Monte Cristo Skillet
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With all the goodness of a classic Monte Cristo sandwich, enjoy this easy Monte Cristo Skillet recipe to make Monte Cristo flavors easy and accessible for the whole family!
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.
What You’ll Need to Make the Monte Cristo Skillet:
- Martha White Cotton Country Cornbread Mix
- cooking spray
- chopped cooked turkey
- chopped cooked ham
- shredded Swiss cheese
- eggs
- milk
- mayonnaise
- honey mustard
- salt
- pepper
- currant jelly
- powdered sugar
How to Make a Monte Cristo Skillet:
Prepare the cornbread batter according to the instructions on the package.
Bake cornbread mix in a 10 1/2 inch cast-iron skillet.
The cornbread will be thin and should look like this when baked.
Remove the cornbread from the skillet, and cut it into cubes when cooled. Wipe out the skillet with paper towels and spray the skillet generously with non-stick cooking spray.
Heat the oven to 350 degrees. Place the cornbread cubes in the bottom of the cast iron pan.
Top the cornbread cubes with the turkey, ham, and Swiss cheese.
In medium bowl, whisk together eggs, milk, mayonnaise, 1 tablespoon mustard, salt and pepper until well blended.
Pour evenly over ingredients in skillet. Bake 30 to 35 minutes or until set and lightly browned.
Melt the currant jelly by warming it slightly in the microwave. Add one tablespoon of the honey mustard and whisk until blended.
Remove the Monte Cristo Skillet from the oven.
Cut it into wedges…
…sprinkle with powdered sugar…
…and serve with the currant jelly/honey mustard mixture! ENJOY this delicious cast-iron-skillet recipe!
Ingredients
- 1 6 oz. package Martha White® Cotton CountryTM Cornbread Mix
- Crisco® Original No-Stick Cooking Spray
- 1-1/2 cups chopped cooked turkey
- 1/2 cup chopped cooked ham
- 1-1/2 cups shredded Swiss cheese
- 4 large eggs
- 1 cup milk
- 2 tablespoons mayonnaise
- 2 tablespoons honey mustard divided
- 1-1/2 teaspoons salt
- 1/2 teaspoon pepper
- 1/2 cup Smucker's® Currant Jelly
- Powdered sugar
Instructions
- PREPARE cornbread mix according to package directions, except bake in a 10 1/2-inch cast iron skillet (cornbread will be thin). Remove cornbread from skillet; cool and cut into cubes. Wipe out skillet with paper towels; spray generously with no-stick cooking spray.
- HEAT oven to 350°F. Place cornbread cubes in skillet. Top with turkey, ham and cheese. In medium bowl, whisk together eggs, milk, mayonnaise, 1 tablespoon mustard, salt and pepper until well blended. Pour evenly over ingredients in skillet. Bake 30 to 35 minutes or until set and lightly browned.
- MELT currant jelly by warming slightly. Add 1 tablespoon honey mustard; whisk to blend.
- REMOVE skillet from oven. Cut in wedges, sprinkle with powdered sugar and serve with currant jelly and mustard sauce.
My grandparents used a cast iron skillet but my mom was never interested in using one. Several years ago I asked for one for Christmas and my younger brother bought it for me. He didn’t realize how heavy it was and bought it first on his trip through the mall. He sure was happy to finish his shopping and get to the car after lugging that thing all around! Since my brother is no longer with us I especially treasure my skillet.
I LOVE Monte Cristo sandwhiches with strawberry preserves, too. Especially home made. 🙂 I have my husband’s Grandma’s cast iron skillet. I Love it. They just cook so much better to me and the flavor seems better, too. My mother always always always made her cornbread in her skillets….and everything else. 😉 Best cornbread ever.
My wife always adds comments to your forum, but I love your recipes too. In fact, I bought your cookbook for her birthday! Anyway, I have fond memories of my dad making milk gravy and cornmeal gravy in the same iron skillet we have in our cupboard today. My mom used to cook on an old wood cookstove, and had all the cast iron accessories including a large skillet that would hold 3 cut up chickens at one time! Now that we have an old wood cookstove I hope to use the skillet more!
I have 3 cast iron skillets I live them.. They were my Mom and Grandma’s. I use the smaller one for cornbread which I am making tonight. I have a deeper one I use for fried chicken. The other one for fried potatoes.
As any good Southerner knows you just can’t cook some stuff in anything other than cast iron. When I became engaged and registered for all the stuff to “set up house-keeping” I wanted to register for some cast iron skillets but my Mother talked me out of it. Then on the day of my shower my Mother presented me with her ENTIRE cast iron collection, seasoned and ready to use! Needless to say, I cried. One day I hope to pass it on to my daughter as her wedding gift.
When my precious grandma died, my uncles asked me if I wanted anything from her home. The first thing out of my mouth was her cast iron cookware. I have a large deep skillet and a crepe pan that she made Swedish pancakes. I can still picture her at the stove making mountains of crepe pancakes. They were to die for. I also remember her fried chicken that must have been the best in the world. I will never forget those precious memories.
Does anyone know how to get rust out of a cast iron breadstick pan.
Someone gave me one that was rusty and I would love to use it but I am not
sure how to clean it to get the rust out. Someone told me there is some way using salt. Thanks for the help if anyone knows how to clean rust out.
If it is just surface rust, scrub it with an SOS pad until all the rust is removed. Then you can re-season it as you would a new one. Remember, the oil from seasoning the cast iron is the life of your pan. NEVER soak cast iron in dish water, just wash well and always poor a little oil in it and wipe it down with a paper towel before storing. Just my 2 cents!
I google everything. However, I did watch someone clean up a cast iron skillet on the Today show (quite awhile ago) using oil and salt and paper towel. Pour a puddle of oil and salt and scrub. FYI..I season our cast iron w/bacon grease. I keep a jar in the fridge. Hope this helps.