Preheat your oven to 400 degrees.

The traditional way to serve Croque Monsieur is with a béchamel sauce. Bechamel sauce is a mild, sauce that is delicious. To make it, put 2 Tbs. of butter in a small sauce pan on low heat. Melt the butter completely and allow it to boil for about 2 minutes (you want to see it bubble). Once it is bubbling – add the 3 Tbs. of flour – whisk until smooth. Once it’s smooth, whisk in the hot milk (I just microwaved it for 2 minutes) and continue to whisk until the sauce thickens. Remove from the heat and add a a half cup of the grated cheese (or more if you’d like more – we like more). Mix into the sauce. Then add the pepper and the nutmeg. Stir and set aside.

Lightly butter the bread, and toast it in the oven for about 4 minutes. Flip it over and toast the other side for about 2-3 minutes.

Allow the bread to cool slightly and put several slices of ham onto the toasted bread and then divide the remaining cheese on top of the ham slices on each slice of bread. Pick up the other half of the bread and spread a think layer of dijon mustard on the underside of the top of the sandwich. You can hardly taste it but that’s the point, it’s just a light flavor there unless you desire more. Place that on top and you have a sandwich.

Now it’s time to finish it all up. Pour the béchamel sauce over the top of each of the sandwiches. Go ahead – smother them all the way. The more, the better. No joke.

Put the sandwiches into your 400 degree oven for about 5 minutes. Then, turn on the broiler and broil for an additional 1-2 minutes. You want it to be bubbly and the cheese to be slightly golden brown.

Remove the croque monsieur from the oven immediately and allow them to cool for about 5 minutes. Serve! They are delish!