Wednesday, February 3, 2010

What Are We Eating Wednesday? Monte Cristo

The Monte Cristo is fried ham & turkey sandwich... an American variation on a French sandwich.
My memories of eating Monte Cristo's come from Disneyland's Blue Bayou and a restaurant in San Diego. Since I don't live at Disneyland (as much as I wish I did) or in San Diego (as much as I wish I did), nor do I have a deep fryer, I have come up with another way to get my fix of the Monte Cristo!

Ingredients:
3 eggs, slightly beaten
1/4 cup milk
sprinkle salt and pepper
8 slices soft, hearty bread (I use sourdough/french... or homemade if I have some)
sliced ham
sliced turkey
4 swiss cheese (I sometimes use pepper jack instead) slices
4 cheddar cheese slices
4 T butter
powdered sugar
raspberry jam (or blackberry)

Combine eggs, milk and salt and pepper in a shallow dish. Set aside.
Make sandwiches by layering bread, cheese, meat, meat, cheese, bread. If you like cheese a lot... you can add a third layer of cheese in between the two meats. My ideal sandwich would be: bread, cheddar, turkey, pepper jack, ham, cheddar, bread. I like the kick of the pepper jack with the sweet of the jam. The cheese on the outside of the meat is important as it will hold the bread onto the sandwich.
Melt 4 T butter in a skillet over a medium-high heat (I do 4 T at a time because I can fit all 4 sandwiches in the pan at once).
Dip your sandwich into the egg mixture and coat completely.
Place your sandwiches in the skillet and cook 3-5 min on each side, or until the bread is a deep golden toasted color (should look like good French toast).
Remove sandwich from skillet, place on plate, sprinkle with powdered sugar (yes you read that right) and serve with jam for dipping!

It sounds crazy... but it is oh so good... and it is a little healthier than the deep fried version.
Enjoy!

2 comments:

Heather said...

I had a bite of this at Disneyland (stolen from hubby) and have always wanted one since...

Now that I am pregnant I may just need to "satisfy" the craving!

THANKS!
~Heather

Kelli said...

I can vouch for this sandwich... it is SO delicious! I'm so glad you posted the recipe so now I can try it! Yummmmm!