Thanksgiving Panini

I was headed out to the grocery store last week, and immediately struck by the Christmas decor puked all over the neighborhood not more than 24 hours following Halloween. Please hear me, I am not a grinch. But I really love Thanksgiving. It's a beautiful, food-filled holiday deserving of a bit of air-time before launching into the Christmas season.

That said, I felt the need to put Thanksgiving on a pedestal, or in a panini, as it were.

In my household, we often serve both turkey and ham. So I thought it fitting to layer up both on this sandwich.

No Thanksgiving sandwich would be complete without stuffing! In fact, rather than spooning the stuffing onto the panini, I'd recommend slicing the stuffing as you would a cake and layering it up on top of the meats. So long as the stuffing has had time too cool in its pan, you can easily cut it up without it falling apart.

For added freshness and texture, I like to shingle over a few crisp green apple slices, as well as a schmear of chunky cranberry sauce.

This monster of a sandwich is held together with swiss cheese a slathering of creamy horseradish sauce. Traditional Thanksgiving flavors, while delicious, often lack balance and punch. The sharp heat from the horseradish and mustard cuts through the savory sandwich beautifully!

Finally, pull out that container of leftover gravy and start dunking! Not necessary, but messy and delicious.

This Thanksgiving Panini is the perfect recipe to transform all those holiday leftovers. Unless you're a bit of an excitable nut like me and enjoying making a small pan of stuffing for the sole purpose of creating a Thanksgiving-inspired sandwich one random Fall evening...

Happy Holidays all!

Thanksgiving Panini

Ingredients

For the creamy horsey sauce

· 2 tbsp mayo

· 2 tsp whole grain mustard

· 1 tsp horseradish

For the panini

· 4 slices country our sourdough bread

· 4oz roasted turkey, sliced thin

· 4oz smoked ham, sliced thin

· 1 ½ cup leftover stuffing

· ½ granny smith apple, sliced very thin

· 1/3 cup cranberry sauce

· 4 slices baby swiss cheese

· 1 tbsp butter, softened

· Salt

· 1 cup turkey gravy for dipping

For the creamy horsey sauce… whisk all of the ingredients in a small bowl. Chill until ready to use.

Preheat large grill pan over medium-low heat.

For the panini… spread a heaping teaspoon of the horsey sauce across one side of a piece of bread. Layer with slices of turkey and ham. Distribute a generous spoonful of the stuffing over the meat. Shingle with slices of apple. Spread a heaping spoonful of the cranberry sauce over the apples. Top with 2 slices of cheese. Spread the horsey sauce on another slice of bread and top the sandwich, sauce-side down. Repeat with the remaining slices of bread.

Spread softened butter across the top and bottom of each sandwich. Lightly sprinkle each side of the sandwich with a bit of salt.

Grease the grill pan using non-stick spray. Place each sandwich on the pan. Cover and cook until the cheese is melted and bread is golden brown. Flip and continue to cook until the second side is crisp and golden brown.

Slice each sandwich in half and serve with a ramekin of warm gravy for dipping.

Makes 2 sandwiches

Notes

This is a great recipe for Thanksgiving leftovers!

GF Friendly

Gluten Free Friendly!

We like Scharr Deli-Style bread for this recipe.