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Croque Madame

3.1

(4)

Why Madame? Because it has an egg, of course.

Recipe information

  • Yield

    Makes 4 sandwiches

Ingredients

8 slices white or whole-wheat sourdough bread
8 ounces Gruyère cheese, sliced into 24-32 1/16-inch-thick slices
12 ounces smoked ham, such as Black Forest, sliced into 12-16 1/16-inch-thick slices
4 extra-large eggs
3 tablespoons unsalted butter
Fleur de sel or kosher salt, to taste
Freshly cracked black pepper, to taste

Preparation

  1. To assemble the sandwiches:

    Step 1

    Set half of the slices of bread buttered side down, and cover them with the cheese slices, folding them back in toward the middle if they extend past the edges of the bread. Place 3 or 4 slices of the ham in an even layer over the cheese, and place the top slice of bread over the ham, buttered side up.

    Step 2

    Grill the sandwiches in a two-sided grill or on a heavy-bottomed pan, using clarified butter and turning once. Place on serving plates.

  2. To fry the eggs:

    Step 3

    Crack two eggs into two separate bowls to check that the yolks aren’t broken. In 2 6-inch non-stick skillets, melt half of the butter over medium-high heat, until it starts to bubble. Pour 1 egg into each pan, being careful not to break the yolks. Add a teaspoon of water to each pan, sprinkle the eggs with fleur de sel, and cover the pans with lids. Cook the eggs for about 3 minutes for a soft-cooked egg and 5-6 minutes if you like your eggs firm. Wipe out the skillets, and fry the other 2 eggs in the remaining butter in the same manner. Center a fried egg over each of the grilled sandwiches and sprinkle with pepper.

Nancy Silverton's Sandwich Book by Nancy Silverton, with Teri Gelber. Copyright © 2002 by Nancy Silverton, with Teri Gelber. Published by Knopf Doubleday Publishing Group. All Rights Reserved. Suzanne Goin graduated from Brown University. She was named Best Creative Chef by Boston magazine in 1994, one of the Best New Chefs by Food & Wine in 1999, and was nominated for a James Beard Award in 2003, 2004, and 2005. She and her business partner, Caroline Styne, also run the restaurant A.O.C. in Los Angeles, where Goin lives with her husband, David Lentz. Teri Gelber is a food writer and public-radio producer living in Los Angeles.
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