Croque-Monsieur – Grilled Cheese (servings 2)

Did you know that the Croque-Monsieur is 100 years old?

We know that the first one was served in a French café in Paris in 1910.
Marcel Proust, a French writer, mentioned it a few years later in one of his novels.

What does Croque-Monsieur mean?

Croque comes from the French verb croquer, meaning to bite. Why it was called Croque-Monsieur is unsure. It could be because it was served to busy men, who had to eat something quickly. They just had to bite into eat.

There are many variants of the Croque-Monsieur. I love the one with ham and cheese. I used to eat it a lot in France for lunch or dinner.

What you need:

• 4 pieces of sliced sandwich bread
• Butter or margarine
• 2 large slices of ham
• Grated Emmental cheese

How to make it:

1. Butter the slices of bread.
2. On one slice put 1 slice of ham. On top, put some grated cheese.
3. Take the other piece of bread and add cheese. Put on top of the oven.
4. Broil about 5 minutes at 465 F/240 C until the top and sides are lightly  brown.

Serve with a side salad.

• cheese
• Croque-Monsieur
• ham
• Sandwich