If you’ve ever been to Paris, you will most likely have encountered a croque-monsieur, the classic French grilled sandwich of ham, cheese and a creamy sauce. No one makes them at home because they’re served on virtually every street corner, at virtually every café. But with the cafés closed now and snow drifting down the other day, I decided to give it a go. And being in a non-traditional mood, I made an open-faced version on rustic country bread.
Croque-monsieur rustique / Open-faced croque monsieur
The traditional croque-monsieur consists of two slices of white bread filled with ham and cheese and topped with a béchamel sauce and more grated cheese. This one instead uses French-style country bread, a rustic loaf with a crisp crust and a tender, chewy interior. The slices are large, making for a generous sandwich. As there’s plenty of body in a single slice, I prefer to serve it open-faced — lighter and just as delicious.
According to the Grand Larousse gastronomique, the first croque-monsieur was served in 1910 at a café on the Boulevard des Capucines, near the Paris Opéra. But the esteemed encyclopedia of French cuisine does not say how the sandwich got its name.
Croque-monsieur translates literally as ‘bite the man’ (croquer means to bite into something, and monsieur is, well, what you call a man). One story goes that it got its name when the Boulevard des Capucines café owner, who was reputed to practice cannibalism, presented the sandwich to a customer and joked that it contained human flesh. But both this off-the-wall explanation and the account in the Larousse are proved false by the fact that the croque-monsieur was mentioned in periodicals well before 1910.
In 1891, for example, a sports publication called La Revue athlétique tells of a gathering when it is past lunchtime and the guests are hungry. One has an idea: ‘Let’s make croque-monsieur. Quick, bread for toasting, butter, Gruyère cheese, ham, a little cayenne pepper. One slices, the other butters and the third puts everything together in sandwiches that Vincent sautés in a pan. They’re exquisite, these croque-monsieur, perhaps a bit big, made for giant jaws, but no matter. We eat, we come back for more, we’re in ecstasy.’
I’ve quoted the whole passage, which I found on the French version of Wikipedia, both because it gives the original recipe — the croques were pan-fried, not grilled as today — and because it is so funny. Other 19th century publications mentioned the sandwich. Even Marcel Proust wrote about it in his masterwork, In Search of Lost Time.
When I decided to make a croque, my first step was go down the street to a bakery called Dupain (Bread) that makes an exceptional miche, a large round loaf of mixed white and whole wheat flour with a sourdough leavening. The shop assistant told me that the flour comes from Gilles Matignon, a miller in the Gâtinais region south of Paris who grinds organic grain using traditional methods, a rarity these days.
Most cafés serving open-faced croques use pain Poîlane, a similar bread, which is available throughout France and also in London. Elsewhere, you can just use your favorite loaf, preferably one that will make large slices. And there is also room for improvisation in your choice of ham and cheese. Baked ham and Comté or Gruyère are traditional, but some cafés take liberties, using cured ham, goat or other cheeses, and sometimes adding anything from tomatoes or pesto to honey or bacon. And then there’s the croque-madame, with a fried egg on top. One can only speculate on how it got its name…
Personally, I prefer the more traditional variety, and I’d suggest you start with that, too. So when lunchtime rolls around, if you’re hungry and would like to experience a sandwich that at least once left its eaters in ecstasy, why not try your hand at a croque-monsieur?
Happy cooking.
I like the challenge of going into the kitchen and creating a dish with whatever ingredients happen to be around. So the other day I made a zingy salad from a couple handfuls of lettuce leaves bathed in a garlicky mustard vinaigrette, topped with croutons straight out of the oven. I didn’t exactly create it because I’ve been making this salad for years. The pleasure was in finding the fridge nearly bare and still being able to produce a tasty lunch.
A couple years back I was served this intensely flavorful French dish of lamb and beans on a cold winter’s evening by an English friend who happens to be a superlative cook. Snow was drifting down outside her cottage as a maddeningly delicious aroma wafted from the kitchen — rosemary, thyme, bacon, garlic, tomato and lamb. When I asked for the recipe, she said she didn’t have one — she’d been making it so long that she did it by instinct.
This is a French take on that cold-weather classic, split pea soup. A traditional dish in Alsace, where it is known as as erbsesupp, it has a smoky flavor, imparted by bacon, while a drizzle of cream lends a soothing touch. It’s hearty enough to stand on its own as a lunch dish, perhaps accompanied by melted cheese on toast or some cold cuts. And it can be made in less than an hour.
This festive chocolate-pear dessert is the brainchild of the chef 
Preparation is fun. Pear halves are sautéd in butter and sugar until they caramelize and are meltingly tender. The ganache, a classic of French cuisine, is a mixture of high-quality dark chocolate and warm cream, stirred together until they form a smooth, rich sauce. The dessert is refrigerated until set, and may then be served sliced — or whole, to achieve a Yule log effect.
The site now counts more than 400 recipes — phew! — and I have a list as long as my arm of recipes still to come. Most I have posted with a blog entry, but every so often I slip one in surreptitiously for inclusion in the site’s 
And so I leave you, dear readers, with hopes that 2021 will be a year of peace, joy and a return to life as we’ve known it. The Everyday French Chef will be on vacation on New Year’s Day, with my next post arriving on Friday, Jan. 8. Until then, here’s wishing you good health, happy holidays — and happy cooking.
Pastilla, a splendid savory pie, is worth a thought for a festive dinner as we gallop toward the holiday season. Crisp pastry encases chicken and almonds simmered to melt-in-your-mouth tenderness in exotic spices. The pie is sprinkled with powdered sugar to lend a seductive sweetness that will have your guests asking for more. But beware — making pastilla is a bit of a production. In other words, this is not an everyday dish
Pastilla was traditionally made with pigeon, but these days chicken is generally used. In France, pastilla is often served as small individual pies. But for a festive occasion like Christmas, New Year’s or Hanukah, a large pie makes an impressive presentation. One pie will serve 10 as a starter or 6-8 as a main dish. Preparation takes several hours, but if you’ve got the time and the patience, it’s well worth the effort.
Paris bistros often serve fish in a lemony cream sauce that I’ve never seen served in a French home. Why not, one wonders? It proved remarkably easy to prepare when I tried it out in my kitchen the other day after scouting around online for tips. And the beauty of this sauce is that it may be served over any type of filleted fish — cod, haddock, salmon, sea bass, you name it — and would also be delicious over scallops, lobster or other shellfish.
The sauce is a mixture of cream, butter, lemon juice, salt, pepper and fresh herbs. Chives are traditional, but you can branch out and use the herb or your choice, for example dill, tarragon, cilantro, thyme, parsley or chervil. Unlike sauces involving egg yolks (
A pumpkin soufflé might be just the ticket this year for those of us who are under lockdown but still want to celebrate Thanksgiving. Here in Paris, where the lockdown is in effect until at least Dec. 1, a friend and I who give a gala dinner every year have begun thinking about how to get creative when gatherings are essentially banned. For the moment, we’re planning a twosome — meaning roast turkey with stuffing is off the menu. What is to be done?
My role as the token American was supposed to be simple — to make cranberry sauce and bring it to Blanc’s table in Vonnas, just south of Burgundy. At the last minute, I was asked to provide cornbread as well (oops, not my specialty). When we sat down, Georges Blanc produced a roast turkey unlike any I’d tasted before — stuffed with veal, pork, walnuts and thyme — and a fabulous 
Strong drink may be needed to get through the next couple of weeks, so here’s a rum cocktail from the French Antilles and crispy cod fritters to go with it. The cocktail, ti punch, is based on rhum agricole, a clear rum distilled from cane sugar juice with a flavor remarkably different from other rums on the market. Add some lime juice and raw sugar, and your mood will definitely improve. The fritters are fun to make and come with a spicy salsa.
Let’s start with the cocktail. 
Now for the fritters. 
The fritters marry well with 
Some days you just need a nice bowl of soup. And the French take on broccoli soup is just right for easing body and soul given the climate of this turbulent autumn (and I’m not talking about the weather). The basic recipe is ultrasimple. Broccoli is simmered with potato, leek, and garlic, then puréed to smoothness. Add a dash of lemon juice, stir in some cream and top with croutons. That’s the French way — but there are many variations…
You can go Italian, stirring in some olive oil and topping each bowl with grated parmesan. For a Spanish flavor, add chorizo chips. Or — one of my favorites — skip the cream and instead add finely grated ginger and a swirl of coconut milk. All of these versions are healthy and tasty, and two are vegan — with croutons (no cream), and with ginger and coconut milk.
