This is a Rachel Ray recipe that my entire family loves (they love when i make enough for leftovers, they love it so much... pete likes to eat it cold in the morning on the way to work, a take on a ham and cheese croissant, i guess). Just the idea of french bread pizza was one i never really thought of, so it opens up the door to all kinds of combinations. so easy, so good... a kind of theme in my kitchen...
Ingredients
- 2 tablespoons butter
- 2 tablespoons flour
- 1 cup whole milk
- Salt and pepper
- 1 tablespoon honey mustard
- 1 baguette, split lengthwise and halved crosswise
- 1/2 pound deli-sliced ham, chopped
- 2 cups shredded gruyère cheese
- 2 teaspoons chopped fresh thyme
Directions
Preheat the oven to 400°. In a small saucepan, cook the butter and flour over medium-low heat, whisking, for 1 minute. Whisk in the milk, then season with salt and pepper. Remove from the heat and whisk in 1 tablespoon mustard.
Slather a quarter of the white sauce over each baguette quarter, then top with the ham, gruyère and thyme. Bake until the cheese is bubbly, about 12 minutes.
Rachel Ray suggests a radish and cucumber salad (recipe here) to go with it, but i made one of my favorite summer salads - spinach with strawberries, feta (i have also made it with goat cheese which is super good), red onion and chopped pecans (for decadence use trader joe's praline pecans) all tossed with brianna's blush wine vinaigrette. (did you know brianna's salad dressings have a whole website with suggestions for different dressings?)
happy kids equals a good meal...
