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04/22/2005: "a great sandwich"

Today I made a great sandwich. Not everyone would like it, but I truly enjoyed it. Please do not read further if you're hungry... I'm already getting hungry just thinking about it.

First I started with some leftover turkey meat. Not cold deli turkey, but the real thing, carved by my own two hands off the bird not a few nights ago. Nestled between a pair of whole wheat bread slices, I also packed in some cheddar cheese slices (again, real stuff, not the processed shrink-wrapped edible oil variety), a helping of mayo, some romaine lettuce, and the ingredient that really topped it all off - the remainder of the sweet potato casserole.

This just isn't any sweet potato (a.k.a. yam) casserole... my nearly 4-year-old daughter knows it as "pie", because that's pretty much what it tastes like. Quickie recipe: cook a bunch of yams, mash them, add a half cup of sugar, some cinnamon, nutmeg, and vanilla, and blend. In a small saucepan, melt 1/4 cup of butter, add in equal amounts of brown sugar, flour, and walnuts or pecans. Sprinkle over the yam mixture, and bake at 350F for 30 minutes. I swear to you, if you put it in a graham cracker crust and served it for dessert, no one would bat an eyelash. It's GREAT.

I must clarify that I warmed the casserole up first, which made for a warm/cool sandwich that reall went down easily. It was also extremely messy (I used up what was left, which was probably twice as much as the sandwich could really handle) but well worth it.

The only way I could ever improve it was if I had some leftover cranberry sauce (an excellent substitute or complement to mayo), some fresh tomato slices, and if I had spent the time to prepare some stuffing to include as well. I've used stuffing in sandwiches before, and it has proven a very worthy and tasty addition. However, the bread in the stuffing we've settled on (this is likely the stuffing recipe we will be using for the next 60 years) isn't saturated, and thereby still contains quit a bit of air. Getting the stuffing to stay in the sandwich can be difficult. So, when next I make an uber-sandwich like this, I planned to process some stuffing in a small hand blender with something moist, perhaps a dollop of mayonnaise or simply some turkey broth, to reduce its volume and enhance its spreadability without compromising on taste.

I guess one further addition would be to make this on bread that doesn't come out of a plastic bag. Maybe a nice medium rye, or even Texas-style sourdough slices. Throw on a couple slices of tomato.... mmmm. OK, I think I'm going to have to make another sandwich soon.

Thankfully, there's 4 more turkeys in the freezer downstairs. I won't have to wait long before our fridge is brimming with turkey dinner leftovers again. Yum.