Mrs. Croque

Make the béchamel sauce

• Heat a medium saucepan over a medium heat and add the milk, heat the milk for 7 minutes.
• Place another saucepan over a low-medium heat. Add ½ of the butter and allow it to melt. Gradually beat in the flour using a spatula or a wooden spoon, until you have a thick paste.
• Continue stirring and cooking until the mixture has a dough-like consistency and comes away from the sides of the pan.
• Start adding the milk bit by bit, incorporating each bit and whisking away the lumps.
• Once you have a smooth sauce, season with salt, add the white pepper and nutmeg. Set aside.

Set the oven to grill

• Set the oven to ‘oven grill’ and preheat to 200°C/180°C fan.

Make the cheat’s honey glaze

• Meanwhile, juice the orange.
• To make the cheat's honey glaze: Stir the orange juice, honey and Dijon mustard in a heatproof bowl and microwave on full power for about 30–60 seconds, until syrupy. (Use a small pan over a low–medium heat if you don’t have a microwave.) Set aside.

Prep the ingredients & fry the bread

• Butter each slice of bread on both sides with the remaining butter. Grate the cheddar cheese.
• Heat a large frying pan over a medium heat. Add the bread slices and fry on one side for 2 minutes, you may need to do this in batches depending on your pan size.
• Remove the bread from the pan and place golden sides up on your work surface.

Assemble the croque

• Spread a spoonful of béchamel over each slice of bread (you’ll need two slices of bread per serving- 1 slice as a bottom, 1 slice as a top, each croque should have an uncooked top and bottom. ).
• Sprinkle ⅓ of the cheese on each bottom slice of bread. Top each bread slice with 2 pieces of ham. Drizzle some of the cheat’s honey glaze. Sprinkle another *⅓ of the cheese over the bread slices.
• Top each croque with the top slice of bread (it should also be spread with the béchamel).

Cook the croque

• Heat a frying pan over a medium heat and place the croques into the pan.
• Fry for 2 minutes until the bottom is golden, turn over carefully and flip over, fry for another 2 minutes. You may need to do this in batches.
• Take the croques off the heat, spread another spoonful of béchamel on each one and top with the remaining cheddar.

Finish the croque & fry the eggs

• Place each croque onto an oven tray and grill for 5 mins.
• Heat a dash of oil in a large frying pan, crack the eggs and fry to your liking. Season to taste with salt and pepper.

Plate up

• Plate up - serve each Mrs. Croque with a fried egg on top. Enjoy!