“Treat your mother to this indulgent Croque Madame this Mother’s Day! As Julia Child said, ‘People who love to eat are always the best people’!” – Chef Kwek Xiurong (“XR”) Executive Chef at Thirtysix Brewlab and Smokehouse
Ingredients
- 2 slices of sourdough, toasted and buttered
- 1 teaspoon of Dijon mustard
- 25g of cooked ham
- 30g cheesy béchamel (below)
- 30g shredded mozzarella cheese
- 1 egg cooked to your choice (poached, fried or scrambled)
- Optional (to decorate): salmon roe, chives, slow-roasted cherry tomato, watercress
Cheesy béchamel
- 100g unsalted butter
- 100g all-purpose flour
- 200g whole milk
- Pinch of cayenne pepper
- Pinch of nutmeg
- Salt and pepper to taste
- 100g mature cheddar cheese
- 80g parmesan cheese
Instructions
#1 To make the cheesy béchamel sauce, melt the butter in a saucepan and add flour.
#2 Whisk until smooth then slowly pour in the milk, a little at a time.
#3 Whisk continuously until the sauce is thick, then turn down the heat, add the spices and allow to simmer (gentle heat), stirring, until the sauce is thick and cooked through.
#4 Add in the cheese and let the heat of the sauce melt down the cheese.
#5 Once the sauce is cooked, season to taste.
#6 To assemble the Croque Madame, spread a thin layer of Dijon mustard on the toasted sourdough.
#7 Layer cheesy béchamel, cooked ham, more cheesy bechamel and sourdough in that order.
#8 Sprinkle shredded mozzarella cheese on the top of the sourdough and bake in the oven for three minutes for the cheese to melt.
#9 Add your choice of egg on top of the melted cheese.
#10 Season salt and pepper on the egg and sprinkle chopped chives to finish.
Send us a recipe!
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This article first appeared in the April 2023 edition of Expat Living. You can purchase the latest issue or subscribe, so you never miss a copy!
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