[Photograph: Blake Royer]
Sometimes I wonder if my fascination with putting fried eggs on everything will ever abate. Is it a childish notion, or lazy cooking habit? Whether it's my recent meal of lentils, greens, and eggs, or a black bean soup I made awhile back (when a commenter told me I "would put a fried egg on dog poop and call it a recipe"), something about the soft yolk of an egg puts a dish over the top in the best possible way.
Of course, the French figured this out ages ago when they invented this variation of the famous croque monsieur sandwich, normally a ham-and-cheese concoction smothered in cheesy bechamel sauce, but here, with the help of Nancy Silverton, a lighter affair. For the madame recipe, Silverton skips the heavy bechamel for the unctuous "sauce" of the egg yolk, which richens everything it touches. The result is a fork-and-knife sort of sandwich, which might be sacrilege, but is delicious anyway, especially next to a simple salad.
Adapted from Nancy Silverton's Sandwich Book
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