Life has been kickin’ me in the butt so hard that I haven’t had the energy to even call for take­out.  The thought of get­ting home at 8ish, walk­ing and feed­ing the furba­bies and then try­ing to make din­ner just had me think­ing “sand­wich” but, it was Thurs­day – time for a Bare­foot Blog­ger chal­lenge.  The lat­est chal­lenge was Croque Mon­sieur, a clas­sic french sand­wich.  When I was try­ing to explain it ear­lier to some­one, they were like “But it’s ham and cheese – how hard can that be?”

I have to con­fess - mak­ing my own cheese sauce scared the liv­ing day­lights out of me.  I had visions of screw­ing it up so hor­ri­bly that I was tempted to say “enough” and wuss out.  I’m so glad I didn’t.  This was a recipe that I have wanted to try since I saw her do it on a past episode but, like I said above, the bechamel sauce was some­thing I thought was beyond me.

Guess what – not to toot my own horn but I rocked that sauce!  And, now that I’ve tried this and accom­plished it, I’ll be try­ing to make more dishes and not be so scared.  I cut the recipe in half and that worked out fine.  It still made alot but hello – leftovers!

This recipe will be added to the tried & true arse­nal as well.  Give it a shot – you won’t be dis­ap­pointed.  Much thanks to the Bare­foot Blog­gers and Kathy of All Food Con­sid­ered for putting forth this chal­lenge and help­ing this gal come out of her culi­nary shell.

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 CROQUE MONSIEUR

Recipe cour­tesy of Ina Garten, 2004 – Bare­foot In Paris

Ingre­di­ents

Direc­tions

Pre­heat the oven to 400 degrees F.

Melt the but­ter over low heat in a small saucepan and add the flour all at once, stir­ring with a wooden spoon for 2 min­utes. Slowly pour the hot milk into the butter–flour mix­ture and cook, whisk­ing con­stantly, until the sauce is thick­ened. Off the heat add the salt, pep­per, nut­meg, 1/2 cup grated Gruyere, and the Parme­san and set aside.

To toast the bread, place the slices on 2 bak­ing sheets and bake for 5 min­utes. Turn each slice and bake for another 2 min­utes, until toasted.

Lightly brush half the toasted breads with mus­tard, add a slice of ham to each, and sprin­kle with half the remain­ing Gruyere. Top with another piece of toasted bread. Slather the tops with the cheese sauce, sprin­kle with the remain­ing Gruyere, and bake the sand­wiches for 5 min­utes. Turn on the broiler and broil for 3 to 5 min­utes, or until the top­ping is bub­bly and lightly browned. Serve hot.

**Note:  The pic of the Croque Mon­sieur made CinS wonky last night and had to be removed. Will reload at a later time.  Tried to post it last night but that also crashed the site.  Egads!**