Kentucky Hot Browns

In celebration of Labor Day, I spent the day cleaning my apartment, doing laundry and peeling an awful lot of Hatch green chile. Thankfully, a local North Carolina grocer carries them and I was inspired to buy pretty much their entire stock. 

With the rest of my time, I wanted to make Nate a nice meal while he was at work, so I turned to Kentucky Hot Browns from my Southern Living Feel Good Food cookbook. According to my cookbook, the Kentucky Hot Brown was developed in the 1920s at the Brown Hotel in Louisville, Kentucky. 

Kentucky Hot Browns 

4 thick white bread slices (or brioche buns) 

3/4 lb thick sliced roasted turkey 

Mornay Sauce (recipe below) 

1 C shredded Parmesan cheese 

3 plum tomatoes, sliced 

8 bacon slices, cooked 

Preheat broiler with oven rack 6 inches from heat. Place bread slices on baking sheet, and broil 1-2 minutes on each side until toasted. 

Arrange bread slices in 4 lightly greased broiler-safe individual baking dishes (or if you don't have them, just on a baking sheet). Too bread with turkey. Pour hot Mornay Sauce over turkey. Sprinkle with Parmesan cheese. 

Broil 3 to 4 minutes or until bubbly and lightly browned; remove from oven. Top sandwiches with tomatoes and bacon. 

Mornay Sauce 

1/2 C butter 

1/3 C flour 

3 1/2 C milk 

1/2 C shredded Parmesan cheese 

1/4 tsp salt 

2/4 tsp pepper 

Melt butter in 3Q saucepan over medium-high heat. Whisk in flour; cook, whisking constantly, for 1 minute. Gradually whisk in milk. Bring to a boil, and cook, whisking constantly, 1-2 minutes or until thickened. Whisk in Parmesan cheese, salt and pepper. 

Mornay Sauce is a rich, velvety, cheesy luscious sauce that I would honestly eat on absolutely anything. 

After a VERY filling dinner, Nate and I settled in for an evening of movie watching and Lego Harry Potter video game playing. Man, I love my husband.