Open Faced Croque Monsieur

A few weeks ago I had the most amazing Croque Monsieur for lunch.  It was incredibly rich, and I savored every bite.  I knew I had to make a version of it at home.  I went for an open faced croque monsieur.  It surprisingly easy and absolutely delicious.  I used some large french rolls for the base of the sandwich.  The béchamel sauce sounds super fancy and hard, but it is just a quick white sauce.  The most expensive part of this recipe is the gruyere cheese.  It was about $7 for 8 ounces at Publix.  If you don’t want to spend the money, you can substitute swiss cheese.  I used gruyere and used the leftover cheese in some mac and cheese. Either way, these sandwiches are not to be missed!

Open Faced Croque Monsieur
(Printable Recipe)

2 Tbsp butter
2 Tbsp flour
1 ½ cups milk
2 cups gruyere cheese, divided
¼ tsp salt
¼ tsp pepper

4 large French rolls or hamburger buns
2 Tbsp butter, softened
3 Tbsp honey mustard dressing (O’Charley’s)
24 slices thinly sliced deli ham

Preheat oven to 350 degrees.

In a small pot, melt butter over medium heat. Stir in flour. Cook 1 minute, slowly whisk in milk. Continue stirring until sauce thickens, about 5 minutes. Stir in salt, pepper, and 1 cup of the gruyere cheese.  Set aside.

Slice rolls in half and spread butter over each half.  In a medium skillet, grill each bun half, butter side down, until lightly brown.  Spread honey mustard over each roll half. Place into lightly greased 9×13-inch baking dish. Top each bun half with 3 slices deli ham. Pour cheese sauce over top of all rolls and sprinkle with remaining gruyere cheese. Bake 10-15 minutes until hot and bubbly.