Roast Turkey with Red Pepper Jelly & Melty Asiago Hoagie

So this sandwich/hoagie/creation-of-awesomeness has truly been an obsession with me for about the 2 months.  Ever since I made that Spicy Red Pepper jelly I have been hooked on this stuff. However just like most things, except bacon, you get tired of eating the same thing the same way over and over.  For me I was chowing down on crackers with cream cheese and that jelly however I wanted something else; something more.

Now it was a Saturday therefore I was out and about doing my normal morning errands – spin class, Sam’s Club, Home Goods, grocery store and butcher shop.  By the time I got the butcher’s I was seriously ready to chew my arm off.  You know that feeling.  You’re working and you look at the clock and it’s only 10:20am.  Your tummy is just barely rumbling but you take a swig or two of your drink to calm it as it’s not quite lunch time. You get back to work, which seems like a good hour or so had passed, but when you look at the clock you see it’s only 10:40am. You grumble, your tummy makes a soft growl but you dismiss it and do your very best to concentrate on work and ignore the hunger.  You really get into your job and then you think “it HAS to be lunch time now” annnnnnnnnnnnnnnnnd you look at the clock only to see it’s only  10:49am.  OMG you’re gonna die right?  Like you’re at the point if someone put a whole pizza in front of you right now you’d inhale the whole thing in one bite you’re that hungry.  Yeah… I was THAT hungry.

I HAD to get food in my belly otherwise I was not going to be held responsible for my actions.  God help some that poor lady that passes out free samples in the store cause I was pretty much reach to just snag her tray of goodies and go all Smeagol (the creepy thing from Lord of The Rings) on her and start petting the food while I called it “My Precious…”

Wha??? Don’t judge me. I was starving.  It was actually my own stupid fault as I forgot my protein shake for my post-workout meal and I didn’t want to stop and get fast food as I’ve yet to find something that is truly healthy or real chicken.  Sorry but I have zero faith in anything that involves a drive-thru window and it being an actual real chicken breast that isn’t pre-cooked then frozen only to be reheated.  Yeah, um no.  So I suffered.

While I was at the butcher’s shop standing in line to get my favorite pepperoni my stomach let out this sound that was pretty much a cross between a ship horn and a whale mating call.  Folks my face turned redder than red!  I wanted to just DIE of embarrassment.  People looked and I just laughed and said “Looks like I’m in the right store to get some food and quiet the beast.”  LOL  When I got up to the counter my usual girl said “OMG Lor I would have died if that were me.  That was hysterical.”  I told her that I forgot my shake and was starving.  She said “here, try this.  We oven roast this ourselves.”  She handed me some of their own oven roasted turkey breast meat.  OMG it was AMAZING.  Since I pretty much swallowed it whole she gave me a second piece and chuckled as she cut up my pepperoni.  I told her to add a pound of that awesome stuff.

Now this butcher’s shop is only a few miles from my home and honestly it did cross my mind to put all of the groceries in my trunk except that turkey.  I was going to put it on my seat and snack on it while I drove home but I didn’t…but I wanted to!  LOL

Now normally by the time I get home Mr. Fantabulous is waking up and will paddle his booty out to the kitchen, rubbing his sleepy eyes and then his belly.  I’ll get that morning-breath kiss on the cheek and those words every wife wants to hear “are you making breakfast?”  Apparently he has severe tunnel vision at that time of the morning as he clearly cannot see the 47 bags of groceries on the counters that need put away or the fact that I have my gym hair and face going on.

I just shake my head, tell him to go start his coffee and when I’m doing putting the stuff away I’ll start his breakfast – 3 dippy eggs, 3 pieces of crispy bacon, 3 pieces of buttered toast, coffee and juice.  Yes, every morning, same breakfast.  Fortunately I’m able to multi-task so while his bacon is cooking I’m able to put the stuff away and grab a much-needed protein shake. After I get my princess fed I set out to grab some real food.  While normally my shake fills me up I was still pretty hungry and I just could not get that roasted turkey out of my mind.

Since I had made some of my soft ‘n chewy hoagie buns the other day I knew I wanted that.  As I was grabbing the turkey out of the fridge along with the spinach and cheese I happened to spy that pepper jelly and I swear it called my name out loud… “Lori, take me with you!  Let us ride on your submarine into tummy yummy ville”  HAHA well okay maybe not quite like that but I had to have it.  But I wasn’t sure about this concoction.  Would it go together?  I mean should I heat it?

Since I wanted the buns to be crispy, I decided broil them first just to give them some crunch.  I then layered on the turkey and loads of Asiago cheese (though I’ve made this with swiss, fontina and other white cheeses..AHHHHHHHHHHHmazing!).  I then popped that back in the oven to get that cheesy all melty and heat up that turkey.

Okay seriously that smell alone of the warm roasted turkey was so awesome!  Like it smelled like Thanksgiving!  I was like ‘Dude!!!’

As you can see in the pic above I put tons of spinach on top and a few heaping tablespoons of that jelly.  I then cut it in half and that crunch of the knife cutting through the buns was awesome.  I seriously was biting my lower lip in anticipation of this.

Now it’s kind of a Pittsburgh thing but when you have subs like this you just have chips on the side with it or, if you’re me, you’ll end up putting the chips on the sandwich.  I think we do it for that crunch factor.  But since I broiled the bun first, it had amazing crunch.  Then I took my first bite (of about 10,000 so far) and seriously I took 2 chews and stopped.  I didn’t swallow, I didn’t chew I just let it set in my mouth.  I’m actually at a loss for words on how to describe just how unbelievably amazing the flavor combination was.  The oven roasted turkey is warm and mildly spiced.  The cheese is tangy and salty.  The spinach is well.. spinach. That coldness of the jelly (cause it was in the fridge) paired with the heat and sweet of it was honestly perfect!  Normally when I eat a turkey sandwich I love yellow mustard however after this.  I don’t think I’ll ever use mustard again on this sandwich.

This right now is my latest food crush.  HOWEVER if you want to elevate this bad boy… add a few strips of crispy thick cut applewood bacon.  Trust me, you’ll never look at a sub the same way ever again!

Roast Turkey with Red Pepper Jelly & Melty Asiago Hoagie

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• Author: The Kitchen Whisperer

Ingredients

• 4 6-8″ long Soft ‘n Chewy Hoagie Rolls cut length-wise but not all the way through
• 16 slices sliced fresh roasted turkey breast *can use more if you like more meat
• 12–16 slices Asiago Cheese (or any white melty cheese) *can use more if you like it super cheesy
• Spicy Red Pepper Jelly
• 4 cups baby spinach leaves

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Instructions

1. Preheat broiler with the rack in the middle.
2. Place the buns open side up (make sure the buns are opened) on a baking sheet.
3. Put the buns in the oven for 3-5 minutes or until the insides of the bun are slightly toasted.
4. Remove the buns from the oven and on the bottom half of the bun place 4 slices of the roasted turkey.
5. On the other side of the bun place 4 slices of the Asiago cheese.
6. Return the pan to the oven and broil for 3-5 minutes or until the cheese is melted but not gooey.
7. Remove the pan from the oven and spread 2-3 tablespoon of the Spicy Red Pepper Jelly over top of the turkey for each roll.
8. Place one cup of the baby spinach leaves on top of the jelly on each roll.
9. Close the roll and gentle press down to ‘seal’ the sandwich.
10. Enjoy!

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