An unexpected brunch

What a beautiful day it is today huh? NOPE. This morning I woke up to a gray sky full of clouds and the weather channel greeting me with a report of showers and rain from 11am to the afternoon. ;(

I was just about to go to the beach, but due to some circumstances involving rain, wind, etc. I had to stay home. So what do I do? MAKE CROQUE MADAME FOR BRUNCH! This was my first time making Croque Madame, so it came out unexpectedly well :0

I take out 2 slices of thick toast, 2 slices of ham, 1 egg, and some shredded mozzarella cheese and start working. First I made the béchamel sauce (which is basically some flour, milk, and butter with salt to season) and whisk the mixture until it thickens to a sauce like consistency. I then lay out a piece of toast, spread the side facing up generously with some of my béchamel sauce, lay 2 slices of ham on top of the toast, put some mozzarella, spread my second toast generously with the remaining béchamel sauce, then put the toast on top. I then buttered both sides of the sandwich with melted butter and grilled it on a buttered nonstick pan for about 2-3 minutes until both sides were golden brown. I took the sandwich out of the pan and put it on a baking pan covered in aluminum foil, put a generous amount of mozzarella on top of it the sandwich and put in in the oven to bake at 375 degrees Fahrenheit for 10-15 minutes. While the Croque Madame was baking in the oven, I fried an egg in a buttered nonstick pan for my finishing touch.

When I took my Croque Madame out of the oven it was gorgeous. The cheese on top was slightly golden brown and the mozzarella inside of the sandwich were melted. I then finally top it all off by carefully laying my fried egg on top of my "Croque Monsieur" and turned it into a Croque Madame.

I carefully cut and sliced my Croque Madame in half and I was so happy when I saw the egg yolk dripping down the sides of the sandwich and the cheese pull. When I finally put it in my mouth, it was so good! There was a really long cheese pull when I tried to eat the sandwich and it took me about a minute or 2 until I finally ate the cheese and ended the long cheese pull. Lol. Best brunch ever!

So, even though I didn't get to go to the beach today, I did get to make Croque Madame for the first time ever for brunch today :). It was a really fun and great experience. French food are often seen as fancy, sophisticated, and very hard to make. However, not all french food are like that. Croque Madame was actually fairly easy. It was my first time cooking the dish, so I bet anyone, especially experienced chefs, can cook this dish. If you want to make this dish I will put the link for the recipe below. Good luck!

Croque Madame recipe: https://cooking.nytimes.com/recipes/1017346-croque-madame

#recipes #brunch #frenchfood