Last week, we dug out a trusty old favorite for dinner, back from the early days of the blog: the croque monsieur. If you’re not familiar, it’s a hot ham & cheese sandwich topped with a cheesy cream sauce. It’s a total fork & knife sandwich.

And it’s faaaabulous.

While there are exactly zero things wrong with the classic, I wanted to put a seasonal spin on the croque monsieur with hatch chiles. A hatch chile croque monsieur.

We simmered chopped peppers to make a hatch-infused cream sauce and replaced the stinky gruyere with unstinky Monterrey Jack cheese. And then we added more chiles to the sandwich. After a short stint in the oven, our hot ham & cheese sandwich now had plenty of chile flavor and just a hint of warmth from the mild-to-medium peppers.

And it was time to grab a fork.

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Hatch Chile Croque Monsieur

The classic French sandwich gets a makeover for hatch chile season.

Ingredients

• For the hatch chile cream sauce:
• 1 Tbsp butter
• 1 clove garlic, minced
• 1 Tbsp flour
• 2 hatch chiles, roasted, seeded, and chopped (directions here)
• 3/4 cup milk (I use 2%)
• Salt
• Pepper
• 1/4 cup grated Monterrey Jack
• For the sandwiches
• 6-8 slices of bread
• Deli sliced ham
• 3-4 slices of cheese
• 1/4 cup chopped roasted hatch chiles
• 1/4 cup grated Monterrey Jack

Instructions

1. Preheat oven to 400.
2. Over medium-low heat melt the butter and add the garlic. Stir until butter begins to bubble.
3. Stir in flour and cook for 1-2 minutes.
4. Stream in milk and whisk until smooth and then add the chiles.
5. Bring to a boil, reduce heat and simmer for 3-4 minutes, until thickened. Add Monterrey jack and whisk until melted. Remove from heat and add salt & pepper to taste.
6. Lightly toasted slices of bread directly on the oven racks for ~2 minutes (just enough to make them a little more sturdy, not brown).
7. Place a rack over a baking sheet.
8. To build the sandwiches, lay half the slices of bread on the rack and top each with sliced ham.
9. Spoon hatch cream sauce over the ham.
10. Top with sliced cheese, remaining chiles, and the other slices of bread.
11. Spoon the remaining cream sauce over the tops of the sandwich, cover with the remaining grated cheese.
12. Bake in the oven for 5 minutes and then switch the broiler on for 1-2 minutes, until cheese is bubbly and browning.
13. Serve with a knife and fork

Notes

Yields: 3-4 servings, depending on bread size

Adapted from Croque Monsieur

Estimated time: 20 minutes