Foodblogging: Derby OM NOM OMG NOM

Saturday was the Kentucky Derby.  Husband and I have made a bit of a tradition out of watching it even though neither of us really know much about the sport and we don't gamble (and I'm not super crazy about the horse whipping).  One of these days we'll actually go there and I will wear a giant silly hat and we'll get drunk on mint juleps with all the other drunk silly hat wearers in the middle of the track.  Until then we'll be making juleps at home and watching the two minutes of craziness on TV.

This year I decided to go all out and make traditional Kentucky food.  I went here and made a menu:
Benedictine sandwiches
Hot Brown
Cheese Garlic Grits
Collard greens
Derby Pie

I didn't take any pictures because we ate it all so damn fast.  I've got some notes to share if you want to do this yourself:

• Benedictine: holy crap this is good. 
• Hot Brown: the "sauce" is more of a "glop."  It could have used some time under the broiler to really get brown but we were hungry.  I made this in a 9" round glass pie dish because we don't have those cute single-serving gratin dishes.  Instead of whole bacon slices I crumbled bacon over the top.
• Cheese Garlic Grits: I think 12 ounces of cheese was a bit much.  Probably could have gotten away with 8.  But it was gooooood.
• Collard greens: I made these the way I usually make greens.  I cooked the bacon for the Hot Brown in a big pan and took about half of the drippings out when it was done.  I gently cooked four cloves of chopped garlic in the bacon grease, then sauteed the greens for a few minutes.  I put a half cup of water in the pan, put the lid on, and let them soften up until they were tender.  Salt, pepper, and crumbled bacon on top.
• Derby Pie: I have been forbidden from making this again.  It was that good. 

This was not a low calorie meal.