Say ‘oui!’ to French sandwich croque monsieur

With the 2024 Summer Olympics recently in Paris, many of us are thinking about French food — specifically, how to cook some of the iconic bistro dishes those lucky enough to score tickets to one of the events might have been enjoying in the City of Light.

The one that looms largest for me is the first dish I sampled on my first-ever trip to Paris this past March, at Buvette in the heart of the city’s Pigalle neighborhood: the saucy, obscenely decadent toasted cheese sandwich known as croque monsieur.

I was nursing a badly torn hamstring and feeling pretty sorry my sisters had booked a hotel so far from the train station when I hobbled into the small and charming cafe in the ninth arrondissement in search of comfort food.

Paired with a lovely glass of vin rouge du moment (red wine of the moment), the iconic sandwich that arrived at my bar seat aside a pile of crunchy cornichons not only hit the spot after a grueling red-eye flight, but made me feel incredibly welcome in a city that is sometimes characterized — unfairly, I discovered — as unfriendly to American tourists.

I don’t know if you believe food is the culinary equivalent of a hug, but that toasty sandwich and glass of local red wine sure felt like a warm embrace.

Traditionally made with baked or boiled ham and a salty Alpine-style cheese such as Gruyère, Comté or Emmental, this humble knife-and-fork sandwich was popularized in the early 1900s as a simple but tasty snack for Parisians. (Many croque monsieur stories credit Michel Lunarca, proprietor of Le Bel Age café, with its creation.)

Its name translates to “mister crunch,” and that’s a pretty apt descriptor. While the interior is plenty gooey, the sandwich also boasts crispy, toasted edges that lend an incredibly satisfying crunch.

Because the sandwich is so simple, it’s important not only to use quality ingredients but to make it properly. That includes slowly cooking your sauce to a perfect, velvety finish and toasting the bread until it’s golden before spreading on the Dijon and layering it with ham and cheese.

Many traditional recipes for croque monsieur hang their beret on a simple white bechamel, one of five mother sauces in French cuisine. I think adding a little grated Gruyere to transform it into Mornay sauce makes for a more flavorful (and cheesy) sandwich.

This recipe results in more Mornay sauce than you need for two sandwiches, but leftovers can be stored in a sealed container in the refrigerator for several days; use it to toss with pasta or to spoon over veggies, chicken or fish after gently reheating it on the stove top or in the microwave.

For a less filling sandwich, add only a single piece of ham. For a more substantial dish, double up with two slices or turn the monsieur into a madame by adding a fried egg on top.

Bon appetit!

Croque Monsieur

Serves 2. Gretchen McKay, Post-Gazette

For Mornay sauce:

1 tablespoon butter

3 tablespoons flour

1 cup of whole milk

Salt and pepper, for seasoning

Pinch of grated nutmeg

Pinch of cayenne pepper

1/3 cup grated Gruyere cheese

For the croque monsieur:

4 slices of toasted white bread, ¾-inch thick

2 tablespoons Mornay sauce

2 or 4 slices good quality unsmoked ham

1 tablespoon Dijon mustard

11/2 cups grated Gruyere cheese

Prepare Mornay sauce: Melt butter over low heat in a medium-sized saucepan. Add the flour all at once to create a roux and stir with a wooden spoon until combined into a paste. Continue to cook, stirring, until raw flour scent is gone, about 1 minute.

Add milk in a thin, steady stream, whisking thoroughly and reaching into the corners of the saucepan. Continue stirring until sauce comes to a simmer and begins to thicken slightly. Then, reduce heat to low and continue cooking, stirring all the while, until sauce is thick enough to coat the back of a wooden spoon, about 2-3 minutes.

Season sauce to taste with salt, pepper and a pinch each of nutmeg and cayenne. Whisk in grated cheese, a little at a time, stirring to make sure it is completely melted before each new addition. Set aside while you prepare bread.

Preheat oven to broil with rack about 8 inches from heat source.

Toast bread slices under the broiler until lightly browned. Arrange 2 slices on a work surface, toasted side down, and slather each with 2 spoonfuls of Mornay sauce. Spread to evenly cover the surface, add a layer of ham and then a small handful of cheese (about ¼ cup).

Spread Dijon mustard on remaining 2 bread slices, then place mustard-side down on top of the ham-and-cheese topped bread.

Spread a layer of Mornay sauce on top of closed sandwich. Divide remaining 1 cup grated Gruyere over top of sandwiches. (You can use less cheese for a lighter sandwich.)

Place the sandwiches in the oven under broiler, and bake until cheese has melted and tops of sandwiches are bubbly and starting to brown in spots, 5 to 7 minutes.

Remove the sandwiches from the oven, plate and serve with a knife and fork. Bon appétit!