Croque-au-Thon

  On Sunday night, having close to nothing in the fridge, we decided on a whim that a croque-monsieur would be great. Croque-monsieur is the French grilled sandwich and typical brasserie fare, made with cheese and ham on white pain de mie (sandwich bread). Most brasseries will drench it in béchamel, a rich white sauce, but I like it much better homemade and sans béchamel. A croque-madame is a croque-monsieur served with an egg on top, sunny-side-up. In passing, the etymology does pose the disturbing question: is a lady nothing more than a gent with an egg on his head? Croque-monsieurs are a typical Saturday lunch item at my parents’, and my mother makes them with her beautiful old-fashioned croque-monsieur iron, which imprints the shape of a scallop shell on the bread, and makes for an ideally crunchy crust. When I was little, the crust was what I liked the least of course, so I would eat that first, cutting it off neatly, until I was left with the perfect golden square of toasted bread and its gooey tasty filling. This in turn would be cut into regular smaller squares, that I would methodically eat, one by one, maintaining a symmetrical geometrical pattern in my plate. Last Sunday though, we had bread and we had cheese, but there was no ham in sight. We do have a charcuterie very conveniently open on Sundays just a couple of blocks from us, but the flemme was too strong. (There is no exact translation for “flemme”, but the indolent and languid feeling that probably seizes you too on Sunday nights is pretty close.) Luckily, flemme does not necessarily paralyze the idea ducts, and I suggested we make croque-monsieur with tuna instead. Prudent food shopper that I am, I always make sure we have a can of tuna in the house, and a quick rummaging through the kitchen cabinets verified this. And we happily set about to prepare our dinner of croque-au-thon. Croque-au-thon(Serves 2) – Four slices of sandwich bread– 140 g of water-packed tuna (a medium can)– one shallot– 2 tsp capers– a dash of balsamic vinegar– a little lemon juice– dried herbes de Provence– salt, pepper– 60 g (about 2 oz) of firm cheese, like gruyère or comté– lightly salted butter, room temperature Preheat the oven to 220°C (420°F). Line a cookie sheet with foil and grease lightly. Peel and chop the shallot. Drain the tuna and put it in a bowl. Sprinkle a bit of salt and pepper. Add the chopped shallot, the capers, the vinegar, the lemon juice and the herbs. Blend it all together with a fork. Thinly slice or grate the cheese. Lightly butter each of the bread slices. Place two of those slices, buttered side down, on a cutting board. Scoop the tuna mixture evenly onto the slices. Add the cheese, and top each with the other bread slices, buttered side up. Place the two sandwiches on the cookie sheet, and bake for about ten minutes. Half-way through, press down on them gently with a spatula so all the ingredients come together, and flip over. The croques are done when they are golden on both sides (watch closely) and the cheese is nicely melted. Serve with mixed greens dressed in tangy vinaigrette. —In her column “A Parisian Home Chef,” native Parisian Clotilde Dusoulier happily shares recipes, food shopping bonnes adresses, entertaining tips and restaurant recommendations. Read more of her writing on her gastronomic blog, Chocolate & Zucchini.