As promised, I’ve got three more leftover Thanksgiving turkey panini ideas for you! I say “three more” because they are in addition to the three I brought you last year:
- Pulled Turkey Cranberry BBQ Sliders
- Prosciutto-Wrapped Turkey, Avocado & Swiss Panini
- Turkey, Cranberry & Havarti Panini
It was a bit of a challenge to come up with new ideas, but I think you’re going to like these. The first recipe I’ll share this year is for Turkey-Apple Salad Melt Panini.
I end up making turkey salad pretty much every day-after-Thanksgiving but this year I thought I’d dress things up a little by grilling it with some Swiss cheese on that festive cranberry walnut bread I always see in the bakery section at this time of year (not the cakey kind, but the yeast bread). I loved having the tartness of the cranberries and the nuts in the bread to support the sweet and savory sandwich fillings. If you can’t find such a loaf near you, this would be just as good on multigrain bread with some dried cranberries mixed into the salad. It’s simple to make and you definitely get the flavors of autumn in there!
Stay tuned for the next Leftover Turkey Panini: Turkey Cubans!
Turkey-Apple Salad Melt Panini
Serves 4
INGREDIENTS:
2 cups roasted turkey, shredded or chopped
2 tablespoons celery, minced
1/2 Granny Smith apple, cored and diced
2 tablespoons chopped pecans
2 tablespoons mayonnaise
Salt and pepper
8 slices cranberry walnut yeast bread (can often find this during the holidays in grocery stores’ specialty bread section)
4 slices Swiss cheese
DIRECTIONS:
Combine turkey, celery, apples, pecans and mayonnaise in a medium bowl. Season with salt and pepper to taste.
Preheat the panini grill to medium-high heat.
For each sandwich: Spread 1/4 of the turkey-apple salad onto one slice of cranberry walnut bread. Add a slice of cheese on top and close the sandwich with a second slice of bread.
Grill 3 to 4 minutes until the cheese is melted and the bread is toasted. Serve immediately and enjoy!
>Ready to buy a panini press? Check out my Panini Press Buying Guide for the features to look for.
>Want more panini recipes? See my Recipe Index for a list of all recipes on Panini Happy.
>Traveling to a new city soon? Browse Panini Happy’s Great American Sandwich Guide to find the best sandwiches across the country!
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Nice leftover turkey panini!
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This is a great idea! I love the whole wheat cranberry walnut bread from Acme Bakery in the SF Bay Area. It makes perfect sandwich bread.
.-= Nate´s last blog ..Turkey Jook =-.
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Wonderful! You are a panini genius!
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YUM! I hope you don’t mind I used this photo in a post-Thanksgiving round-up on my Examiner page. With photo credit and plenty of link love of course!!
.-= maris´s last blog ..An Heirloom, A Birthday =-.
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Kathy Reply:
November 26th, 2009 at 11:07 am
Mind? I thank you!
Here’s the link to Maris’ post: http://bit.ly/8Hsb1V
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Pecans, apples, and walnut bread? This is one sensational sandwich, Kathy. I’ll be linking to it in my upcoming post on Thanksgiving leftovers sandwiches. I’ll be making it too!
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Gosh, what a good combination. I noticed that Sur La Table also has a Breville panini maker on sale, too. It’s about $50, I think.
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Kathy Reply:
November 26th, 2010 at 10:42 am
Yes, I saw they have the Breville Panini Duo Press on sale till Monday.
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