Croque-Monsieur
Croque Monsieur and French Kiss 75
For many years, Eddy spoke of these “sandwiches,” he had on his trip to Paris. Although he was able to describe how it was made, he couldn’t remember the name of this decadent snack found throughout the city. Being a food lover, and in particular a French food lover, I knew that he was talking about the famous Croque Monsieur. I have had one here and there at local restaurants, but never in Paris. This week in the Let’s Cook That kitchen we really wanted to recreate Eddy’s Parisian experience and set out on a search. Our research ended when we came upon Ina Garten’s recipe for Croque Monsieur on the Food Network website. The photos on the site made it an easy selection. It looked authentic and inviting.
We just so happen to be huge fans of the classic French 75 cocktail. This cocktail was invented in the New York Bar in Paris in the early 1900’s and we thought would be a nice addition to the dish. Since we were already on the site, we searched for the cocktail’s recipe and came across Mamrie Hart’s recipe for the French Kiss 75. It definitely put a modern twist to a classic cocktail. Viva Le France!
The ingredients for both recipes were easily attained. Croque Monsieur requires quite a bit of Gruyere cheese which raises the cost of the dish significantly. We ended up spending just about $35 for the sandwich ingredients. When purchasing the liquor for the cocktail, it didn’t make sense to use top-shelf liquor. After all, we are going to be infusing the gin with tea anyway. The cost of the liquor and other ingredients came up to about $35.
Learning from the past, it was quintessential that we read through the recipes and prepped any items to keep both recipes in sync with each other. The cocktail recipe required the gin to be infused with a tea. This would take three to four hours and was the first thing we did. We decided to set the jar with the gin and teabags out in a sun to assist in the infusion process. We quickly whipped up the simple syrup and set it aside to cool. From this point we would only need to add the ingredients to a shaker and now it was time to focus on the Croque Monsieur. Prepping for the sandwiches was straight forward and we even got an arm workout grating all the cheese in the process. You may want to take out the food processor to help out with this task.
This recipe is more complex than putting ham in between two pieces of bread and adding cheese. A roux is required for a béchamel sauce. Past experiences have taught me to be attentive as I make a roux, having many clump up and not come together at all. This time the roux was smooth and began to thicken beautifully as Eddy whisked away as the hot milk was added.
Removing the toasted bread out of the oven, I coated them with a layer of Dijon mustard, sliced ham and a sprinkle of Gruyere. Eddy completed the now thick and silky béchamel sauce. The moment we started adding the sauce over the top of our sandwiches our mouths began to water. Smothering the tops of the bread with the velvety sauce created the desire to devour them as they were, but we found our inner strength and resisted the urge. Stacking the remaining Gruyere cheese over the béchamel, we knew this was not going to be like anything we have made before. We placed them in the oven to broil and within minutes you could smell the cheese melting throughout the house. Oh, look, our audience showed up.
While the sandwiches were in the oven we started to prep the cocktail. The recipe states to “put the popping candy on a shallow dish and rub a lemon wedge around the rim of a coupe glass and roll the rim in the popping candy.” This did not work at all. The candy did not stick to the glass and lemon juice hardened the candy. Luckily, my niece was around and showed us how to do it properly. The key is to coat the outside of the glass with lemon juice, hold the glass on it’s side and sprinkle the candy on to the glass. Now having perfectly coated glasses we measured our the proportions and waited until the sandwiches were ready.
It is imperative to keep a close eye on the Croque Monsieur as it can quickly burn on the broil setting. Just as the cheese turned perfectly amber we removed them from the oven to sit for a few minutes. It was so difficult to not dig straight in, but knowing it would be a heavy dish, we decided to make a spring salad to lighten it up. Grabbing some greens, we added some olive oil, lemon juice, salt and pepper. After we plated the salad, we cut into what we are now calling perfection. The golden cheese was oozing as we sliced the thick crisp pieces of bread and as the scent of the cheese perfumed the air. We added ice to our shaker, shook our cocktails and served them up. I was anticipating Eddy’s reaction as he bit into the sandwich.
How would these homemade Croque Monsieur’s compare to their Parisian brothers? Watching him carefully, sipping on my cocktail, I saw an elated expression come across his face. It was obvious he was remeniscing his trip to Paris, sitting at a small café off of the street. You could tell by his expression that we nailed this recipe. As I took my first bite, the warmth of the sandwich was comforting. The creamy cheese pulled away from the firm bread, smokey ham and the smooth sauce magnified the richness of the sandwich.
What a great recipe to serve for Easter brunch, a lunch with friends, or just when you’re craving to be back in Paris. The cocktail was not as successful as we had hoped. The tea infused gin provided this cocktail with a hint of flavor that didn’t overpower, which was nice. On the other hand, the popping candy on the rim of the glass added nothing to the experience, other than making it difficult to drink. I won’t lie, we really wanted this to work and made a couple more batches trying to perfect it. It turns out, adding only half an ounce of simple syrup and omitting the popping candy made a vast improvement. This is an interesting take on the French 75 and could make a statement at a bridal shower or even as a signature cocktail for a birthday party. If you are thinking of a French theme party, we recommend the Croque Monsieur and paring it with a French artisan beer or a nice Pinot Nior.
Ratings:
Croque Monsieur
French Kiss 75
If you would like to try Ina Garten’s Croque Monsieur recipe click here and if you like to try Mamrie Hart’s French Kiss 75 recipe click here and while you’re there check out the Food Network website.