CROQUE MADAMES WITH A TWIST

Okay. I admit it. I’ve been out of action for the last fortnight – partly due to burnout, partly due to laziness. But, I decided to head home to Tauranga for the weekend and me mammy had saved a number of Food Channel episodes on MySky for me. Dating back to January. Actually hilarious. My mother describes these little wonders as “croque madame with a twist”. They are slightly slight-er than your average croque madame and pour moi, that is enough reason to chow down about four of them in one sitting. Delicious.

For a tray of six “croque madames with a twist” you need the following:

Six pieces of white bread. Sure good-awful rhy or grain-whatever will work but at the end of the day you are eating a glorified double-down calories-wise.

About 100g Shaved ham or bacon, whatever your wee heart desires.

Instant cheese sauce mix – I would go for the instant liquid mix. You could try and make Julia Child’s cheese sauce but heck, treat yo’ self!

Six eggs

50g Butter

Shredded cheese of any variety. I would go for Edam in this instance for no other reason than it was already in the fridge.

Cut the crusts off of the six pieces of bread. Meanwhile melt the butter in the microwave. Using a brushing utensil of some variation, coat a layer of butter onto the pieces of bread in an individual manner. Source a six-hole muffin tin and beware, you must grease the tin before placing the bread into the cups for fear of them getting stuck. What a waste that would be. If you haven’t gathered already, you must place the pieces of bread individually (butter side face down into the tin) into the tin holes. The term to call the holes has suddenly escaped me! Nevertheless, in the instance you are using shaved ham, use pieces and line the bottom of the bread cups – if you are going to use bacon, to prevent food poisoning, I would recommend you cook the bacon beforehand. To add a layer of deliciousness, put a spoonful of white cheese sauce after the ham layer. Now for the eggs, you want an egg yolk per cup, however I would discard most of the egg whites. Finally add a dash of white sauce before sprinkling a handful of shredded cheese on top of each cup of gluttonous goodness. Bake for 15 minutes in a moderately heated oven (180 degrees celsius) – you are wanting the yolk to be ever so slightly runny. Bon appetite!