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Sunday, January 30, 2011

Pear Croque Monsieur

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I have been MIA  for  a while, I know.  I apologize to anyone whom might be wishing for more, new recipes from here. Last year was a busy and tough one for me. Between adjusting to a new job, losing my grandma and a few other life hiccups, I ended up with little energy for blogging and sometimes even cooking. That’s how this blog was on the back burner for such a long time. Hopefully this is all behind now and I can return to cooking and posting new and interesting food here.

I start today with a recipe I made many times in different versions: croque monsieur. I just love this sandwich. For me a good croque monsieur is all about the cheese sauce. I use lots of gruyère cheese and dip the whole sandwich in the sauce in order to coat it well before baking it in the oven. It might be too much for some people, and you can certainly use less sauce and less cheese. I just never seem to be able to have  too much cheese:)

In the past I made this sandwich with vegetarian sliced meats for me and also with ham (the original version) for Andrew. This version is made with bosc pears, which are firm and go nicely with the Dijon mustard and the cheese.

pear croque monsier-2

Pear Croque Monsieur Recipe

makes one sandwich

 

You will need:

2 slices of country bread (day old bread is fine)

3/4 cup (150 ml) of  milk

1 tablespoon of butter, plus more for sandwich

1 tablespoon of flour

Salt, pepper and nutmeg to taste

3/4 cup grated gruyère cheese

Dijon mustard

1/2 bosc pear, sliced

 

Preheat oven to 425F.

Toast the brad slices either in a toaster or in the hot oven for a couple of minutes. Set aside.

Warm up milk in the microwave for 45 seconds. Set aside.

Melt butter in a pan over medium heat and add the flour. Stir it constantly until the flour gains a nice golden colour. Slowly add the warm milk , stirring with a wooden spoon until all milk is incorporated. Continue to stir (switch to a whisk if you feel that the sauce might have lumps) over medium-low heat until the sauce thickens and the spoon leaves a trace on the bottom of the pan. Remove from heat, season with salt, pepper and a pinch of nutmeg.  Add 1/3 of the cheese (1/3 cup) and stir until the cheese melts into the sauce. Set the sauce aside.

Spread butter on one half of the bread and mustard on the other. Place sliced pears on top of the slice with mustard and season with sat. Cover it with some more cheese. Close the sandwich with the buttered slice and place it in the pan with the sauce. Move the sandwich around and turn it upside down a well, to cover it all with the sauce, being careful that the sandwich doesn’t open or fall apart.

Transfer sandwich to a baking sheet (line it with parchment for easy clean-up) and bake it in the preheated oven for about 6-7 minutes. Keep an eye on the sandwich to make sure it’s not burning too fast. If the top isn’t golden brown by the end of that time, turn on the broiler for about 2-3 minutes. The sandwich should be bubbly and the cheese melted with some brown spots.

Remove from the oven, transfer to a plate and let it rest for 5 minutes before you dig in!

Enjoy it!

 

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5 comments:

Anonymous said...

Thank you for this recipe! We make an annual purchase (via our local farmers here on Vashon) of 40 lbs of organic pears from eastern Washington. I've been looking for something to make with them - this is perfect!

Rita said...

@Anonymous - Great! 40 pounds of pears seem a lot thought. I love, love Vashon Island! We were there two summers ago and I plan on going again to see the lighthouse that we missed.

versier tips said...

hmmmmmmmmmmmmmm delicious looking food looks delicious :)

Culinarista Mauro Rebelo said...

Olá,

Fazendo uma visitinha.
Esse croque está especial. Parabéns!

Aproveito para lhe mostrar uma opção biscoitinhos feitos pela Sunrise. Eles são fáceis de fazer e uma ótima idéia para a Páscoa.
São bolachinhas de coelhos hehehe... Veja http://culinariareceitas.blogspot.com/2011/04/coelhinhos-para-pascoa-biscoitinhos.html

Um ótimo final de semana para você.

Abraços
Mauro

Unknown said...

I love Croque Monsieur! Leave it to the French to elevate a ham and cheese sandwich like this!

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