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Croque Monsieur a la Katherine Frelon

Notes

A perfect supper with a glass of red 

Makes 8

• 40g unsalted butter
• 30g plain flour
• 600ml hot milk
• 1 tsp salt
• 4 tsp Dijon mustard
• pinch of freshly ground black pepper
• pinch of ground nutmeg
• 350g Gruyere cheese, grated
• 50g Parmesan cheese, grated
• 16 slices of bread -sourdough or pain de campagne work well.
• 3 tbsp chopped parsley - this is my addition as I love parsley with cheese
• pinch red chilli flakes

Preheat the oven to 200C. When it's ready lay the slices of bread out onto a baking tray and toast until lightly browned.

Make the Bechamel sauce. Melt the butter in a saucepan and then add the flour stirring all the time using a balloon whisk. Slowly pour in the hot milk whisking constantly over a medium flame until the sauce thickens. Turn off the heat and then add the salt, pepper, nutmeg, mustard, 50g of the grated Gruyere and all the Parmesan.  Mix well.

Take a slice of lightly toasted bread, spoon of the sauce and then sprinkle over a layer of grated Gruyere then the chopped parsley. Top with another piece of bread, a layer of sauce, a layer of grated Gruyere and a sprinkle of red chilli flakes. Repeat til all the bread is used up and then bake the sandwiches for 5 minutes until the cheese starts to colour and bubble.

We had these on their own with a glass of lovely wine. A crispy, green salad would have been the perfect companion.