This recipe was a lunch menu item at a star rated French cafe that I worked in. We were the only star rated French restaurant in Florida at that time. The cafe's owner was from France and his personal occupation was being a model for church Jesus paintings. It was funny to work with that man. I've seen copies of his face in church Jesus pictures my whole life! The owner had the famous classic Jesus look that all painters wanted for a model.
Yes, we called the owner "Jesus" at the workplace too. If a table of customers needed attention in the dining room, then we would ask Jesus to make an appearance! Many customers who saw the Jesus paintings that he posed for would go into shock seeing Jesus walk through the dining room! LOL That cafe was a fun place to work!
Mornay Sauce Recipe: Make a blonde roux with equal parts of flour and unsalted butter while constantly stirring over medium heat. Add some milk, a generous splash of dry white wine, white pepper and sea salt to make a light cream sauce. When the sauce simmers to a medium thin consistency, add some chopped Gruyere cheese while constantly stirring over medium heat to make the Mornay Sauce. The sauce should be a light medium consistency. Keep the sauce warm over low heat and stir occasionally.
Recipe: Sweat some mushroom slices with a little bit of unsalted butter in a saute pan over medium low heat.
Slice three thick pieces of French Brick Bread. (If brick bread is not available then square trim some thick French round loaf slices.) Place the bread slices on a baking pan, side by side. Put sliced ham, a slice of Gruyere cheese and some mushroom slices on two of the three slices of bread. Leave the third slice plain. Heat the sandwich layers in a 350 degree oven till warm.
Assembly: Set a slice of the warm ham, cheese, mushroom sandwich on a plate and pour a little bit of mornay sauce over it. Set a second ham, cheese, mushroom sandwich slice on top of the first for a second layer. Pour a little bit of mornay sauce over the second layer. Then set the plain third slice of bread on top of the other two sandwich decks for the third tier. Generously pour the mornay sauce over the plain top slice of bread. Garnish the top of the sandwich and the plate with the sweated mushroom slices.
This is a great French Monsieur Sandwich! The flavor is warm, comforting and hearty. This is a knife and fork sandwich! Le Monsieur was a customer favorite lunch menu item at that small French cafe. Yummy! ... Shawna
