Benedictine Spread & Hot Brown Sandwiches
Dad and Mom dressed up for the Kentucky Derby, 2017.
Mom made her hat, it has the sheet music for “My Old Kentucky Home” as the ribbon.
We are the Champions! My family at the first annual Kin-tucky Derby, 2020.
The infamous Winkler Motor Inn, Winston-Salem, NC.
Hello, party people! It’s Kentucky Derby season. For those who don’t know, post time is *this* Saturday, May 1, at 6:57 p.m. Eastern. My husband and I were supposed to be there, but that’s kind of a long story. The short version is that we got married on Derby day in 2000 and attending the Derby has always been on my bucket list. We splurged for tickets to celebrate our 20th anniversary, and then this thing called COVID happened. They delayed the Derby until September (it’s always on the first Saturday in May), and we planned to go but then opted out because it was still prime pandemic time. We moved our tickets to this May, but still felt weird about it. So, God willing and the creek (or COVID counts) don’t rise, we’ll be there next year to celebrate our 22nd anniversary. 4’s a charm, as they don’t say.
I enjoy the Derby because I like hats and I like to drink. My husband is actually more into the sport. Since we couldn’t attend the Derby last year, we brought it to ourselves with something called the “Kin-tucky Derby” (we live on Kinney Ave.) where we had 2-people horse teams racing down the block. It was quite a vision! We’re doing it again this Saturday and I’m making Benedictine spread and pimento cheese. A neighbor, conveniently from Kentucky, will be contributing bite-size Hot Browns. And, don’t worry, we’re doing this all safely and social distanced (except for the two people crammed in a horse outfit, I guess you need to pod up for that).
As a kid, I fancied myself a horse girl. In reality, I liked the lifestyle a lot more than the actual horses, who freaked me out. I was thrown a few times. In grade school we took a family trip to Lexington, Kentucky. My biggest takeaway (other than the horse stuff everywhere!) was that we stayed at the Howard Johnson’s and they had an automatic ice machine. I was obsessed with that thing and kept our room stocked with a steady supply. I accidently left my stuffed duck, Quack, at the hotel when we checked out and I cried the whole way home. Ho Jo’s was nice enough to ship Quack back to me. I was amazed.
You see, my hotel bar was set pretty low. I’m not sure how many we had stayed in prior to that, we usually stayed with friends or family, but I do vividly remember staying in the Winkler Motor Inn in Winston-Salem for my uncle’s wedding. This was pre-internet, of course, so Dad couldn’t have known it was a brothel. First of all, the room had a hole in the wall or torn wallpaper, something was off. I can remember the nubby chenille bedspread (think about the black light test on *that*). It was pretty disappointing, but we heard there was a pool. My sister and I went running out to discover an oasis of dark green sludge. Not even I wanted to swim there and I wasn’t very picky. Crestfallen, we got dressed and went off to do something wedding-oriented. Back at the hotel later that night, we went to bed and were awakened by a drunk guy banging on the door to let him in. He was insistent, thinking that his friends had locked him out from the party. I remember Mom gathering us in her arms while we tried to figure out what to do. It went on forever! I think we may have tried telling him that he had the wrong room but he was not convinced. I’m sure there would have been one or two “Jesus, John”s muttered by my mother. Eventually the guy either figured it out or passed out. He was not there in the morning. The next day my uncle, upon finding out that we had stayed at this place, was horrified and offered to put us up at the Sheraton where everyone else was staying. That just encouraged my father to book us for ANOTHER NIGHT at the Winkler. Good times.
Now, on to more refined things. Get your hats ready and place your bets! I actually won a ton of money the first time I tried. It was on a horse called “I’ll Have Another”. I liked the name, it’s my unofficial mantra. This was enough to convince me that I had some ability at this sport. I haven’t won since.
BENEDICTINE SPREAD
8 oz. Cream cheese
1 Tbsp. Mayonnaise
3 Tbsp. Grated cucumber, drained well with paper towel
1 tsp. Finely chopped green onion with tops—or ordinary onion
1 drop green food coloring [optional]
Combine above ingredients and serve on white bread rounds or with Club Crackers
HOT BROWN SANDWICHES
Hot brown sandwiches are rich, open faced hot turkey sandwiches with bacon that are the signature dish of one of Louisville's historic hotels, the Brown.
1/2 cup butter
1/2 cup flour
3 to 3 1/2 cups milk
1 beaten egg
6 tablespoons Parmesan cheese
2 tablespoons whipped cream
Salt and pepper to taste
Slices of roast turkey
8 to 12 slices toast (trimmed of crusts)
8 to 12 slices cooked bacon
Melt butter and add flour, stirring with a whisk or spoon to make a thick roux. Add milk gradually and whisk to blend completely before adding more. As the sauce thins you can add milk more quickly. Bring to a boil. Beat a little of the hot mixture with the egg. Remove sauce from heat and beat in the egg mixture. Add cheese and stir. Fold in whipped cream. Season to taste.
For each Hot Brown, place 2 slices of toast on a flameproof dish. Cover with a liberal amount of turkey. Pour a generous amount of sauce over the turkey and broil about 6 inches from the heat until the cheese sauce begins to bubble. Sprinkle with additional Parmesan cheese. Place dish under broiler until sauce is speckled brown and bubbly.
Remove from broiler and top with a 2 pieces of bacon. Garnish with tomato slices, if desired. Serves 4 to 6.
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