Wednesday, April 8, 2009

The Golden Egg

"The Madame- its egg like a jaunty beret- is the one you want. Let the yolk ooze into the crust of the bread and run with abandon between ham and the melted cheese."

--Texas Monthly

This is my version of a Croque Madame. A Croque Monsieur is just a fancy french name for a grilled or pan fried ham and cheese sandwich.. A Croque Madame is the same sandwich topped with a fried or poached egg. Some versions are also topped with a Bechamel sauce. But I'm lazy and don't have the time or patience to wait on a white sauce. Besides, this sandwich served as is is perfect for a simple and quick breakfast, lunch or dinner.

Grilled Ham and Cheese w/a Fried Egg
  • 2 slices of bread
  • 3-4 thin slices of deli ham
  • cheddar cheese
  • mayonnaise (optional)
  • butter, softened
  • 1 egg

Assemble your sandwich as usual. Two pieces of your favorite bread (mine is Oat Nut) slathered on the inside with mayo. On one side neatly place your sharp cheddar, on the other your thinly sliced deli ham. Sandwich them together and butter the outside. Place in a pan on medium high heat until the bread turns golden and crispy and the cheese melts.

Once the sandwich is browned and golden, remove from pan and place on a plate. Immediately start cooking your egg. I like mine fried with a runny center. Cook your egg to your liking and place on top of your hot sandwich. Pierce the yolk and watch it ooze over the egde into a golden puddle.

Oh my Gawd! Yum!

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The meeting with my blogging bud went very well. We met in San Antonio, TX and stayed on the Riverwalk. There's a man made river in the center of town (think Venice) but there are side walks on either side, along with shopping and restaurants, hotels and businesses.

My blogging friend is Becky. We met online a couple years ago and immediately hit it off because we had so much in common. Sadly, she also had two losses, both boys and they were the same gestation as mine as well. Even more weird is that we both have an Incompetent cervix and we're the same age. Eerie. Anyway, she just had a new baby girl so she and her family went on their first vacation.

We ate, drank, shopped, and acted like tourists for a couple days. We had a great time and I miss her already.

16 comments:

  1. HOLY COW...that photo with the egg dribbling down the side of the sandwich made me so hungry!! Excellent and I KNOW what's for lunch tomorrow.

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  2. Wow, it's wonderful that you and Becky finally got to meet--you two have so much in common; it's amazing how many wonderful people you can meet in the blogging world! Speaking of wonderful, this croque madame looks quite awesome. I'm not even a ham fan, and you still have me craving this sandwich!

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  3. YUMMMMMMM!!!!! looks sssssoooooooooooooooooooooo good!

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  4. Not fair for me to see that in the morning.. It looks delicious. How lucky for you to meet you friend. You both look so happy , like you had a great time. Im envious!

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  5. The sandwich looks wonderful! How neat to be able to meet up with your blogging buddy :)

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  6. Looks like a fun trip! The sandwich sounds great, I do something similar, but I press the sandwich in a panini maker and then add the egg after it's done.

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  7. Glad you got to meet up with your friend. How fun! I LOVE Your photos on this post. Stellar work!

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  8. Monica I wish I could say that I love this but fried eggs, just don't do it for me. The only kind of eggs I want are the ones baked up like in that cake you made with the capp chips! :-) My kiddos and Joe on the other hand would probably LOVE this as they like runny yokes, ew! :-)

    Glad you had such a nice time with your friend!
    ~ingrid

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  9. OMG! That sandwich sounds divine! I don't have thin sliced ham but I do have ham and I may make this anyway! Yum!

    Welcome home!

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  10. this is one of hubbys' fav breakfast sandwiches. we love to use the virginia coated ham found at whole foods. try it, you'll see a HUGE diff.

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  11. Yum yum! The pictures are awesome and the food looks amazing!

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  12. This post is delicious and heartwarming. That's so cool that you two have so much in common! My parents got married a few blocks away from here, believe it or not.

    I am totally digging this meal, too! I need to make some bread so I can have this for breakfast...yep, I'm skipping pancakes for this, this weekend, for sure!

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  13. Mmmm. I'm looking at this with my daughter and we're feeling like we're back in Paris (our fave!).

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  14. Eggs are very popular this year and your dish is 5 stars! Enjoyed reading the post today.

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  15. that cheddar cheese looks so tempting!!! I want to make the Croque Monsieur very soon with béchamel sauce. YUM! What kind of cheese did you get? I mean the brand.

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  16. Memoria-

    I used Tillamook Cheddar. We buy the big block from Costco.

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Thank you for your supportive comments. I appreciate each and every one of them!