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You may have seen our one minute weekday breakfast sandwich post
here. It was a huge success so we thought we would explore the other extreme: the 20 minute weekend brunch sandwich, a Croque Madame, made with black forest ham, gruyere cheese, a bechamel sauce and topped with a fried egg. Here's
the link to the recipe I used.
A Croque Madame is a variation on a
Croque Monsieur, which is a grilled sandwich with ham and cheese. Topping the sandwich with a fried egg makes the sandwich a Croque Madame, the fried egg being similar to a ladies hat! Croque comes from the verb croquer "to crunch."
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I began by making a bechamel sauce: melting butter, whisking in flour and adding milk.
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After cooking until thickened, which was about 6 minutes, I added a bit of salt and pepper and a pinch of cayenne. Once it was ready, I began building the sandwich.
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Taking two slices of bread, I brushed the outer sides with oil. The recipe calls for dijon mustard on the bread but I skipped this because I don't prefer it. I added black forest ham and spread bechamel sauce on top. A layer of grated gruyere cheese and a final slice of bread completed the sandwich. Next time I might be a bit more generous on the cheese!
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We popped it onto the panini grill. This was a wedding present that we spontaneously registered for and actually use quite frequently.
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While the sandwich was cooking and pressing, we fried an egg in butter, making sure not to fully cook the yolk.
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The egg actually fried in a nice lengthwise shape that would fit well on top of the sandwich.
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And the result was delicious.
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When sliced, the egg yolk was appropriately runny, the bread was crisp and the cheese and bechamel was warm and melty. So, there you have it- the perfect Saturday or Sunday brunchtime sandwich. Bon appetit!