*Makes about 6 small sandwiches
Ingredients:
*cooking spray
*light margarine (to spread on bread)
*1 fat French or Italian loaf of bread, sliced (I used 12 slices. I did not use the very ends of the loaf because they were too small)
*1 clove garlic, peeled and cut in half
*2 Tablespoons unsalted butter
*2 Tablespoons all-purpose flour
*1 1/2 cups skim milk
*large pinch of salt
*pinch of black pepper
*pinch of nutmeg
*1 1/2 cups shredded Gruyere cheese (about 6 oz.), divided
*1/4 cup shredded or grated Parmesan cheese
*12 oz. thin sliced honey ham (I buy the thin kind in a container in the lunch meat section)
Directions:
Preheat oven to 400 degrees. Spray a metal pan with cooking spray. Rub garlic all over both sides of each piece of bread. Spread margarine over each piece of bread on both sides. Toast in the oven for several minutes on each side, until lightly toasted. Remove from oven and set aside. Keep the oven on 400.
Make the bechamel sauce--Melt the unsalted butter in a small saucepan over medium-low heat (I used about 2 1/2 on my electric stove). Once it starts to bubble, add the flour. Cook for 2 minutes, stirring continuously with a wooden spoon until smooth. Pour in the milk continuously but very slowly, whisking constantly. Whisk constantly until the sauce thickens. When the sauce starts to bubble from boiling, then the sauce will be as thick as it is going to get. After a few minutes of cooking, I turn the heat up to 3 to get the sauce to start to bubble. Remove from heat as soon as it starts to bubble. (When it boils, it will be at its thickest.)
Add the salt, pepper, and nutmeg. Stir. Add the Parmesan cheese and 1/4 cup of the Gruyere cheese. Stir well. Set aside.
Top half of the slices of bread with ham. Using 1 cup of the Gruyere cheese, top the ham evenly. Place the other pieces of bread with no ham and cheese on top of the ones with ham and cheese to form sandwiches. Spoon the bechamel sauce over each sandwich, dividing evenly. It's nice to have some run down the sides a bit.
Bake on 400 for 5 minutes. Turn the oven to broil and broil for about 4-5 minutes or until the cheese is bubbly and lightly browned.
