Thanksgiving Leftovers: Turkey Sandwiches

So, lots of Thanksgiving leftovers and, while sandwiches are an obvious way of using them up, I wanted more than the usual stuffing-cranberry-turkey sarnie. I wanted a turkey bahn mi. Or as close as I could get at home with the ingredients I had on hand.

I shredded too many vegetables, so made a little salad of the extras.

While it's not really a banh mi, I'm still pretty pleased with this sandwich. Spicy and crunchy and tart and full of carbs and tryptophan!

Banh Mi Inspired Turkey Sandwich

Ingredients
Leftover turkey
Sandwich rolls, halved
Sliced cucumber
Shredded carrot
Shredded radishes
Thinly sliced red onion
Unseasoned rice wine vinegar
Light mayonnaise
Sriracha
Dried cilantro

Directions
Toss your vegetables with enough rice wine vinegar to coat and let sit for about 15 minutes.

Marinated some of the cucumbers on their own as The Husband is fussy.

Combine mayonnaise, cilantro, and sriracha to taste. Set aside for about 15 minutes.

My eyes kept trying to tell my brain I'd made Thousand Island Dressing.

Spread mayonniase blend on both halves of rolls. Layer with vegetables. Sandwichize. Eat.

All the colors!

(I made The Husband's sandwich a little differently as I knew he wouldn't like the carrots or radishes. Instead, he had spicy mayonnaise, turkey, marinated cucumber, red onion, and stuffing. He seemed happy enough and went omnomnom).

Watercress & Cucumber Sandwiches

I used watercress in November's Eating the Alphabet Challenge and had just enough leftover to make cucumber and cress sandwiches. While we ate these sandwiches with tomato tortellini soup they're also just fine on their own or with a little fruit salad.

Watercress & Cucumber Sandwiches

Ingredients
3 oz neufchâtel, softened
1 cup watercress leaves & thin stems, rinsed and rung out in a tea towel
Juice of half a lemon
Salt and pepper, as desired
Unsalted butter, softened
Cucumber, sliced thin
Thin sandwich bread, crusts removed
Minced cress, for garnish

Directions
Whiz the first four ingredients around in your food processor or blender.

Spread every slice of bread with a thin coat of butter. Then spread half with a thicker coat of watercress goo. Top with thinly sliced cucumber. Sprinkle with a little minced cress. Top with the remaining buttered bread. Cut into quarters. Eat.

(You could also add a thin layer of radishes to the sandwiches for a little heat and/or add fresh dill to the watercress spread).

Waffled Grilled Cheese, Yum!

Waffling grilled cheese is not a new idea -- the internets are full of waffled grilled cheese ideas -- but it is a very good one. The bread gets all crispy-crunchy and the waffled crannies make the sandwich perfect for dipping in soup.

Prepare your grilled cheese however you like, then lay it on your preheated waffle iron, close the lid, stick a heavy can or jar on top (I used a big tomato can), and waffle for 3 minutes. Remove from waffle iron, admire, break into pieces, dunk in soup ... wish you'd made more than one.

Who needs a panini press?

Rachel(ish) Grilled Cheese

I was in the mood for a grilled cheese sandwich this morning, but wanted something more than just cheese. I'd stocked up on Boar's Head sandwich meat, including turkey, over the weekend so I ended up making a sort-of Rachel sandwich with the turkey, sauerkraut, and ajvar (a Serbian spread made of red bell peppers, eggplant, and garlic). It came out really well and I think I prefer the smoky-sweet flavor of ajvar to the gooey sweetness of thousand island dressing.

Ah, delicious beige-ness!

How did I make this sandwich? Smeared the outsides of two slices of bakery bread with yoghurt-butter spread. Smeared the insides with ajvar. Placed a slice in a hot nonstick skillet and topped with a little sauerkraut. (My sauerkraut came from the Connecticut Garlic and Harvest Festival and is, probably, the Best Sauerkraut Ever).

Buttered bread, ajvar, sauerkraut ... yum

Topped with turkey and and a slice of monterey jack (I warmed my turkey for a few seconds in the microwave, because I didn't want a sandwich with a cold center) and then fried until beautifully brown on one side and then flip and fried the other side.

Sliced in half, admired for a few seconds, and then scarfed down. Omnomnom! I should have made two!

Waffled Quesadilla

Yes, my darlings, a quesadilla can be waffled. I am so pleased with myself for trying this and I cannot wait until October, when we enter Grilled Cheese Season proper, and I start waffling grilled cheese. Basically, I want to waffle anything that involves carbs and cheese. I'm sure I would waffle a calzone if I had the right ingredients.

To make my quesadilla, I sprayed my waffle iron with cooking spray and let it preheat as directed. I spread one white flour tortilla with the last dregs of bacon jam.

Plopped it on the waffle griddle, topped it with some garlicky salsa, a bit of shredded mozzarella-cheddar blend, and the other tortilla. I closed the waffle iron, pressing down firmly, and let it cook for 3 minutes.

Then I removed the quesadilla and let it sit for a few minutes to cool down a little -- it was sizzling -- which gave me enough time to scrape all the escaped cheese off the griddle with a rubber spatula and nom them up.

The quesadilla? It was delicious. Smoky, spicy, gooey, crispy ... delicious.

Eating The Alphabet: O is for Olives & Oregano

My mother taught me to sprinkle dried oregano on my sandwiches, because oregano makes a sandwich better. Salami, turkey, roast beef, ham, grilled cheese ... all better with oregano. So, when I started thinking about recipes for August's Alphabet Challenge, I spent a lot of time staring at the pot of oregano growing on my porch.

I thought about making a tapenade or muffauletta olive spread, but then Men's Health's "Croissant with Herbed Goat Cheese and Spinach" popped up on Pinterest and I knew I had found The Right Sandwich. Unfortunately, there wasn't much of a recipe so I just kind of made one up as I went along.

It's a good sandwich -- full of strong flavors, but they all meld together well. If you're not fond of goat cheese, cream cheese or a Laughing Cow wedge would work well as substitutes.

Herbed Goat Cheese and Spinach Sandwich
Inspired by Men's Health

Ingredients
2 Tbsp soft goat cheese
1 tsp fresh thyme, chopped
1 tsp fresh oregano, chopped
6 small kalamata olives, pitted and finely chopped
1 oz baby spinach leaves
1 oz bottled roasted red pepper, drained and patted dry
1 whole wheat ciabatta roll, split

Directions
Combine goat cheese with thyme, oregano, and olives.

Spread thickly over one half of ciabatta. Pile with pepper and spinach. Top with remaining ciabatta half. Eat.

Makes 1 sandwich.

You could also spread the goat cheese mixture on thin slices of baguette, crown them with a bit of sliced roasted pepper and more fresh herbs, and serve them as an appetizer or snack.

Simple Saturday Supper: Sausage Sandwiches

It's Saturday -- time to eat up all the odds and ends lurking in the fridge. I had fully-cooked chicken sausages, bell peppers, red onion, sliced mushrooms, and a very old open packet of shredded Parmesan. Sandwiches seemed obvious.

(Sliced provolone or mozzarella would work better than the shredded Parmesan, but it was what was in the fridge).

Italianesque Chicken Sausage Sandwiches

Ingredients
2 fully-cooked chicken sausage links [Al Fresco Sundried Tomato & Basil]
1 red bell pepper, sliced thin
½ red onion, sliced
4 oz white mushrooms, sliced
2 garlic gloves, sliced thin
1 Tbsp olive oil
splash of balsamic vinegar
2 crusty sandwich rolls, sliced
Shredded Parmesan

Directions
Slice sausages lengthwise, but do not cut all the way through, leaving them hinged like book.


In large nonstick skillet, heat olive oil until fragrant. Add onions, peppers, mushrooms, and garlic. Saute until soft and caramelized.

Add a splash of balsamic and cook until vinegar has evaporated. Remove vegetables from pan and set aside.

Add sausage to pan and heat until sausages are browned on both sides.

Divide the sausage and vegetables between the rolls. Sprinkle with shredded Parmesan and broil until cheese is bubbly and golden.

VitaBun Sandwiches, I Made Some

Several months ago, in a burst of good intention, I ordered a case of Vitalicious VitaBuns -- nutritionally superior English muffins with low Weight Watchers Points Plus values. Unfortunately, 2 24-packs of VitaBuns is a lot of VitaBuns, delicious though they may be (and they are seriously good). My freezer, it overfloweth with them. So I've been making sandwiches ... omnomnom.

Faux Tuna Melt

Ingredients
14 oz can organic garbanzos, drained and rinsed
1 Tbsp light mayonnaise
1 Tbsp Dijon mustard
1 tsp minced sweet pickle
Salt and pepper, as desired
1 slice cheese
1 VitaBun, toasted

Directions
Mash garbanzo beans until you like the texture (I left mine pretty chunky). Add remaining ingredients and mix well. Serve on toasted VitaBun with a slice of cheese (I used soy cheese, because ... I dunno).

Egg Salad

Ingredients
3 large eggs, hard cooked
2 Tbsp light mayonnaise
2 tsp capers, drained and rinsed
2 tsp parsley
1 stalk celery, minced
Salt and pepper, as desired
3 VitaBuns, toasted

Directions
Chop eggs until you like the texture. Add remaining ingredients and mix well. Divide into thirds to make three sandwiches.

Ham Sammich

Ingredients
1 (51 g) serving Oscar Mayer Deli Selects Honey Ham
1 slice cheese (soy, again)
2 tsp spicy stone ground mustard
Small handful Bibb lettuce leaves
1 VitaBun, toasted

Directions
Sandwichize. Seriously, we all know what to do ... right?

Grilled Cheese, It's (Still) What's For Breakfast

I have made Fo's Reals Mom's Egg-in-the-hole Grilled Cheese Sandwich for breakfast two days running and, if there's time, I might make it again on Sunday to fortify us for the long drive down to Mom Land. It's delicious, darlings. Seriously delicious. Crunchy, buttery bread encasing hot, melty cheese and yolky goodness ... it's grilled cheese gone platinum.

My first attempt. Look at that hot, melty rivulet of Cabot Seriously Sharp cheddar! *Swoon* Yolk's a little hard, though.

My second attempt. Lots of hot, runny, golden yolk! A bit too much, really, but that's what the toasted holes are for.

It's been years since I ate egg-in-the-hole. My mom would occasionally make me eggie-in-the-hole when I was small and I would "help" her by buttering the bread and (carefully) cutting the hole with a butter knife. Egg-in-the-hole production has not changed a lot in the last thirty-odd years, but the use of a round cookie or biscuit cutter to make the hole is a welcome improvement. Perfectly round holes every time:

Sweet, not Savory, Grilled Cheese

When searching for the perfect grilled cheese recipes for May's Crazy Cooking Challenge, I considered making a sweet rather than savory grilled cheese. I looked at a several different temptingly-sweet grilled cheese recipes, but decided to demo Chocolate, Chocolate, and More Chocolate's "Grilled Nutella and Cream Cheese," because who can resist chocolate and strawberries? Not I.

Spread one slice of bread with cream cheese and the other with Nutella. I used Weight Watchers cream cheese and Trader Joe's dark chocolate almond spread.

Top one slice of bread with sliced strawberries.

Smoosh bread together and cook until a beautiful golden brown on both sides. I didn't butter my bread, but sprayed it with a little Pam. Seemed to toast just fine.

Look at that sexy grilled cheese, oozing with chocolate and strawberry juices. Mmm.

This grilled cheese was pretty good and I definitely recommend it to anyone who likes chocolate and strawberries (and who doesn't?) but it would have been better on thickly sliced challah or brioche rather than the country-style white I used. Also, a dusting of powdered sugar wouldn't have gone amiss.

(I feel I must confess we shared this grilled cheese for breakfast. Yes, another grilled cheese for breakfast! What do we eat for lunch? Scrambled eggs and toast? Pancakes and sausage? Well, yes).

Crazy Cooking Challenge: Grilled Cheese

I tried out many of grilled cheese recipes for May's Crazy Cooking Challenge. There was grilled cheese with bacon. And pickles. And a fried egg. And crab. They were all good and I'm sure I'll blog about them all at one point or another, but only two recipes made sandwiches I would want to eat again and again and again. In the end, I went with "Sriracha-Mayo Grilled Cheese" from Ashley Dalle Eats Food, Too, Sometimes because it was less fiddly than "Bacon, Egg, and Cheese Grilled Cheese Sandwich" from Lynn's Kitchen Adventures. Still, that grilled cheese was excellent and I really do recommend it. You can read about my experience making it here.

I must admit I used slightly different cheeses than Dalle's recipe called for, based on what I had on hand at the time, and the sandwich came out really well. Crunchy, creamy, and spicy with lots of good tomato-y tang ... it made my taste buds and tummy quite happy.

Sriracha, you are a delicious blessing flavored with the incandescent glow of a thousand dying suns. I love you.
                     -- "Dear Sriracha Rooster Sauce," The Oatmeal.

Behold! Yumptious cheesy goodness!

So happy, in fact, that I could eat this grilled cheese two or three times a week. Seriously, I would happily keep a little bowl of sriracha-mayo in the fridge so that, in the morning, I could just slap the sammich together and pop it in my waffle iron (if I ever find my waffle iron). In the morning, you say? Yes, I ate (and will eat) this grilled cheese for breakfast.

Combine light mayonnaise with sriracha to taste. Smear all over both sides of two slices of bread.

Top one slice of bread with two slices of Boar's Head Monterey Jack with jalapeno, a glop of Green Mountain Gringo roasted garlic salsa, and two slices of Cabot sharp cheddar. Top with remaining bread.

Fry in a hot nonstick pan until the bread turns a lovely brown, carefully flip over, press, and fry until brown (about 5 minutes each side for me on medium). I created an impromptu sandwich press with a plate, a mug, and a tin of refried beans. I don't usually press grilled cheese, but this sandwich was so thick that it seemed like a good idea.

Important: As this grilled cheese is quite thick, you don't want to cook it too fast, because then the bread will brown faster than the cheese melts and that makes for an Unfortunate Grilled Cheese. I ate a lot of Unfortunate Grilled Cheese in my impatient teen years and have since learned better. Cook 'em low and slow.

Hot & Spicy Baconriffic Grilled Cheese

When I stumbled across Galley Kitchen's "Jalapeno Popper Grilled Cheese Sandwich" while looking for recipes for May's Crazy Cooking Challenge, I immediately knew I had to give it a try. I'd wanted a recipe with some heat and was hoping to find one using sriracha, but pickled jalapenos are equally delicious.

Pretty!

This grilled cheese turned out pretty darn delicious. The kick of the peppers combined with the creamy-gooey cheese and crunchy bread ... just yum.

I cooked the thick-cut bacon in a 400°F oven for 15 minutes. Yes, that's much more bacon than the recipe called for on my pan, but why would I bake three slices when I could bake a whole pan worth?

Combine cream cheese with chopped slices of pickled jalapenos and scallions. I used light cream cheese and, because I didn't have any scallions, fresh chives from my garden.

Top each slice of bread with a slice of cheese (I used Cabot Seriously Sharp). Spread one slice with the cream cheese mixture and top with three slices of bacon. Sandwichize everything together and spread the outside of the bread with butter.

Fry until beautifully browned on one side, flip over, and fry the other side. Immediately remove from heat, halve, and nom while all the delicious gooey insides get all over your fingers and the jalapenos set your tongue pleasantly afire.

My Galley Kitchen is posting a different grilled cheese recipe every day in April, so do go check out all the many delicious grilled cheese variations.

Grilled Cheese, It's What's for Breakfast!

May's Crazy Cooking Challenge is grilled cheese so, obviously, I've been trying out grilled cheese sandwich recipes. I can't share the recipe I'm using for the challenge, but I'm happy to tell you about all the other recipes I tried. The first one I tried, "Bacon, Egg, and Cheese Grilled Cheese Sandwich" from Lynn's Kitchen Adventures made a super-deliciously-awesome breakfast and I would happily eat it a couple times a week except it would probably kill me.

Oh, sure, I could healthify it with egg whites, fake bacon, and fat-free cheese ... but that sounds horrible. Better to eat the real deal once a month and dream about it the rest of the time.

A thick slice of country-style white bread smeared with yoghurt-butter spread, topped with a slice of Cabot Seriously Sharp cheddar, and two slices of oven-baked thick-cut bacon.

Topped with a fried egg. The recipe said to cook the egg until the yolk was hard, but I left mine soft -- not runny, but more like a thick, gooey gel.

Fried until beautifully brown on one side and then flipped and fried on the other side.

Sliced in half, admired for a few minutes, and then scarfed down. Omnomnom. Owe Lynn's Kitchen Adventures so many thanks for publishing this recipe!

Slow Cooker 'Cue ... It's Heaven

I'd been craving a good pulled pork sandwich since I ate a not-very-good one at a local fair, but I don't know where to find a good one locally. I thought about making my own, in the oven, but was a little intimidated by the prospect. Then I found a recipe for "Georgia-Style Barbecued Turkey Sandwiches" in Pillsbury's Slow Cooker Recipes and I reckoned I could run the risk of ruining one supper this week. It helped that Pillsbury's recipe was simple, straightforward, and used a meat I really enjoy cooking, but see so few recipes for.

(Turkey thighs are delicious, you know, and hard to ruin by overcooking. I tend to roast mine with vegetables, but I bet the slow cooker cacciatore I made earlier in the week would be awesome with turkey thighs!)

Anyway, I thought this dish turned out really well -- just a little sweet with a nice bit of heat and the perfect amount of smokiness. I used Lazy Kettle's hickory liquid smoke and, oh my, does that stuff taste good! And the smell! I'm half-tempted to wear it as cologne.

I was so pleased with how this recipe turned out that I borrowed a copy of Merrell and Quinn's Cheater BBQ: Barbecue Anytime, Anywhere, in Any Weather (Clarkson Potter, 2008) from my library and I'm full of plans to make more barbecue in my slow cooker (and oven) as soon as possible.

Chicken & Egg

Lunch for The Husband -- grilled chicken leftover from Sunday's picnic on artisan bread from the Price Chopper bakery with Bibb lettuce & Stonewall Kitchen's Blue Cheese Herb Mustard. Because I love him so, I also gave him the last devilled egg.

Sunday's grilled chicken was based on Betty Crocker's recipe for "Grilled Provençal Chicken Breasts" and came out rather nice -- tender and moist with really good flavor. Of course, I modified the recipe a bit, based on the ingredients I had on hand and the number of people I needed to feed ...

Provençal Greek Chicken Breasts
¼ cup lemon juice
2 Tbsp. Penzeys Greek Seasoning
⅛ tsp pepper
4 boneless skinless chicken breast halves

Place chicken in a storage container with a tight-sealing lid. Whisk together first three ingredients, pour over chicken. Seal container. Shake. Refrigerate overnight. Heat grill. Cook chicken for about 10 minutes on each side or until beautifully browned and cooked through.

[Interesting lemon tip: Jacques Pepin, on either Disc 1 or 2 of More Fast Food My Way, says you can get more juice out of a hard citrus by microwaving it for a few seconds. I usually just roll mine around the countertop.]

Sunday's devilled eggs were also from Betty Crocker. I used the recipe for "Chive 'n Onion Deviled Eggs," but got a little confused while making them -- put the paprika and chives in with the yolks, used mustard powder where the recipe called for "yellow mustard" -- and mucked them up a bit:

Confused Chive 'n Onion Eggs
6 eggs
¼ cup chives-and-onion cream cheese spread (from 8-oz container)
1 tsp milk
1 tsp yellow mustard powder
⅛ tsp Penzeys Hungarian Sweet Kulonleges Paprika
2 tsp chopped fresh chives

Hard-cook eggs using your preferred method, cool, shell, and halve.

Place yolks in a bowl and add cream cheese spread, salt, milk, mustard, paprika, and chives; mash with fork until smooth. If making ahead, store yolk filling and eggs separately in the fridge until needed. Pipe yolk mixture into egg whites. Sprinkle with additional paprika. Serve.

[You want to use eggs with bright, golden yolks for these. I used Farmer's Cow eggs which have buttercup-gold yolks.]

Eggy-Eggy Joy-Joy

Browsed through my library's copy of Williams-Sonoma's Comfort Food cookbook and was consumed with lust. If I didn't have two cookbooks out already, I would surely have brought it home. Instead, I whipped out fifteen cents and photocopied the egg salad recipe -- I figured it was a simple enough recipe that I shouldn't be able to muck it up in a hurry and making it might assuage some of my cookbook lust.

I count this as my first ever egg salad even though The Husband insists I have made egg salad before as his food memories are not to be trusted. So a woman made him egg salad once? It could have been his mum. It could have been a woman at the sandwich shop ...

Anyway, this recipe is dead easy -- combine eight chopped hard cooked eggs, celery, spring onions, light mayonnaise, parsley, Dijon mustard (I used Stonewall Kitchen's blue cheese mustard), salt, and pepper.

Served it on a whole grain white bagel with light mayo and butter lettuce. The recipe had advised serving the egg salad on bread spread with mayo and I was worried that would be too much goop, but the salad itself is only just moist enough to hold together.

All in all, this recipe is a keeper.