It's the last day of summer. Start your diet tomorrow. You deserve to have the summer go out with a bang. It's not traditional summer BBQ food, but I was inspired by a Gourmet magazine cover of Paris, France. I've always wanted to try and vegetarianize a Croque Madame sandwich. "Ham," gruyere cheese, bechamel sauce, crusty bread - all melty together and all with a fried egg on top! In case you don't know that topper, the fried egg, is the difference between a Croque Monsieur and a Croque Madame. So much more lady-like with an egg, and once you put an egg on anything and serve it with sparkling wine - it's brunch!
It's the last day of summer. Start your diet tomorrow. You deserve to have the summer go out with a bang. It's not traditional summer BBQ food, but I was inspired by a Gourmet magazine cover of Paris, France. I've always wanted to try and vegetarianize a Croque Madame sandwich. "Ham," gruyere cheese, bechamel sauce, crusty bread - all melty together and all with a fried egg on top! In case you don't know that topper, the fried egg, is the difference between a Croque Monsieur and a Croque Madame. So much more lady-like with an egg, and once you put an egg on anything and serve it with sparkling wine - it's brunch!
Information
Servings: 2
Time: About 40 minutes active and total
Price: About $11.25 total; $5.63 per serving
Nutrition (per serving):
Calories: 720.07
Protein: 52.67g
Fat: 15.92g
Saturated fat: 15.92g
Carbohydrates: 42.66g
Fiber: 1.17g
Sodium: 1,608.46mg
Cholesterol: 279.44mg
High In:
Good Source:
Low In:
Ingredients
2 Tbsp butter, plus a bit extra to spread (I used vegan butter)
1 Tbsp white flour
3/4 cup milk (I used plain soy milk)
1/4 tsp SnP and ground nutmeg, each
4 oz gruyere, grated, divided
2 Tbsp parmesan, grated
4 thick slices of French or Italian loaf (I used levain)Dijon mustard
6 oz sliced, smoked "ham" (I used Lightlife)
2 large eggs, fried sunny side up
Preparation
Preheat oven to 400 degrees.
Melt 1 Tbsp butter in small saucepan on med-low heat. Add flour and cook, whisking until smooth, about 2-3 minutes. You've just made a roux.
Add milk, slowly, and whisk continuously until thick - about 5 minutes. Do not allow to boil. Remove from heat. You've just made a béchamel sauce. Add SnP and nutmeg. Stir in 1/4 cup of gruyere and all the Parmesan. Set aside to melt. 4. Lay out bread slices on cooking spray covered baking sheet covered with foil. Spread with a bit of butter and toast them in the oven a few minutes.
Remove from the oven after toasting and leave them on the baking sheet. Lightly brush each slice with Dijon mustard. Add ham slices and 1/2 the remaining gruyere, split among the four slices of bread. Put the slices together to make the sandwich.
Spoon the cheese sauce over the top of the sandwiches. Sprinkle with the remaining gruyere. Bake in the oven for 5 minutes then turn on boiler and broil for an additional 3-5 minutes until cheese is bubbly and slightly brown.