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APRIL MAY SEEM like a strange time to be talking turkey. The all-American bird shows up at the holidays and seems to hide away the rest of year. At my place, though, turkeys are still roasting, or at least turkey breast, all year-round. One of my tricks when I know there’s a crazy week ahead is to roast a turkey breast, in the oven or on the grill. For the next few days, I know we can make a dinner of turkey sandwiches—and of course turkey sandwiches are kind of the best part of the day after Thanksgiving anyway.
Yes, you can buy sliced turkey at the supermarket, and turkey sandwiches are so ubiquitous it would be hard to find a deli case without one, but few compare to a sandwich made from freshly roasted turkey. Consider:
- At home, you can cut thick slices of turkey for your sandwiches. You can heat the slices, place them on a bun bottom, spoon on sautéed mushrooms and finish by adding a slice of swiss cheese and running it under the broiler to melt. Finish with the bun top and you have a turkey melt worth coming home to eat.
- Or maybe you like an old-fashioned open-face turkey sandwich? They used to be so easy to find at the neighborhood diner, but those diners are mostly gone now. Whip up a quick gravy with some chicken broth, lay your heated slices of turkey on some grilled or toasted country bread and pour the gravy on. It’s even better than what the diner used to serve.
- Like your sandwiches cold? How about sliced turkey on whole-grain bread with sliced avocado and bacon?
- Looking to make a completely modern tea sandwich? Make mini corn muffins, slice them in half, top with a small piece of the turkey breast and a small spoonful of orange marmalade.
- Still have turkey on your hands? Turn the leftovers into an herbed turkey salad with a dressing made from yogurt, mayonnaise, a little mustard and chopped fresh herbs. Stuff this inside a pita and you’re set.
This is all thanks to the turkey breast you roasted on Sunday. You can roast in the oven—most breasts come with instructions—or roast in an aluminum-foil pan on the grill over indirect heat. However you roast the bird, you’ll know that for the hectic days to come, dinner’s only a few steps away.
—Stephanie Witt Sedgwick
LittleBird “Stephanie Cooks” gives us permission to do what’s necessary in the crazed family kitchen.
