Despite the moniker, it takes a lot of time to make this meal. The wait will be worthwhile, thanks to these delicious fluffy croissants.
| Prep Time: | 15 mins |
| Cook Time: | 10 mins |
| Total Time: | 25 mins |
| Servings: | 2 |
| Yield: | 2 sandwiches |
Ingredients
- 2 large eggs
- ½ cup heavy cream
- ½ teaspoon salt
- 1 pinch cayenne pepper
- 1 pinch freshly grated nutmeg
- 1 teaspoon freshly grated lemon zest
- 4 slices white bread
- 8 thin slices Havarti cheese
- 4 ounces thinly sliced honey baked ham, halved
- 2 tablespoons butter
- ½ teaspoon champagne vinegar
- 2 eggs
- 1 pinch cayenne pepper
Instructions
- Combine egg, heavy cream or milk, salt, cayenne pepper, nutmeg, and lemon zest in a bowl. Mix until batter is thin and runny. (Add 2 tablespoons more milk or cream if needed.)
- Toast bread until lightly browned. Add Havarti cheese to each slice. Divide ham between two sandwiches. Bring the two halves of the sandwich together and place into the batter. Flip several times to coat evenly; place on a plate. Repeat with second sandwich.
- Fill a large saucepan with 2 inches of water and bring to a boil. In the meantime, melt butter in a skillet over medium heat. Cook sandwiches in the hot butter until outside is browned and cheese is melted, about 4 minutes per side.
- Meanwhile, reduce saucepan heat to medium-low, pour in vinegar, and keep the water at a gentle simmer. Crack an egg into a small bowl, then gently slip it into the simmering water, holding the bowl just above the surface of water. Repeat with second egg. Cook until the egg white is firm and the yolk has thickened but is not hard, 2 1/2 to 3 minutes.
- Transfer sandwiches to plates and dust with cayenne pepper. Remove the eggs from the water with a slotted spoon, dab on a kitchen towel to remove excess water, and place onto each sandwich. Dust with cayenne pepper.
- Chef’s Notes:
- If you’re just making one or two, feel free to poach your eggs right before the sandwiches are done, but for larger parties, you’ll want to check out
- for serving multiple poached eggs at the same time.
- You can substitute milk for the heavy cream, if desired.
- Use any kind of melting cheese you like, such as Gruyere, Swiss, or Cheddar.
Nutrition Facts
| Calories | 903 kcal |
| Carbohydrate | 31 g |
| Cholesterol | 566 mg |
| Dietary Fiber | 2 g |
| Protein | 40 g |
| Saturated Fat | 40 g |
| Sodium | 2136 mg |
| Sugars | 6 g |
| Fat | 70 g |
| Unsaturated Fat | 0 g |
Reviews
Might have been 5 stars if I had followed the recipe exactly. I added turkey like in a Monti Cristo and a Mornay sauce. Guess I gotta call it Madame Monti.
Well that’s just a delicious sandwich. I will say, I used really cheap bread and I got too much of the egg mixture for my preference so I would use a little less. Also, it is critical to get the pan to the appropriate heat so the cheese melts. I think I might like to try with a little mustard but it is an excellent bite of food and I will be making this for those days where I want to go back to bed after lunch. Thanks Chef John!
I loved this!!! But my ham was square. What does that mean?
Everything is fine, except please do without the nutmeg & cayenne. Also, THANK you for saying to SOAK the bread in the batter, not dip. Dipping is useless!!! Soaking is THE thing.
This was absolutely delicious!! Thank you!! My husband will love this and I cannot wait to make it the him! I didn’t have a fresh lemon so I just used a dash of lemon pepper. This recipe will soon become a family favorite!!!
This is a perfect dinner of brunch sandwich! Hands down will make it again. My slices of ham and Havarti were on the thick side so I used half the quantities. I cut down the butter for grilling as I few dabs per sandwich are enough as I use a hot crepe pan for grilling sandwiches. I know some may frown upon these “changes” but honestly, it is still DELICIOUS! A+++ We were satisfied considering we were ravenous this time! Lo and behold this took care of our hunger then and some more!
Chef John, I have made many of your recipes with pleasing success. This one was really good. The only changes I made were 1) I used my favorite 12 grain sandwich bread which added a bit of a nutty flavor, and 2) I may have used a little more ham just because I like it. The flavors in the batter were perfect by my palate.
I made it with my husband-I’d recommend making up all the sandwiches before frying as pan frying the sandwiches take monitoring and they cook very quick. We did use white wine vinegar-couldn’t find champagne vinegar-but other than that followed every part of this recipe and it was super yummy! Highly recommend trusting the chef. Delicious-Awesome recipe!
Spectacular recipe! It’s incredibly easy to make and it’s perfect for the group! Thank you Chef John!
These are fantastic! The only changes I made was buttermilk bread, didn’t have white bread, and we added lingonberries to top it off. Heartier than the raspberry sauce we always used for Monte Cristo’s. Thanks again Chef John!
Good but not too exciting.
I hate to review recipes without following them but here I am doing it. this was very good! that being said I did make some changes when I saw the amount of calories. I decided I had to make it lighter 1. for dipping I used egg whites instead of whole eggs 2. I subbed 3/4 of the cream with cashew milk 3. I used Hormel naturals honey ham instead of honey baked ham 4. I used a fried egg on top because I don’t like poached eggs. With these changes I was able to cut out half of the calories. I liked it and my husband said it was bursting with flavor! so, double win! thanks so much for sharing!
I used a little garlic powder and not lemon zest because I didn’t have any. This was sooo good, I might make it for breakfast in the morning.
Even thought I made one sandwich with one egg, I did make some tweaks to it. Instead of the honey baked ham, I used honey ham for the deli. I didn’t have any champagne vinegar and used white wine vinegar instead. I didn’t have any lemon zest and used lemon juice in its place. Although my sandwich and my egg fell apart on me, it did taste real good. I will make two sandwiches next time for a quick dinner meal.
Way easier than anticipated having never made one before. I used pepper jack cheese on one and mozzarella on the other. I used regular milk instead of cream. I have an egg poacher – so that really helped, too. Whole grain bread worked just fine. The cayenne really hit the spot for me.
Awesome recipe. Just make sure to tweek it to your personal tastes such as how much salt etc. I prefer to use whole grain breads or sourdough. White and whole wheat are processed flours with similar absence of food value…but that is only my choice.
Love this. We usually eat it for supper. Very good.
3.5 stars. I made it with whole wheat bread slices, for a healthier option. But I believe it would have been better with plain white bread. I’m not sure the cayenne, lemon zest, nutmeg and salt in the batter made any significant contribution in the flavor as opposed to a traditional egg batter for French toast. Maybe more spices are needed? I felt the 1 egg on top would have been better if it were 2 eggs, as the sandwich was somewhat dry. I think this dish could be better, with some tweaking. I’m not sure I would try it again though.
This was SUPER good and was surprisingly easy!
Since we don’t eat pork (ham), I substituted with finely sliced roast beef. It worked great. My husband and son really enjoyed these sandwiches. Though I have about a dozen bottles of different vinegars on hand, I did not have any champagne vinegar. I used maple-flavored one. Delicious. Thank you, Chef John.
I also added some hard salami. Oh so good!