By Maggie Conklin
Monte Cristo
Monte Cristo is the name for a grown-up grilled ham and cheese sandwich on steroids. It is an Americanized term for what started in France (of course) as the Croque monsieur, loosely translated as “crunchy gentleman.”
The classic Monte Cristo sandwich is stacked high with slices of ham, melty cheese and condiments, then dipped in an egg bath and pan fried. As you can imagine, there are countless variations, including batter-dipped and deep-fried; these usually covered with powdered sugar or maple syrup.
Hungry yet?
Ingredients Per Person
2 slices multi-grain bread
2 eggs*
2 slices ham
2 slices cheddar or gruyere cheese
Mustard, mayonnaise, pepper and/or cayenne
*2 eggs for the first person, then add 1 egg for each additional person.
How I Made It
Preheat a large frying pan or griddle. Arrange ingredients so you can quickly assemble sandwiches.
Beat eggs and a splash of water in a bowl large enough to dip your bread. You don’t want eggs to be too thick or too thin, so there is an art to the amount of water. Let’s try ½ teaspoon to start.
I decided to dip only the bread slices in the egg bath because dipping the entire sandwich sounded messy. Less mess, less clean up, right? Dip one slice of bread for each person and place them on the griddle. This is the bottom layer.
Layer ham, then cheese, then condiments on top. You can even put a nice thick slice of tomato in there if you like. It’s a good idea to add some vegetable matter, don’t you think?
Dip the top slices of bread and place there when the bottom bread is ready to flip over. Flip over. Grill until the egg is completely cooked and the cheese is melty. Yes, melty is a word in my world.
Enjoy!