Monte Cristo Skillet – and Your Cast Iron Memories
This delicious recipe is at the bottom of the post. Hope you get to try it soon!
Be sure and share your special Cast Iron memories in the comments below!
(more details at bottom of post)
Today I’m thrilled to bring you a guest post from the good folks at Martha White, along with a fun announcement! The National Cornbread Festival is coming up! The cornbread festival is held each year in the neat little town of South Pittsburg, Tennessee, and this year Martha White has asked me to be a judge. So I get to participate in the festival AND taste all of the yummy entries, to boot! The festival is a weekend long family event with all sorts of fun activities taking place, including tours of the Lodge Cast Iron Factory. Click the Cornbread Festival logo at the bottom of this post to visit the official homepage and learn more.
I’m really looking forward to meeting more of the Southern Plate Family! We have a page over on Facebook where folks can RSVP that they are coming so if you plan on coming out for the fun this year so click here to head on over there and let me know so I can look forward to seeing your face and keep you posted on times and location of the Southern Plate Family meet and greet.
I’m also hoping some of you will enter the competition. Wouldn’t it be wonderful if a member of the Southern Plate family won it? I happen to know that y’all are a group of extremely talented cooks – who cook for the love of family and friends – and I can’t imagine a dish tasting better than one made by one of you. For the official rules of the competition, click here. To go ahead and enter, click here.
This Monte Cristo Skillet was the Grand Prize Winner of the 2006 National Cornbread Festival. It caught my eye because I recently had my very first Monte Cristo Sandwich and absolutely loved it. Southern Living sent me to Charleston to do some presentations for the Taste of Charleston Festival. Have you ever been to Charleston? Oh my goodness gracious, is that a beautiful town! With every sight and sound I became more determined to bring my family back there someday so I could experience it with them (It is hard to enjoy a trip without the folks you want to share it with beside you).
As I’ve started traveling from time to time I’ve taken a queue from my adventurous counterparts at SL and started making it a point to try something new in each place if possible. In Charleston, I had my first Monte Cristo Sandwich and it was right up my alley. I ate it in the cafe of a beautiful hotel right downtown. The flavors were a unique combination for me: Ham, cheese, battered and toasted bread drizzled with a sweet fruit preserves and sprinkled with confectioner’s sugar. It was part lunch, part breakfast, part sandwich, part dessert, and all the way good!
So when Martha White offered to guest post I got to nosing around for what recipe I thought would appeal the most to everyone and as soon as this skillet came before my eyes, my heart just settled on it.
This recipe is quick to throw together and feeds six people. I like strawberry preserves with mine but feel free to use whichever you like best. I also omit the turkey and use additional ham in it’s place. Lunchmeat ham works just fine!
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Love Your Cast Iron?
Be sure and pick up this month’s special Cast Iron issue of Taste Of The South. It is filled to the BRIM with delicious recipes for your cast iron skillet, gorgeous food photography,
and those sweet people even put my name on the cover!
I don’t know who is more tickled, me or my mother!
I could not live without my cast iron skillet and dutch oven. The crispness from the bottom when you make cornbread and/or potatoes is great.
hello christy i have my mother s cast iron . iuse it all the time, it is veryold iuse a lot of cast iron . please let me know when you are going to be in south pittsburg .see you there
My Grandma Birdie gave me her cast iron skillet when I got married. For 20 something years I tried to make cornbread like my daddy made in my skillet, but it always stuck in one spot, even though I heated it in the oven just like he taught me. And, my cornbread was never as good as my grandmother’s. I finally gave up and made cornbread from a pouch in a glass baking dish.
A few years ago when I was going through a box of my family memories, I found where my grandmother had cut the recipe off a a Martha White cornmeal bag and wrote on the back, “This is the recipe I use to make my corn bread. My skillet sticks though, so I have to add flour.” I cried. I had been making cornbread like my grandmother after all!
WOW, Christy! Right there between Paula Deen and Lucy Buffett! What an honor 🙂 You mean people cook cornbread in something besides an iron skillet?? I own several “hand-me-down” iron skillets, but my favorite belonged to my grandmother and she made the best “steak and gravy” ever in it. As a little girl, (staying with her because my Momma worked outside the home) I watched her every move! She’s been gone for over 30 years now, and I was honored to get that skillet. It’s deep and has a lid….perfect for making steak and gravy! BTW, I don’t wash my cornbread skillets, just wipe them out with a paper towel…perfect cornbread every time!
I have the cast iron cornstick mold that my mother used to make cornsticks for our family. My father loved them. I find it extremely difficult to clean, so I don’t use it very often, but it still brings back happy memories.
I picked up a copy of the magazine this weekend — loved it. My husband collects (and cooks) in cast iron. We have lots of pieces of every size and shape. I have skillets and griddles that belonged to my grandmother and I use them often. I agree with LisaG — it just isn’t cornbread unless it’s baked in cast iron!
Christy, My mama is no longer with me but I always remember her using her cast iron skillet to make all of our meals. I always commented that I wanted one but didn’t buy one because I didn’t know how to season one. Well this Christmas My Aunt bought me a set and it was the best gift ever. Because it reminds me of my mama and thats the best gift ever. Can’t wait to try this recipe in it.