Kentucky Hot Brown

Have you ever had this sandwich? It's wonderful. Read the ingredients and you'll know why. I recently found this recipe - in the Sunday paper of all places. It's from Bobby Flay. Thanks, Bobby! Since I've been home, I've been doing a lot of cooking and plan to start sharing recipes. Here's the first.

Side note: this is easily adapted for a 1 year old. We used a sandwich thin, cheese sauce, tomatoes, and chopped up turkey and William at it pretty well. Also, the cheese sauce is wonderful! Save some and use it the next day on veggies, rice, grits, or anything really!

Kentucky Hot Brown
1 T unsalted butter, plus 1 stick, softened
1 T flour
1 ¼ C whole milk
¾ C white cheddar, grated (really, any cheese would probably work. I used a Mexican 4 cheese blend and it was great)
2 T Parmesan, grated
Kosher salt & black pepper
4 slices good quality white bread, sliced 1 inch thick (Orowheat has an Italian bread that’s good with this – sold on the bread isle)
½ lb roast turkey breast, thinly sliced
4 slices rib beefsteak tomatoes, ¼ thick
8 crisp slices of bacon
Flat leaf parsley leaves

Preheat broiler.

Melt 1 T butter in a small saucepan over medium heat. Whisk in the flour; cook 40 seconds. Increase heat to high, add the milk, bring to a boil, and cook, whisking constantly, until mixture thickens, about 4 minutes. Remove from the stove; slowly whisk in cheddar, handfuls at a time, until incorporated. Whisk in Parmesan; Season with salt & pepper. Cover and keep warm.

Place bread on a baking sheet lined with foil. Spread each side with 1 T butter (or less!). Broil until lightly golden brown, 45 seconds per side. Remove; top each slice with turkey, a few spoonfuls of the cheese sauce, and tomatoes; season with salt & pepper. Broil until cheese turns golden brown – 2 to 5 minutes. Remove; top each with 2 slices of bacon in an X. Garnish with parsley if desired.