Recipe Swap: Croque Monsieur

This week's recipe swap comes all the way from France.  Am I weird to say that I *didn't* like the food in France as much as I thought it would?  Being what is the arguably the culinary capital of the world, I had expected better.  I'm happy to say that this simple sandwich helped redeem the French in my eyes.

I had to make some modifications for Chris to eat it.  He claims the smell of mustard makes him vomit and he won't touch white cream stuff (sour cream, mayo, cream cheese, cottage cheese, etc.) unless it's baked into something sweet and no longer resembles its original form.  So, his sandwich was naked.  Just bread, meat, cheese, and tomato.  I made mine as written except that I had to swap sour cream for the crème fraiche and I just used wheat sandwich bread.  I know, how un-French of me.  But, I wasn't about to go out and buy/make something special for a single spoonful knowing I already had leftover sour cream from Cinco de Mayo in the fridge!  It was still just as sinfully delicious...even if I did slightly burn mine.  Oops.  That's what you get when you're impatient and turn up the heat to get dinner done more quickly!

Thank you Jill of JBean Cuisine for sharing this deliciously simple sandwich.  It must have been fate that gave me her swap since I submitted French Dip Sandwiches this week.  And, thanks as always to Sarah at Taste of Home Cooking for hosting.  She's begun to do swap round-ups in her blog so check it out if you want more burger/sandwich ideas!

One Year Ago: We already established that I was a slacker for the entire month of May last year...
Two Years Ago: Chicken and Spinach Quesadillas

 
Croque Monsieur
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Yields: 1 Serving

Ingredients

• 2 thick slices white bread (used wheat sandwich bread)
• 1 spoonful crème fraiche (used reduced fat sour cream)
• 1 spoonful Dijon mustard
• grated gruyere cheese or comté
• 2 or 3 thin slices of tomato (JBean addition)
• Ground black Pepper
• Paprika
• 1 Slice very thin deli ham
• Clarified butter for frying

Directions

1. If using thick cut bread, cut the bread so that the two slices are still attached at the bottom, like a man’s wallet.  Otherwise, skip this step.
2. Mix the crème fraîche and mustard together with cheese and paprika.  Then spread it generously on both insides of the "wallet" or on both slices of bread. Season with pepper.  Add ham and tomato between the prepared sandwich halves.
3. Press the sandwich together with your hand. Fry in clarified butter in a frying pan, a few minutes per side until it’s golden on the outside, and melting in the middle. Serve hot.

Source: Laura Calder from French Food at Home as passed along by JBean Cuisine