Hope everyone is having a good day today. I had to take sweet pea to get her flu shot this morning, and I am not feeling the best either, so needless to say we are kinda puney in this household. I am trying to fight it off , because I DO NOT want to be sick for Thanksgiving. It is the one day a year I get to indulge in all kinds of wonderfulness (is that even a word?) and I want to be able to enjoy it to the fullest! I can already smell the turkey and stuffing and boy is my mouth watering. YUM!
Any who, after many months of enjoying others' blog series and link parties, I have decided to start a series of my own. It probably won't be as exciting as some of the others out there, but I thought I would share anyways. I am calling it Mmm Mmm Mondays, and I am going to be sharing recipes that I have been trying lately. Most are going to be other people's recipes that I have found via pinterest or just the plain old world wide web, but I am going to try to throw in a few of my own every now and then. I haven't always enjoyed cooking in the past, but this has given me a little extra boost and excitement on the matter.
Since Hubby is usually the only one that eats my cooking besides myself, he will be the one to rate each dish. The ratings will be as follows:
1-Terrible, Disgusting, don't ever put that in front of me again!
2-Needs a lot of work, but might eat it again once it's tweaked.
3-Has potential to be a good dish.
4-Pretty darn good, make that again please!
5-DELICIOUS! I would eat that everyday!!
The first dish that I am going to be sharing is one that I saw made on the Rachael Ray Show. It is Emeril's recipe for Turkey Club Casserole. It wasn't a very hard recipe to make, but it took quite a while to prepare, so if you are a get-in get-out kinda cook like me, I would not recommend this recipe for you, unless you are wanting to make a special dish one night. It was also A LOT of food and very filling, so not the ideal dish for a two person (+baby) household. I would recommend making this if you were inviting some friends or family over for dinner. Here is what you will need to get started.
Turkey Club Casserole
You will need:
8 large eggs
1 cup heavy cream
1 cup whole milk
1/2 tsp salt
1/2 tsp spicy brown mustard
1/4 tsp cayenne pepper
1/8 tsp ground nutmeg
5 tbsp unsalted butter
thin sliced sandwich bread (about 48 pieces)
1 lb thin sliced turkey
2 tomatoes, sliced
1 lb bacon, cooked
8 slices ham, cut in half
16 slices sharp cheddar cheese
bechamel sauce
Bechamel Sauce:
2 tbsp unsalted butter
2 tbsp flour
2 cups whole milk
1/4 tsp white pepper
pinch of nutmeg
In medium sauce pan, melt butter over medium heat. Add flour and cook, stirring occasionally with a wooden spoon for about 2 minutes. DO NOT BROWN. While whisking constantly add milk, salt, pepper and nutmeg. Cook mixture, stirring occasionally, until it comes to a boil. Reduce heat to medium-low and continue to cook until sauce thickens and flour taste is gone (about 8 mins). Remove from heat and transfer to a heat resistant bowl. Place piece of plastic wrap on surface of bechamel and set aside to cool.
*I recommend making this first and letting it cool while you prepare everything else.
Your next step is to start making the sandwiches. In a large mixing bowl, whisk together eggs, cream, milk, salt, mustard, cayenne pepper and nutmeg. Set mixture aside while you prepare the sandwiches. Grease bottom of 9x13 dish with 1 tbsp of butter.
Cut crust off of all slices of bread. Arrange 8 sandwiches in this order bottom to top: bread, bechamel, turkey, tomato, bacon, slice of bread, bechamel, ham, cheese, bread spread with bechamel (side down). Place in dish.
This is what it will look like. I ended up only making 6 sandwiches since my pan wasn't big enough for 8.
Once you have the 8 sandwiches complete, repeat the steps and make 8 more. Place the second layer directly on top of the first layer. Here is what it will look like.
Once you have done that, grab your egg mixture that you put aside earlier and pour it over the top of the entire casserole. It should look like this.
You then place a piece of wax paper on top of the sandwiches, and then place a second casserole dish on top of the wax paper. This will help compact the sandwiches so they are able to soak up more of the egg mixture. Refrigerate your casserole for 1-2 hrs. Bread should absorb most of the mixture.
Preheat the oven to 350 degrees. Remove paper from casserole. Slice 4 tbsp of butter into 8 slices and place on top of each sandwich. Bake casserole uncovered until puffed and golden, around 40 mins. This is what it will look like when it comes out. Set aside briefly to cool. Serve and Enjoy! 
My casserole didn't soak up as much liquid as I thought it would, so it was a little eggy around the edges. I think part of the problem was that I only made 6 sandwiches instead of 8 so there was less bread to soak up the mixture that was meant for 8. That was really the only complaint that I had with the dish. Hubby on the other hand thought it needed to be seasoned more. He likes his food extremely flavorful so this was a little on the bland side for his liking. I wasn't sure what to serve the casserole with, so I just threw some tater tots in the oven that I already had in the freezer. (Not the healthiest choice I know)
Hubby's rating: 3 1/2
With a little work this dish could be pretty good on the taste buds.
Well there you have it folks, the very first edition of Mmm Mmm Mondays here at Simple and Sweet Pea. I hope you enjoyed reading this post, and I hope you enjoy this recipe as well. If you end up making this dish, come back and leave me a comment with how you liked it, or if you have any ideas on how to make it better. Until then we will see you next time, BYE!
Linking to these link parties:
This looks like a great idea!
ReplyDeletePlease come to my party!
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