Step three: cook sandwiches

Place sandwiches butter side down in a skillet that's been heated over medium-high heat.
Cook until golden and toasty. (I didn't get a pic of the sandwiches in the skillet, sorry!)
Transfer sandwiches to a baking sheet lined with aluminum foil, toasted side down.
Spread bechamel sauce (heaping tablespoonful) on the uncooked slice of bread.

Bechamel sauce topped sammies

 Then put a generous amount of grated Swiss cheese on top of the bechamel sauce.

Ready to broil!

 Place sandwiches on baking sheet in oven under the broiler and watch carefully. Broil until cheese is melted and bubbly.

Finished Croque Monsieurs

They will be way too hot to eat when they first come out of the oven, so let them cool for a couple minutes so you don't burn your mouth! I do recommend slicing on the diagonal to make them easier to eat.

I served these with Terra Exotic Potato Chips (normally I'd make my own Rosemary and Black Pepper Red Skin Potato Chips, but I didn't feel up to that today) and salads (basic garden for the hubby, salad of cucumber, red bell pepper, raw green beans, and tomato in vinaigrette for me).

Enjoy!