Kentucky Hot Brown
You could call last night’s dinner fancied up leftovers. I suppose. Although the only leftover in the meal was the turkey. But it was really fancied up turkey. Or maybe not. Can you call an open face sandwich fancy? Probably not. But there are much easier ways to serve the leftover turkey I brought home from visiting my parents over the weekend. I could have heated it up and served it.
Instead, I made a recipe for Kentucky Hot Brown. I’ve never had a Kentucky Hot Brown before, but I was familiar with the dish from the research I’ve been doing in preparation for writing about the Essentials for Hosting a Kentucky Derby Party. The Kentucky Hot Brown sandwich is a classic that originated in a restaurant in Louisville, KY. In case you can’t peek under the sauce in my picture, I’ll tell you what’s in this local favorite. You start with toasted white bread (I used toasted Italian white to make it hearty). Next, layer on the turkey, cover the turkey with tomato slices and bacon and finish with a cheddar cheese and vermouth sauce. Sprinkle on some parmesan cheese. Broil until it’s all bubbling and brown. You can see why this sandwich appeals to me – how bad could a sandwich be that includes bacon and cheese?
It wasn’t easy leftovers, but it was good.
White Pizza
I haven’t made a Friday night pizza in a few weeks. It was becoming simply too predictable so I changed things up. But this week I decided to use the remaining batch of dough I had saved in the freezer. I also had leftover, uncooked broccoli in the refrigerator, and so my mind began to drift to white pizza, and all of the other ingredients fell into place.
I rolled out the dough, which was on the skimpy side. That’s a good thing because I was challenged to stretch it to full pizza size, thereby creating an extra thin crust which we all like. I purchased the store made ricotta cheese at Whole Foods which you must try if you’ve never had the chance. It’s so delicious, creamy, almost sweet. I spread it across the dough in a thin layer. I covered this layer in freshly ground black pepper. After that I sprinkled the grated fresh asiago cheese, a more mellow cheese than its aged big brother. I had already cooked the broccoli and tossed it with some olive and salt before placing the pieces over the cheeses. Finally, I carefully scattered the sopressata. Baked it in my hottest oven for approximately 10 minutes – it didn’t take long because the crust was so thin.
The three of us devoured the whole thing. It’s a good thing Louisa wasn’t home for dinner tonight, or it would have turned ugly at the table.
My New Strategy for Crazy Dinner Time
Call it maturity, age, or resignation, but I’ve decided that I can’t always fight the battle of family dinner. Not every night, anyway, because it’s become kind of impossible. I’m running out to do something late afternoon, but Louisa really needs to eat before I get back so that she can run out to do something later – yes, we’ve entered the world of family insanity. We’re too busy running on our own hamster wheels, making it difficult to coordinate schedules. I don’t like it, but it’s adapt or tilt at windmills – and I’m not that crazy!
But though I’ve accepted that we may sometimes have to miss eating dinner together – at least until someone figures out how to create the time turner from Harry Potter that allows us to be present in two places at one time – I can still attempt to serve everyone home made dinners. And for me, the easiest approach seems to be sandwiches. It’s a complete meal that requires little or no last minute work.
Thus, this chicken sandwich was our dinner on Tuesday night. Fresh Italian bread, provolone cheese, chicken cutlets, roasted red peppers and sauteed spinach. Actually a pretty healthy meal. The only last minute task was heating the sandwich to melt the cheese, and I knew that Louisa was up to the job while I was still out.
The rest of us ate together when she left for soccer practice. It wasn’t an ideal evening, but it was the best that I could do.