Emeril’s Croque Madame Is A #SeriousSandwich

I have a few irrational cooking fears – one of which is a standard bechamel sauce.  Now, I know – it sounds stupid but if you saw how many failures I’ve had with this one simple sauce, you might see there’s a reason why I get this knot in my stomach when I see the words “flour butter and milk” as the basis of the standard white sauce.  I let that little devil on my shoulder tell me “Aly – who are you kidding?  You know that sauce is not easy and you’ll just screw it up” and, 9 times out of 10, I do.

When I was leafing through Emeril’s new cookbook, “Kicked Up Sandwiches“, there was a recipe for a croque madame on a croissant.  I kept thinking about that recipe all day long but that little devil started his whispering early on trying to talk me out of even attempting it. I finally decided to shush the little imp for good, grabbed my wisk and prayed that I wouldn’t make it a gluey mess.  I mean, how could I do that to an Emeril recipe – that would be a travesty.

I’m happy to say that I conquered that irrational fear and I think I finally have a handle on making a decent white sauce.  Also – it was rather refreshing to have a sort of “breakfast for dinner” type of recipe.  The egg was just runny enough to create a smooth sauce when you cut into it and the croissant provided the perfect base for these simple flavors.  This is one sandwich I will be making often and I learned a very valuable lesson – don’t always let that little imp on your shoulder talk you out of attempting recipes in the kitchen.  That imp can’t cook – however you can.

Do you have any irrational culinary fears?

Time to cook:

Gather the ingredients

Time to cook the flour

And add the milk

Finally, a bechamel mastered

Time to layer the ham and cheese

Adding the bechamel sauce

The perfect Croque Madame

 For Emeril’s recipe, pick up a copy of Kicked Up Sandwiches and you can check out this video on Good Morning America.

*Disclosure:  A copy of Emeril’s cookbook was provided as per of the #SeriousSandwich Blogger Cookalong.  My opinion and experiences are 100% my own.

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