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" Years and years before kids entered my life I worked in an office, and at that office I had a number of coworkers I considered quite good friends. (How lucky I was!) One of these friends had a delightful list of things she wanted to accomplish during her life. Like go up in a hot-air balloon and attend the Kentucky Derby. The most wonderful thing about knowing this friend was watching her tick off her life goals, one at a time. I remember her shopping for an outrageous hat to wear to the Derby the year she scored tickets (not an easy feat, if I remember correctly). That, I&amp;#039;m afraid, is the closest I&amp;#039;ve every gotten to the Derby.  With Derby weekend upon us, however, I keep bumping into recipes for a hot brown, a Croque-Monsieur-type sandwich invented by a Kentucky restaurateur. It&amp;#039;s my understanding that it&amp;#039;s not really Derby food; it&amp;#039;s too hot, not the dainty finger food appropriate for a sunny day spent watching a horse race. I may have been sweating in my kitchen as I whipped this up, but it was really good. I&amp;#039;m going to have to start making batches of this white sauce to try on just about anything I can think of. Broccoli will be my first victim.  The open-face sandwich is toast with turkey, a Parmesan white sauce and a crisscross of bacon. Sometimes folks add a tomato, but I&amp;#039;m still skeptical about the tomatoes in the market this time of year.  So toast the bread, cook the bacon and make the white sauce: melt 2 tablespoons butter in a saucepan, then add 3 tablespoons flour. Stir together to make a paste, or roux, and brown a bit. Then stir in some milk (I think I added about 1\u00BD cups). I added the milk slowly, dribbling in \u00BC cup, then stirring until smooth, then adding a little more, etc. I&amp;#039;m not sure if it was necessary, but I did avoid lumps that way. Then I added about \u00BD cup grated Parmesan (not packed down\u2014a fluffy \u00BD cup). Layer 6 slices of toast, sliced turkey (I used deli turkey) and the sauce in a baking pan. Broil 2 to 3 minutes, until the sauce has a few brown spots.  The chocolate-pecan pie is another Kentucky tradition. Also below, some nibbles to have with your mint juleps while you watch the most exciting 2 minutes in sports.  Chocolate Chip\u2013Pecan Pie  Mushroom-Bacon Bundles  Spicy Shrimp Spread  Do you watch the Derby? \u2014 Kim Walker "^^<http://www.w3.org/2001/XMLSchema#string>
<http://www.womansday.com/food-recipes/a43926/hot-brown-5012/>