Spinach, one of the great enemies of children, is nevertheless excellent for their health. Apart from the Popeye cartoon – with its eponymous character who acquires spectacular strength thanks to the famous green vegetable – how can we make them appreciate, or at least tolerate, this leafy vegetable?
Some parents try to hide it in smoothies or purees, but it’s definitely easier to slip it into a sandwich. The croque madame, for example, is a warm, exercise-friendly sandwich, perfect for the cold fall weather.
An almost juicy anecdote
The croque monsieur
It was at the end of the belle époque that the owner of the “Le Bel Age” café, Michel Lunarca, created the first croque-monsieur (the egg-free version of the croque-madame) because he no longer had of baguette to prepare cheese sandwiches. He replaced the crusty baguette with soft sandwich bread and put it all in the oven. Legend has it that the boss jokingly claimed that there was gentleman’s meat in it.
The croque madame
Here we are going to “crunch madame”. For what ? Because the egg placed on top of the sandwich recalls the hats that women wore at the time the croque-monsieur was created, the beginning of the 20th century.
Traditional croques are prepared with Gruyère and Emmental, but you can have fun with several cheeses: raclette cheese, Comté, Mimolette, even cheddar. With 1,200 French cheeses — including 46 AOP cheeses — there is plenty to choose from. If you have a penchant for creamy cheeses, Saint-Nectaire will be your treat of the day.
With these elements, we set out to camouflage the dreaded spinach.
Wednesday’s recipe: croque-madame with Saint-Nectaire and spinach
Preparation time: 15 minutes
Cooking time: 15 minutes
For 2 people
4 thick slices of sandwich bread
150 g of Saint-Nectaire
4 tbsp. tablespoon of heavy cream
10 large spinach leaves, rinsed and dried
40g butter
3 tbsp. teaspoon cooking oil
2 eggs
Preheat the oven to 150°/th. 5. Cut the Saint-Nectaire into thin slices and remove the rind. Wash the spinach.
Spread the heavy cream on the 4 slices of bread, salt and pepper with a grinder. Cover 2 slices of bread with 5 spinach leaves each, place the Saint-Nectaire strips on top. Close with the other 2 slices of bread, spread side inwards.
In a pan, melt 30g of butter with 1 tbsp. teaspoon of oil over medium heat. Brown the croque-madames for 2 to 3 minutes on each side, then keep warm in the oven on a baking sheet.
Meanwhile, heat the remaining butter and oil in the pan over medium heat. Fry the eggs for 3 minutes. Season with salt and pepper, then serve the sandwiches hot, with the fried eggs on top.
Discover our recipe for Croque-madame with Saint-Nectaire and spinach
