The perfect croque monsieur

SERVES 2 PREP 20 mins COOK 30 mins MORE EFFORT

If you haven’t seen It’s Complicated, put this magazine down right now and watch it - it’s really great. Welcome back. As you know, the scene where Meryl Streep cooks a croque monsieur for Steve Martin is a perfect storm of food and cinema. As you also know, a perfect croque monsieur is surprisingly hard to achieve: it’s not just a regular toastie – every element needs to be perfect. But once truly mastered, it is the greatest sandwich in the world.

For the sandwich

4 slices from a white sourdough or crusty white 20g butter, melted

1 tsp Dijon mustard

100g grated gruyère

4 thin slices of great smoked ham

For the béchamel sauce

125ml milk

125ml cream

1 garlic clove, crushed

2 bay leaves

1 small onion, chopped

20g butter

20g plain flour

1 heaped tsp Dijon mustard fresh nutmeg, grated

For the mustard mayo

1 tsp Dijon mustard

1 tbsp mayonnaise

1 First, make a perfect béchamel sauce. Put the milk, cream, garlic, bay leaves and onion in a small pan over a medium heat and stir together. Heat until nearly boiling, then turn the heat off and leave for 10 mins to infuse. Pass the liquid through a sieve and discard the bay and onion.

2 Melt the butter with the flour in another pan and cook over a gentle heat until it smells biscuity. Gradually whisk in the warm milk and bring to a gentle boil, stirring regularly, then add the Dijon mustard, a little grating of fresh nutmeg and some seasoning. It should be a lovely thick creamy sauce with a deep flavour.

3 Brush the slices of bread with melted butter. Place them on a baking tray and toast one side under a grill, buttered-side up, until golden. Take them out and heat oven to 220C/200C fan/gas 7.

4 Turn the bread over and spread each slice with a thin layer of Dijon, followed by a layer of the béchamel. Cover the sauce with grated gruyère, and then a slice of ham. Form the slices into two sandwiches, spread a thin layer of the sauce over the top slice and sprinkle more gruyère on top. Put the sandwiches in the oven and bake for 10-15 mins or until golden. Mix the mustard and mayo together and serve alongside. Channel your inner Meryl Streep and relish every mouthful.

GOOD TO KNOW calcium

PER SERVING 876 kcals • fat 62g • saturates 31g • carbs 46g • sugars 6g • fibre 2g • protein 31g • salt 3.7g

You’ll only use half the béchamel sauce – use the rest to make welsh rarebit.

Channel your inner Meryl Streep and relish every mouthful