No real fancy photo’s this time because, well, this just ain’t a real fancy dish and I had to work quick! It’s snack time!!

There’s the classic Croque Monsieur -grilled ham & cheese sandwich topped with bechamel- and you have the Croque Madame -grilled ham & cheese sandwich topped with a fried egg. These are both brilliant, but just too heavy for a snack. My recipe is derived from these sandwiches, but I have a slightly different version.

I can wake up in the middle of the night craving one of these, they’re just that good. Savory, creamy, flavorful and totally satisfying. I also love the different textures. Best part (if you don’t take the cheese into account:), it’s not even terribly fattening.

I often eat this for a snack, but it can be more than that. You can also serve this as an appetizer, or serve it with a steaming bowl of creamy cheese soup for lunch.

Let me show you how I do it.

Ingredients:

bread
cheese
butter
veal ragout (or any other ragout)

Optional: parsley

Directions:

The simple life. Just a few basic ingredients, but combined (and cooked in the right way) they turn into heaven on a plate. I promise you, you won’t be disappointed!

I’m using aged Gouda cheese, but grab whatever cheese you have on hand as long as it’s not a specific melting cheese. It takes a great deal of willpower for me to not eat every other slice. I fail terribly most of the time.

Butter the bread on one side – it’s only to get the bread crunchy, so I used a light margarine. Trust me, the last thing you’ll taste is the butter you use to crisp the bread with! Don’t waste your calories on it! Use more cheese in stead :)

I always have a few of these cans in the pantry, this happens to be veal ragout, but it could have been any kind. Chicken, vegetable, mushroom, pretty much anything goes. Use about 2 heaping tbsp for 1 slice of bread. Heat it on your stove top or, as I do, in the microwave.

You might want to grab a non stick skillet now, it sure makes things easier. Heat up your skillet and place the bread in it (buttered side down), immediately top the other side with the cheese. Cook over low heat for about 4 to 5 minutes.

After 5 minutes the bread will be golden brown and the cheese will have melted, even though it doesn’t have to be completely melted. Lift the bread with a spatula, crank up the heat and after a few seconds, when the skillet is a little hotter, flip the bread over in one motion. Don’t move the bread anymore now. Cook for 2 more minutes over high heat.

I just took too long whining and whimpering over broken focus and shutter speed. Continuously wanting to get just ‘one‘ last shot, so my bread ended up a teeny bit too dark. Now as long as you don’t take photo’s while preparing it, you should be fine and your bread will end up golden brown.

The cheese will drizzle out from underneath the bread a little, but that’s ok. That’s actually more than ok, it means you get to pick it off and eat it!

After 2 minutes you can take the bread out of the skillet. Because you cranked up the heat before flipping over the bread, the top layer got crispy very fast leaving the cheese underneath it all gooey and runny. I pushed the top layer to the side a bit so you can see the melted cheese underneath.

Quickly cover with ragout, sprinkle a little parsley on top and serve immediately. The different textures and flavors are great. You’re gonna love this one, I just know you will. Downside is that after one of these, you’ll end up wanting more. Much more.