A good croque monsieur (or croque madame) is a thing of beauty. This glorious turkey variation came to be as a means of using up our Thanksgiving leftovers last year, and it was just too phenomenal to not be shared with the rest of the world this year! Eating leftovers for days in a row after a big holiday or a big meal like Thanksgiving is one of my least favorite things about all of it. So my objective was to transform the turkey leftovers into a kick ass dish that was dripping with flavor, and would be PERFECT for brunch the day after Thanksgiving or that weekend! And that’s how this Turkey Croque Monsieur and Turkey Croque Madame came to be! 🙂
If you’ve had a classic French croque monsieur (or croque madame) before, then you know it’s a lot more than a regular ham and cheese sandwich. From the soft, sweet bread to the creamy, nutty gruyère cheese, and the creamy, golden béchamel sauce, and then the grilled/ pan-fried finished product, a classic croque monsieur is straight outta flavor-town! And then top it with a beautifully fried egg for a croque madame and you’ve got brunch done right. I added some classic thanksgiving flavors to a regular croque monsieur which made this sandwich even more magnificent! I made my own soft sandwich bread for this turkey croque monsieur recipe, but you can use any type of soft sandwich bread (or if you like something more fancy, you can use brioche bread too). In addition to the ham, I also layered some thinly sliced roasted turkey tenderloin. So any leftover thanksgiving turkey would be perfect for this sandwich. Just make sure you don’t add them in huge chunks.
And instead of regular mustard, I mixed hot English mustard with sweet cranberry sauce for an amazingly sweet, tangy, spicy flavor profile to cut through all the cheesiness. So go ahead and use leftover cranberry sauce. The béchamel sauce can be a classic béchamel made with roux, milk and gruyère cheese. However, you can easily add spices from a turkey gravy, OR a little leftover turkey gravy to the milk. This is optional of course, but it adds an awesome layer of flavor to the bubbling béchamel sauce on top of your turkey croque monsieur (or turkey croque madame). This is a great way to re-invent your thanksgiving leftovers and to enjoy your friendsgiving with a hearty, comforting, incredibly delicious, cheesy sandwich! Or, if you’re like me, you just make it all from scratch, because oh baby, it’s THAT GOOD!
The sandwich is buttered and toasted on both sides for that wonderful crunchy texture, paired with the gooey, melted-cheese and béchamel sauce. You can even add some béchamel sauce INSIDE the sandwich too, if you just can’t get enough of that creamy, cheesy deliciousness! 🙂 And as you can see in the pictures and the recipe video, you can also top it with a sunny side up egg and serve it as a turkey croque madame. Runny yolks always make a sandwich that much better for me, so this was a no-brainer! I hope you guys try this turkey croque monsieur and turkey croque madame this friendsgiving and turn your boring turkey leftovers into something spectacular and absolutely scrumptious! CHECK OUT THE RECIPE VIDEO
