Finding Florence

We—and when I say we, I mean our France-2011 Imagewest Team—have had a wonderful first day in the city of Paris. We strolled the Avenue des Champs-Élysées, visited the Eiffel Tower, ate croque-monsieur at little cafe a few blocks away, visited the Global Editors Network offices near the St. Paul Metro Station, and ate again at one of the many music venues scattered all around the city on this very special evening in Paris. I’ll be writing daily about our trip to La Ville-Lumière over the next few weeks. In the mean time, for those of you interested in making the world’s best hot-ham-and-cheese sandwich, here’s a recipe:

Croque-Monsieur

2 tablespoons butter
3 tablespoons all-purpose flour
2 cups hot whole milk
Sea salt
Fresh ground black pepper
Nutmeg
5 cups grated Gruyere cheese
1/2 cup freshly grated Parmesan
16 slices white or whole wheat sandwich bread
Coarse ground spicy mustard
Thinly sliced ham (go to the deli for this)
Preheat the oven to 400 degrees F.

Melt the butter over low heat in a small saucepan and add the flour all at once. Stir for 2 minutes. Slowly pour the hot milk into the butter & flour mixture and cook, whisking constantly, until the sauce is thickened. Off the heat add the salt, pepper, nutmeg to taste, 1/2 cup grated Gruyere, and the Parmesan, and set aside.

Toast the bread slices.

Brush half the toasted bread with mustard, add a slice of ham to each, and sprinkle with half the remaining Gruyere. Top with another piece of toasted bread. Slather the tops with the cheese sauce, sprinkle with the remaining Gruyere, and bake the sandwiches for 5 minutes. Turn on the broiler and broil for 3 to 5 minutes, or until lightly browned. Serve hot.

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