Prepare your bechamel

1. Melt butter in a small pot over medium heat. When butter is melted, add flour & stir to combine. Continuously stir for about 1 minute until the mixture browns slightly, cooking off the flavor of the flour. Turn heat to low.
2. While stirring, add milk to the pan & stir vigorously. The sauce will thicken pretty quickly, so continue to stir to avoid clumping.
3. Once the sauce reaches your desired thickness (it should be thick enough to coat the back of your spoon & stay separated as you run a finger over it), finish with salt & nutmeg, stir to combine, & turn off the heat.
4. If the sauce gets too thick, don’t worry. just add another couple splashes of milk & turn off the heat while you stir it in & it should thin out again.

For the croque monsieur paninis

1. Preheat your panini press. (If you do not have a panini press, you could always pan fry these over medium heat – grilled cheese style.)
2. Assemble the paninis: Butter one side of each slice of bread with 1/2 tbsp butter & sprinkle with a pinch of salt. Flip the bread slices over, & to their unbuttered side you’re going to spread bechamel on half of the slices of bread & add cheese to the other half. Layer ham on top of the bechamel & add some greens on top of the cheese. Carefully flip each ham & bechamel covered slice of bread on top of each cheese & greens slice of bread, forming 4 sandwiches.
3. Cook in panini press until crusty, golden, & heated through – about 5 minutes.
4. Slice in half & pair with a chilled glass of dry rose!