Recipe: Father's Day Croque Monsieur Sandwich

In my house, Father's day is more like Father's Weekend.  After a busy day Saturday, everyone slept in on Sunday morning.  I made my way to the kitchen and browsed what was available in the fridge.  I came up with a version of Croque Monsieur that was inspired by BBQ on the grill, a passion associated with many dads.  This sandwich looks like it came out of a fancy restaurant while being a snap to make with ingredients on hand.  Another plus:  It's made in one skillet for easy cleanup!

Recipe:   Father's Day Croque Monsieur Sandwich

Ingredients

Sourdough bread
Eggs
Butter
Salt and Pepper
White sugar
1 large or 2 small peaches
Medium soft block of cheese
1 can baked beans
Chives for garnish.

Directions

1. Toast the bread.   Heat a skillet.  Butter both sides of bread and toast in the skillet.  Set aside, 1 large slice per serving plate.
2. Carmelize the peaches.  Slice or dice the peaches and cook in the skillet with sugar and butter.  The peaches will take on a grilled effect if the heat is high.  A caramel sauce will form.  Divide the peaches and sauce between each plate.  You can substitute mangoes or apples for the peaches.  Apples will take longer to cook.
3. Cook the eggs.   Rinse out the skillet from the peaches and heat/oil the pan for eggs.  You don't have to scrub the pan here.  A quick rinse is enough to remove the sugary sauce and keep your eggs from tasting odd.  It's OK for some caramelized pieces to stick to the pan. Cook the eggs to your liking:  scrambled, fried, or like me, over easy.  Serve by placing on top of one half of the toast.
4. Warm the cheese by slicing the cheese into 1 cm thick slices sized to 1/3 of the bread and heating gently in the pan to soften.  Any medium soft cheese will do - Cheddar, Monterey Jack, Swiss, Provolone. My grocery store sells "cheese ends" for a buck each.  They are the leftovers from behind the deli counter that are too small to run through the slicer but too big to throw away.  This week I had provolone.  Use a spatula to slide the cheese slices from the skillet to atop the bread slices waiting on each plate.
5. Open the can of baked beans and heat in the skillet.  Plate the beans.
6. Garnish the plate with chives.
7. Some like to eat the sandwich as egg-and-cheese with beans and fruit on the side.  For the perfect bite, I like to make an egg-and-cheese-and-peaches-and-beans sandwich.  Fresh sourdough bread should be pliable such that you can fold the sandwich in half in a "chalupa" style.  When you bite into the sandwich, the eggs done over easy will run with the caramel sauce and cheese to make a gooey backdrop to the crunchier fruit and beans.  Mmmmm.