Rich ham and cheese toastie

Portion size: Serves 4
Hands-on time 25 min
Difficulty: easy

Recipe by: Monica Galetti

Monica Galetti’s rich ham and cheese toastie is a classic taken to the max: grilled sourdough with cheesy béchamel, extra melted cheddar and parma ham.

Monica Galetti was the first-ever female senior sous chef at Michel Roux Jr’s restaurant Le Gavroche. She later rose to fame as a judge on MasterChef: The Professionals. Monica is a judge on the Platinum Pudding competition for The Queen’s Jubilee, and with her husband David runs the acclaimed Mere restaurant in London.

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Ingredients

300ml whole milk
30g unsalted butter
30g plain flour
2 tsp dijon mustard
200g mature cheddar, grated
4 sourdough bread slices
Olive oil to drizzle
100g parma ham slices
Worcestershire sauce or hot chilli sauce to finish

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Method

Heat the milk in a saucepan. In a separate saucepan, melt the butter, then whisk in the flour. Whisk in the hot milk and continue whisking as the sauce comes to the boil, then cook over a medium heat for 2 minutes to cook out the flour (removing the flour’s raw taste for a nuttier flavour). Take off the heat, then stir in the mustard and most of the cheddar, reserving about 70g.
Heat the grill to high. Drizzle the sourdough with olive oil and arrange on a large baking sheet. Toast under the grill on one side until golden. Turn over, spread some of the cheese sauce over the sourdough, then add a layer of ham. Cover with the remaining sauce, then sprinkle over the reserved cheddar.
Put back under the grill to melt the cheese. Drizzle with a little Worcestershire sauce or chilli sauce – whichever you prefer – then serve immediately
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Nutrition

561kcals Calories
35.6g (18.4g saturated) Fat
26.6g Protein
32.7g (4.1g sugars) Carbs
1.8g Fibre
2.8g Salt

Make Ahead

You can make the cheese sauce (step 1) 1-2 days ahead. Cool, then cover and store in the fridge until ready to assemble. The sauce will thicken to a spreading consistency when chilled but will loosen up when heated under the grill.

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Reviews

James Sandy

5th Oct 2022 a 9:06 am

Clearly a cheese on toast expert, who understands toast one side, turn, and add topping. The only way to truly amazing cheese on toast.Not really a surprise though, Monica is ace!