Croque-Monsieur Pizza

This post is part of a Digital Pizza Party with Vegas.com. I was asked to create a pizza inspired by a Vegas hotel.

My younger brother and his wife were married in Las vegas about a year and a half ago at Paris Las Vegas. Their wedding went so smoothly and the chapel there was beautiful. Afterwards, our family had a room reserved at Le Village Buffet. I highly recommend eating there. Everything I tried was delicious, especially the macaroons and creme brulee for dessert. During my visit, I also had a chance to see Jersey Boys which was really fun. I had a great time reconnecting with family, eating delicious food and seeing a show. I don't gamble or drink, but I still had a good time in Vegas. :) Because of this fun experience, I decided that the Paris Las Vegas would be the hotel to inspire my pizza creation for the Digital Pizza Party from Vegas.com.

Croque-Monsieur is basically a baked ham and cheese sandwich from France. It is made with soft, buttery bread, bechamel (white sauce), slices of ham and gruyere cheese. I put the elements of this French sandwich into my Croque-Monsieur Pizza. Here's how I made it...

Recipe Link 
Ingredients
For the Crust:
Pizza dough, homemade or store bought
I love this recipe for pizza dough
Enough flour to roll out the dough
1 Tablespoon butter, melted
yellow cornmeal for pizza peel

For the Sauce:
1/4 cup (1/2 stick) butter
1/4 cup all-purpose flour
1 1/2 cups whole milk, slightly warmed in microwave (30 sec. stir, 30 sec. again)
1 Tablespoon Dijon mustard
1/2 teaspoon freshly grated nutmeg (or 1/4 tsp. ground nutmeg)

For the Toppings:
10 slices Ham (almost 1 lb.), I used Krakus ham from the deli
6 oz. Gruyere cheese, grated
1 teaspoon Herbs De Provence

Directions
1. Preheat pizza stone in oven set to 425 degrees F. Roll out dough in circle on floured surface to prevent sticking. Transfer to pizza peel sprinkled with cornmeal. Fold over edges to make an outer crust. Brush top of dough with melted butter. Poke all over with a fork to prevent bubbles. Bake on pizza stone until dough is just starting to brown and appears to have set. About 10-12 minutes in my oven. Remove from oven back onto pizza peel and let cool.
2. Prepare the sauce. Melt butter in medium saucepan over medium heat until bubbly. Whisk in flour and cook about 3 minutes. Slowly add in milk, whisking until smooth. Cook 4 minutes more until thickened. Remove from heat and whisk in mustard and nutmeg.
3. Assemble pizza by first spreading sauce over pre-baked crust. Layer ham on top of sauce. Sprinkle shredded gruyere on top of ham. Finally, sprinkle the herbs De Provence over the cheese. Return to pizza stone in oven.
4. Bake at 425 degrees F. about 10 minutes until cheese is melted and bubbly and pizza is heated through. Let cool 5 minutes before cutting.

Notes: Use good quality ham. I asked at the deli counter for good quality ham and tried a few pieces before picking one. Of course use good quality cheese, too.

 A My Biscuits are Burning Original Recipe



The Results...
Croque-Monsieur Pizza turned out even better than I thought it would. It was delicious! My older kids also loved it. The crust turned out crispy and buttery. The creamy bechamel sauce, ham and gruyere made this pizza rich and delicious. The Herbs De Provence added a punch of flavor on top and brought everything together. This is a new favorite around here. Pizza night at our house just got more interesting!

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