Turkey Leftovers — Grilled Turkey and Brie Sandwich

I scanned a few website trying to find the best recipes for left over turkey and honestly, I didn’t really find anything that jumped out at me.  So I decided to mimic a a sandwich that I’ve seen on dozens of menus and have tried a handful of times: Turkey and Brie.  I decided to couple it with apple butter and arugula and toast it.

First stop: the grocery store.  Found the brie, the arugula and a nice rye bread without issue.  Finding the apple butter was not as easy.  I looked near the jams/jellies and peanut butter, near the applesauce and near the ethnic foods. Nothing. I asked the lady at the Jewel and she had never heard of apple butter.  No point in looking.  Next step: Google alternatives.  I found a couple websites that said you could you just microwave some all natural applesauce with some extra cinnamon for 5 minutes and it will  reduce to an equivalent consistency.  Ok, I’ll give that a go.

I return home, put three individual servings of applesauce in a microwave safe dish with some cinnamon and zap it for 5 minutes.  While we’re making “apple butter”, I slather some real butter on one side of the sandwich slices (the outside-that will brown against the pan).  I cut some slices of last nights turkey and slice up a wedge of brie.

I want the turkey to cover every square centimeter of the bread and the brie to do the same with the turkey.  Once the “apple butter” is done, I taste it — and it’s pretty good.  Not real apple butter, but reduced and flavorful.  I spread the apple butter on the inside of the bread and layer turkey, brie and arugula and top it with the final piece of apple buttered bread.

I put the sandwich in a heated and buttered cast iron skillet.  I browned it on one side (medium heat) for 3 minutes then flipped it. I started with the brie side up.  Then cooked the other side for about 4 minutes until the brie was melted.

I followed this same plan for the second sandwich.  I dished a bit of the “apple butter” onto the serving plates so we could have some more apple goodness at lunch.

Quite a lovely and quick sandwich.  It wasn’t all that healthy — with the butter and cheese, but it was tasty and it allowed me to use the turkey in a slightly different way.

I would definitely use this recipe again.

Did you have left overs from Christmas dinner that you are using now?  Turkey? Ham? Beef?  How are you using it? How long will you be eating leftovers?  Any recommendations for me and my turkey?