I love a good baked sandwich this time of year. It's a great compliment to a salad or small bowl of soup. This is one of my favorites. It's sort of a vegetarian twist on the classic croque monsieur. I guess you could call this a croque pomme et fromage, maybe? It's a crispy apple and cheese sandwich. If any of our French speaking readers want to weigh in on this, feel free!
Whatever you call it, this sandwich has it all: crispy apples paired with melted cheese all baked together on sourdough bread with pesto and spinach. The following recipe allows you to make three or four sandwiches at once, but if you are making less, just cut back on the amount of sauce (béchamel) you make at once.
Baked Cheesy Apple Sandwiches, makes four.
8 slices of sourdough bread
8 tablespoons of butter, divided
2 tablespoons pesto (store bought or homemade)
1-2 apples (depending on size)
8 slices of provolone cheese
2 big handfuls of spinach
3 tablespoons flour
1/3 cup milk
salt + pepper
1-2 teaspoons chopped parsley for garnish, optional
First, I just assemble the sandwiches so they are ready once my sauce is done.
Melt 3 tablespoons of the butter in a small bowl or dish. Brush onto the outside of two slices of bread. Assemble the sandwiches so each one has pesto, thinly sliced apple (I like to use a mandoline
for this), spinach and a slice of provolone.
Next, make your sauce by melting the remaining 5 tablespoons of butter in a small pot over medium heat. Whisk in the flour until a thick paste forms. Then whisk in the milk and season with a little salt and pepper. After a minute or so, it will begin to thicken into a gravy. Immediately remove from the heat and pour the sauce over the top of each sandwich. Add another slice of provolone cheese, and then bake the sandwiches under the broiler until bubbly and well toasted. You may need to rotate the pan so each sandwich gets toasted evenly, but just keep an eye on them so they don't burn.
Top with a little chopped parsley and serve warm. You've gotta make these sometime this season, guys. They're seriously SO good. If you just can't get behind apples and cheese together, then you could change the apple out for sautéed mushrooms. Up to you. Enjoy! xo. Emma
Credits // Author and Photography: Emma Chapman. Photos edited with A Beautiful Mess actions.
40 Comments
Oh yum this looks good! I wish I had apples and I would so make this right now!
Xx Casey
http://thedistrictfox.com
This looks so delicious and perfect for the cold and rainy weather we’re having here in the UK! I’m sure my boyfriend will love to have this waiting for him when he gets home from work! (I sounds like such a house wife! Haha)
Oh man, these look and sound amazing! One question, though:
“Next, make your sauce by melting the remaining 5 tablespoons of butter in a small pot over medium heat. Whisk in the butter until a thick paste forms.”
I think you mean “Whisk in the FLOUR until a thick paste forms.” Right?
OMG i had never even dreamt about this!! This looks and sounds sooo good!!! 🙂 I would personally remove the spinach just cause I have everything green hahaha x)
Dorky-and-weird.blogspot.com
Xoxo Jessy
Ou! They look yummy, we will be trying these xo
http://www.selftimers.blogspot.com
Ou! They look yummy, we will be trying these xo
http://www.selftimers.blogspot.com
Looks delicious!
XO, Jessi
mywhiteT.com
What a creative sandwich! This looks utterly scrumptious – need to try this. Perfect time of year for it x
http://www.ohjanuary.blogspot.co.uk
what would you suggest as a replacement for the pesto? that is one sauce I just can’t do… otherwise this sounds lovely!
Yum! This looks delicious. What are your top three types of apples to use for this!? http://meowemily.blogspot.com/2015/09/senior-year-work-space.html
As a bilingual person, I decided to take you up on that offer to join in on the conversation about the topic of the name. In my opinion, the name that you changed the sandwich to works. This sandwich looks really good (and I especially like the fact that it is vegetarian since I myself am pescetarian). I decided to look up the croque monsieur and found out that adding a fried egg to the top of a croque monsieur makes it into a croque madame and the vegetarian version of the sandwich is called a croque mademoiselle and is made with a different cheese and certain veggies but people on the internet seem to like making their own versions of the croque mademoiselle with various fillings so I would say that your version is a croque mademoiselle. So whether you call it a croque mademoiselle or a croque pomme et fromage, the wording works.
Cheers from Northern Ontario, Canada!
this looks so damn good!
http://www.thewonderlanders.com
Looks so delish!
Check out my homemade tzatziki recipe!
http://Www.lipsticksandwich.com
Omg I’m drooling!
Erika
http://whaterikawears.com/
It’s pictures like these that really make me wish I wasn’t lactose intolerant.
I think I just died and went to recipe heaven!! This is definitely on my list of sandwiches to try!! Thanks for sharing!!
xoxo
Lauren
Dressing Dallas
mmmm. jummy. Makes me hungry all over again.
http://www.nowondiy.com
Cheese + apples!! What’s not to love? This looks delish!
XO,
Carly
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=6mvXYX6xbjE
You should get acupuncture! My whole family and I got it for my lactose intolerance and it worked on all of us and life is so much better! Look for good acupuncturists in your city that specifically treat digestive allergies!
XO,
Carly
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=6mvXYX6xbjE
This looks so good! I’ll definitely be trying this recipe.. apples and cheese are always the perfect pair!
ohchicstyle.com
Oh that looks awesome thanks for sharing this!!
http://xoxobella.com
This just looks so delicious.
xx
Super!
Yum what an interesting take on the croque monsieur! I like making variations of this sandwich. And the French name you found for it is pretty good, that’s actually a name we could give to this recipe. Or maybe we’d simply call it “croque monsieur à la pomme et aux épinards”! I’ll have to try it anyways!
Also I wanted to point out a little typo in your bechamel recipe : you wrote to whisk in the butter (into the melted butter…) until a paste form, instead of the flour.
Have a very nice day 🙂
You can make this with olive oil instead of butter, and non-dairy milk and non-dairy cheese!
oi…I am never too keen on recipes with apples in combination with salty or other savoury ingredients…but this looks so damn delicious I would consider to try it…good job…thats not easy to do 🙂 haha
OMG that looks amazing!
XO Ellen from Ask Away
http://www.askawayblog.com
This used to be one of my faves as a kid! So simple and delicious. I would only use butter, apple, sour cream, and cheese, and maybe some pepper or red paprika. No greens or béchamel, but your version must be even better!
xoxo
agnes
iiiinspired.com
This looks yumm
http://www.killthemwithchic.com
These look AMAZING! Making this immediately
Laura
http://thefoxtrails.blogspot.com/
This sounds SO delicious!!!
Oh come on girls! *heart eyed emoji*
Looks delicious 😀 I`ll try this one for sure!
I sometimes daydream about the croque monsieur (and everything else on the menu) at Tartine in San Francisco. Can’t wait to try this version! I’m not a vegetarian, but I still really appreciate vegetarian takes on classic recipes. I hope there are more to come in your cookbook!
Looks really good! http://www.hannamarielei.com
French Canadian here and you spelt everything right 🙂 I’ve never tried to “bake” a croque pomme before. The way I make mine is the way I tasted it in a local restaurant I go to sometimes and this is how it goes:
Toast raisin and cinnamon bread, spread butter and honey on it and assemble with green apples sliced thinly, aged cheddar thinly sliced as well, bacon strips and then heat it in a pan like you would for grilled cheese. It’s seriously amazing (but more of a breakfast thing I guess).
Heading to the store the buy all of the ingredients as I type! Just curious, what type of soup do you think would taste good with this?
This looks like THE BEST sandwich!!
Katherine – http://chatterboxnewyork.com
Sounds so yummy! I’m going to try it for sure! Thanks for sharing 🙂
xx
http://www.smartdresser.net/
These are amazing! Making them again for a dinner party tonight!