Gooey, cheesy béchamel, crispy potatoes and sourdough, baked eggs, and fried ham bits – this croque madame breakfast bake is delicious.
Done in 30 minutes
Serves 4
50gunsalted butter
50gplain flour
500mlmilk
Salt and pepper
500gbaby potatoes
4 slicesham, diced
2shallots, thinly sliced
2 tbspolive oil
2 slicessourdough, torn
50ggruyere, grated
3eggs
Salt and pepper
Chives, finely chopped
This is basically a croque madame, the famous French sandwich, but with potatoes. Crispy potatoes and sourdough, rich béchamel, baked eggs, caramelised shallots, and crispy fried ham bits.
Add a good splash of olive oil to a skillet, along with your diced ham, and allow the ham to cook until it's nice and crispy. Remove with a slotted spoon, leaving behind the ham-flavoured oil.
Add your potatoes to the skillet. Once they start to brown add your shallots, and continue to cook for 15 minutes or until the potatoes are fork tender.
Meanwhile, make the béchamel. Melt your butter in a pan over medium/high. Once it starts to foam add the flour, whisk, and let cook for a couple of minutes. Slowly drizzle in the milk, whisking constantly, then season with salt and pepper. Set aside
Preheat the oven to 220 C. Add your torn sourdough to the potatoes, and allow to crisp up in the pan.
Make three wells or gaps in the potato sourdough mixture, and crack in 3 eggs. Pour over as much béchamel as you like, avoiding the eggs if possible. Finish with cheese, then pop into the oven for 5-10 minutes or until the eggs are just set and the cheese is bubbling.
Finish with the crispy ham and chives, and dig in!
Spencer has been cooking since she got her first Easy-Bake oven at four years old, and began recipe developing professionally whilst completing her Master’s degree in 2020. Born in Los Angeles, she has an inherent love for all things Mexican, Japanese, and Korean, but is also heavily influenced by her family's Louisiana heritage. Spencer loves bright flavours, spice and fusion food. If she were a food, she'd be kimchi - versatile, spicy and funky.
