I don't know why I didn't think of this before. Making my own Turkey Subs. I love the Turkey Subs at Sub Way back home and every time I go home I treat myself to a six inch turkey sub with all of the trimmings at least two or three times. I guess I never thought I would be able to make one at home that would taste like theirs do, but the other day the craving got the best of me and I attempted to do just that!
I lived on these subs back in 1999 when my marriage broke up and I was living in a rented bedroom in someone else's house. The girl I was renting the room from wasn't very nice. Although I was supposed to have kitchen privileges, she didn't like me having any food in her cupboards or her refrigerator. She didn't like me using the stove either, which really put a damper on my cooking mojo. I survived by eating a lot of salads, using a kettle and microwave that I had in my room, and buying six-inch turkey subs from SubWay. With all of the vegetables on it, I figured I was getting at least some of my five a day!
Which brings me to my topic for today . . . how to build a perfect turkey sub sandwich. It's not that hard but it does involve a few "must haves."
One, you need to begin with a really good bread. It's not necessary to have an artisan bread for these, just a good one. I think subs need soft buns, not crisp buns. That's a lot of sandwich. You want something that you can easily fit into your mouth once you get it stuffed with all of your meats/cheeses/toppings!
I really like the honey and oat buns that SubWay have, but you can't really buy them in the shops here. I just bought generic fresh sub buns and they were pretty good! You can toast them or not as you wish. I prefer mine un-toasted.
You want a nice sauce to place on the base of both sides of your bun. I like the Hellman's garlic mayo. It's really nice and it comes in a squeeze bottle and is really easy to squirt it on. I also like the Hellman's Lemon mayo and their mustard mayo. . . . and their roasted onion mayo is also really good.
This "Sauce" will help prevent the bread from getting soggy. You could of course use ketchup, or a mayo/ketchup combination, mustard, etc. You can use whatever floats your boat. You just don't want anything that will prevent you from tasting that lovely turkey you are going to put onto it.
Once you have the bun split and slathered with your chosen sauce it's time to begin building your sandwich!
You want to use only the freshest of ingredients . . . fresh meat, vegetables, etc.
1. Freshly sliced roast turkey from the deli counter. Don't get that stuff that you buy already sliced and packed in those plastic packets. I have always found it to be a bit slimy. Yuck. It's also pressed meat, and not actually sliced turkey breast. I hate re-formed poultry. Double Yuck. Two or three slices is ample for one six inch sub.
2. You want a nice mild cheese, something with a buttery flavor like an edam, gouda or a havarti. Of course if you want to really kick it up you could use something a bit stronger, but I think with turkey you want a mild cheese. One slice, cut diagonally, does the trick!
3. You want sliced really fresh peppers (red and green if possible), some ripe tomatoes, cucumbers, mild red onions . . . all very thinly sliced. Slice them as thin as you can. I used my mandoline. It did them perfectly. You will also want some sliced gerkin/dill pickles. I like the garlic ones myself. These pickles add a nice touch of flavor and piquancy to the mix. You will also want some pickled hot peppers. In Canada they use pickled hot banana peppers, which we can't get here in the UK. I used the Discovery sweet pickled yellow jalapeno peppers. They are not as hot as the green ones and have a nice sweetness, which goes well with the turkey, but of course, if you like a lot of heat, use the regular pickled green ones. You want some finely shredded lettuce in there as well. I like to use baby gems, because they are sturdy and have a lot of flavor. They are almost bitter. Nice, nice!!
4. I like sliced black olives on mine. I just buy the sliced black olives in brine. Don't pimp for fancy dried Spanish black olives. They are too strongly flavoured. The purpose of all of these fillings is to enhance the turkey, not overpower it.
5. A final drizzle of some oil and vinegar (if desired) and a light dusting of salt and pepper and Bob's your uncle! You are done. Shut that sub, cut it in half crosswise . . . . and dig in!
Mmmm . . . these are so good! I am in love! I seriously fed my craving and was a very happy camper after this and the best thing of all is . . .
I won't have to wait until I go to Canada again to indulge myself in these fabulous taste treats! I can make myself one whenever the craving hits. I like that idea, and I am betting you will too!
Of course you could get really fancy and add assorted meats, bacon, capers etc., but when you just want a good old fashioned turkey sub, this is the way to do it. Manga! Enjoy!
