Croque Monsieur

Serves 2

10 Minutes Preparation Time

15 Minutes Cooking Time

INGREDIENTS

200ml Milk

2 Cloves Garlic (Chopped)

2 Shallots (Sliced)

2tbs Flour

2tbs Butter

2tsp Dijon Mustard

Nutmeg

4 Slices of Sourdough bread

Butter for bread

100g Gruyere Cheese

4 Slices of Roast Ham

METHOD

- In a saucepan, add the milk, shallots, and garlic. Bring to almost boiling then turn off the heat and allow to sit

- Butter both sides of the sourdough

- Grate the cheese

- Sieve the milk into a bowl, discarding the shallots and garlic

- Now, into the saucepan add the butter and allow to melt over a low/medium heat. Once melted, whisk in the flour and cook for five minutes, stirring every so often. Once the flour has cooked, you can start to add the milk a little at a time and stirring as you go. Adding the milk slowly reduced the chance of lumps. Once the milk has incorporated with the flour you will have a thick paste. Add the mustard and a grating of nutmeg. The sauce needs to be spreadable but still a little runny. If it is too thick, you can loosen it with a little more milk.

- Preheat the oven to 200c.

- Grill or toast one side of the slices of bread. Then add them to a tray, toasted side down.

- Top two slices of sourdough with a tablespoon of bechamel sauce on each and spread out, then add the gruyere, followed by the ham and then topped with the other slice of bread. Then add another tablespoon of béchamel to the tops.

- Add the tray with the toasties into the oven to warm up and melt the cheese.

- After 10 minutes, place under the grill to get a lovely bubbly browned top.

- Remove from the oven and ENJOY!