Croque Monsieur-Style Monte Cristo Sandwiches

From Everyday with Rachael Ray



Ingredients:
5 tablespoons butter
2 tablespoons flour
2 cups whole milk
salt & pepper
Grated nutmeg
2 tablespoons Dijon mustard
8 slices good-quality white bread
5 ounces gruyère cheese, cut into 8 thin slices
8 slices baked ham
2 eggs

Directions:
1. Preheat a griddle pan or cast-iron skillet over medium heat.

2. In a small saucepan, melt 3 tablespoons butter over medium heat. Whisk in the flour and cook for 1 minute. Whisk in 1 1/3 cups milk and cook until thickened enough to coat the back of a spoon, about 5 minutes. Season the sauce with salt, pepper and nutmeg. Stir in the mustard and turn off the heat.

3. Spread the sauce on 1 side of each bread slice. Top each of 4 slices with 1 cheese slice, 2 folded ham slices, another cheese slice and 1 of the remaining bread slices.

4. Beat the eggs with the remaining 2/3 cup milk and coat the sandwiches twice in the batter. Wipe the griddle with the remaining 2 tablespoons butter nestled in a paper towel, then add the sandwiches to the griddle and cook, turning once, until deep golden, about 8 minutes. Halve the sandwiches diagonally.

Comments:
So I skipped the mustard sauce stuff and I just used some regular mustard by itself. I thought it turned out pretty well. Not spectacular. Adam commented that it was like a combination of grilled cheese and French toast. Pretty much. Not sure we'd have these again, although they did give me a real hankering for grilled cheese!