Now let’s cook
Croque monsieur has switched to rye bread. The ham and the cheese stay where they were.
Ingredients
- 200 g rye breadmade from rye flour with a sourdough starter, more acidic and moister than wheat bread
- 55 g butterchurned from cow’s-milk cream
- 35 g wheat flourground from wheat grains
- 360 ml milkcow’s milk
- 2 g saltfine table salt
- 1 g black pepperground black pepper
- ¼ tsp Dijon mustardmade from brown mustard seeds, named after the city of Dijon
- 0.5 g nutmega spice made from the seed of the nutmeg tree
- 150 g hamcured pork leg (less often shoulder), cooked or smoked
- 180 g Gruyèrea Swiss hard cheese made from cow’s milk
- 20 g Parmesanan Italian hard cheese made from cow’s milk, aged for at least a year
Method
Heat the oven to 220 °C and line a baking tray with parchment.
Cut the rye bread into 8 slices about 6 mm thick and toast them in a toaster until golden.
Melt the butter in a saucepan, add the flour and cook for 3–4 minutes, stirring, until golden.
Pour in the milk gradually and cook the sauce for 3–4 minutes until it thickens, stirring briskly so that no lumps are left.
Stir the salt, black pepper, Dijon mustard and nutmeg into the sauce.
Slice the ham thinly and grate the Gruyère and the Parmesan.
Spread the slices of bread with some of the sauce. Lay the ham and part of the grated cheese on four slices and cover with the rest. Spread more sauce over the tops of the sandwiches and scatter the remaining cheese over them.
Move the sandwiches to the tray and bake for 10–15 minutes, until the top browns and the cheese melts: the centre of the sandwich should be at least 74 °C.
Cut each sandwich in half and serve straight away.
