Photo by Dax Phillips
Dax Phillips's Notes:
Expand2 tablespoons unsalted butter Ask a question about this ingredient
2 tablespoons all purpose flour Ask a question about this ingredient
1 1/2 cup milk Ask a question about this ingredient
1/2 teaspoon salt Ask a question about this ingredient
1 pinch nutmeg Ask a question about this ingredient
1 tablespoon grated parmesan cheese Ask a question about this ingredient
6 slices of Gruyère cheese Ask a question about this ingredient
8 slices of Black Forest Ham Ask a question about this ingredient
1 cup grated Gruyère cheese Ask a question about this ingredient
2 tablespoons dijon mustard Ask a question about this ingredient
4 thick slices of French sandwich loaf Ask a question about this ingredient
4 tablespoons unsalted butter, room temperature Ask a question about this ingredient
2 eggs with 1 tbsp butter Ask a question about this ingredient
Begin by making the bechamel sauce. Get two saucepans, and heat one on a medium low heat, and the other on medium heat. To the pan on medium, low heat, add the milk, and let it get warm. To the other pan, add the two tablespoons of butter, and let it melt down and begin to bubble a bit. Add the flour to the butter, and mix it very well to incorporate the two. Continue whisking for about two minutes, being careful not to let the flour mixture brown. Slowly add in the warm milk, and continue whisking until you everything is nice and smooth. You will whisk this for about 8-10 minutes, until the sauce thickens. Add in the salt, nutmeg, and the parmesan cheese. Give a good mix, then remove it from the heat until it is ready to be used.
Ask a question about this stepNext, get a large skillet going on the stove, and bring that to a medium heat. Butter four slices of the bread, and lay them into the skillet, butter side down. The goal here is to get them nice and golden brown, without burning them. As they begin to cook, add a tablespoon of butter to two pieces of the bread. Lay down three slices of Gruyère cheese on top of the mustard, then top each with four slices of the black forest ham. Let them continue cooking on the skillet, lifting to peak every couple of minutes, until the have reached that golden brown color, and have a crunchy exterior. Now for the assembly. Get your broiler going on 475 degrees.
Ask a question about this stepAdd the slices of toasted bread to a baking sheet. Place the toasted bread on top of the bread with the mustard, cheese, and ham. Now take the bechamel sauce and generously spread it all of the top of each sandwich. Take half a cup of the Gruyère cheese and add that to the top of the bechamel sauce. Place this under the broiler until the cheese is nice and bubbly and everything is warmed through, roughly 4-6 minutes. During this time, add a tablespoon of butter to the skillet, and let it melt on medium-high heat. Crack the eggs, leaving the yolks whole, and continue cooking in the skillet until the whites around the yolk are cooked through, sunny side up style. Remove the sandwiches from the broiler, and place on a serving plate. Top each sandwich with the egg. Dig in! What you get in a totally sexy sandwich. You get the perfect sharpness from the cheese and mustard, along with the creaminess of the egg and bechamel sauce, then on top of that, you get the tender ham. Wow. Words sometimes cannot explain, however I am extremely glad that I forgot to eat breakfast this morning! Hope you enjoy.
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Marion is the Paulette Goddard Professor of Nutrition, Food Studies, and Public Health at NYU and the author of several books on food policy, including Safe Food and What To Eat.
