Mrs. Deen :)

From Paula’s Home Cooking to Top Chef, Paula Deen has been a fixture on the Food Network for over a decade. She has also written several books on Southern cooking, as well as a memoir, and has started her own magazine, Cooking with Paula Deen


Born in Albany, Georgia, Paula Deen went to Albany High School and married her first husband after graduating in 1965. Her parents both died by the time she was 23, a loss that led Deen into panic attacks and chronic agoraphobia. She retreated into her cooking, eventually starting a home-based catering business, The Bag Lady, with her two sons serving as deliverymen.

The Bad Lady was a hit, and its popularity forced Deen to expand beyond the confines of her kitchen. In January 1996, she opened her own restaurant, The Lady and Sons, in downtown Savannah, which she ran with her two sons. By 1999, USA Today had awarded The Lady and Sons with the "International Meal of the Year" title.  The restaurant, like Deen's catering company, was also wildly popular, and her first cookbook, The Lady and Sons Savannah Country Cookbook, soon followed. The book gave readers a chance to try Paula's recipes at home, and in turn led to her first TV appearance, on the QVC shopping channel.

 Paula Deen's Famous Croque Madame Casserole

Ingredients

• 6 tablespoons (1 stick) butter, plus 2 tablespoons for eggs
• 1/4 cup all-purpose flour
• 2 cups milk
• 2 tablespoons Dijon mustard
• 3/4 teaspoon salt, plus more for seasoning
• 1/2 teaspoon pepper, plus more for seasoning
• 1/2 teaspoon freshly grated nutmeg
• 10 to 12 slices white bread
• 3/4 pound deli ham
• 1 1/2 cups (6 ounces) grated Gruyere, reserve some for top of casserole
• 6 eggs

Directions

Preheat the oven to 400 degrees F. Grease an 8-inch square baking dish.

Melt 6 tablespoons of butter in a large skillet over low heat until bubbling. Whisk in the flour and cook for 1 minute. Slowly whisk in the milk and cook until thick and bubbling, 3 to 5 minutes more. Whisk in the mustard, salt, pepper, and nutmeg.
Pour a thin layer of the sauce into the prepared baking dish and cover it with 5 or 6 slices of the bread, then slices of the ham and an even layer of the Gruyere. Repeat the layers once more, ending with a third layer of sauce to cover all. Bake the casserole for 30 minutes. Remove it from the oven and cut into 6 equal pieces.
Working in 2 batches, melt 1tablespoon of butter in a large skillet over medium-high heat. Crack 3 eggs into the skillet and season with salt and pepper, to taste. Cook until the whites are nearly set, about 3 minutes. Carefully flip the eggs and continue cooking until the whites are completely set, about 1 minute more. You're going to top each portion of the casserole with a fried egg. Repeat with the remaining 3 eggs and 1 tablespoon butter. Top with Gruyere and it in the oven for a few minutes until cheese melts.