Gobble, Gobble, Oink, Oink… w/Avocado Spread

Last month the kids’ elementary school put a call out for parents to bring food to the school during parent/teacher conference nights so the teachers can eat since they’ll be at school for 12+ hours. I am always looking for guinea pigs taste testers for my menu creations and, since it’s a donation, I get to write it off. And let’s not forget the advertising opportunity! (hey, I will take any opportunity to push Food for the Soul!) 

So I raised Doc’s hand and offered to make my bacon wrapped smoked turkey breast sandwich. Here’s the menu description:

The Gobbling Oinker is Doc’s favorite turkey bacon sandwich! We take all nature, boneless turkey breast, brine it for 24hrs in a salt/brown sugar/herb bath. Once brined, we rinse it, pat it dry and wrap the entire breast in a bacon weave and smoke it with hickory chips, low and slow, for two hours.  The last of the cooking process happens in the oven to crisp up the bacon.  The smoked & wrapped turkey breast is allowed to cool to room temperature, then wrapped in aluminum foil and chilled overnight.

The next day, we slice the bacon wrapped turkey breast into deli-style slices and stack it high on toasted, multi-grain bread with crispy iceberg lettuce, vine ripened tomato and slathered with our house made creamy avocado/cilantro/lime spread.

 

This sangwich is normally served hot, with a sharp cheddar or horseradish cheddar melted over the top. I was concerned that some of the flavor might be lost if the turkey was served cold. Turns out, there was no need for concern as the flavors came through like a champ! Many a teacher raved about the flavors a said it was the best turkey they'd ever eaten. The smokiness of the turkey mingled nicely with the fattiness of the bacon, while the tang of the avocado spread mellowed the fat nicely. This will be a keeper recipe as most the work is done prior to taking the trailer out, so they can be slung quickly to feed the hungry masses that are sure to beat a path to our door (or trailer, as the case may be).

Finally, the name; I like both The Gobbling Oinker and G2O2 (gobble, gobble, oink, oink). What are your thoughts? While you think about it, here are some pics from the prep...

Garlic Cilantro Parmesan Truffle Salt Fries

This is an easy fry recipe. If you want to make it even easier, buy the pre-cut fries from the grocery store. We take Colorado potatoes, scrub them down and hit them a couple of times with a peeler (a little skin goes a long way in our opinion) and then run them through the potato slicer.

Once they’re sliced, soak them in water to get the starch off of them. If you don’t soak them, they’ll never brown up or taste right. I soak mine for at least an hour, but you can do it longer, even overnight is ok. Once soaked, drain and pat them dry. (This next part is the trick to perfect fries!)

Heat your oil up to 300-325 degrees and drop the fries in for three to four minutes. Since my batch was bigger than my Fry Daddy, I had to do it four or five smaller batches, no big deal. Since the Fry

Daddy has no high or low settings, I control the temperature with the speed at which I drop the fries in. The shorter the time between batches, the lower the temp stays. 

As they come out of the fryer, they will still be white and soft. Don’t freak out! Personally, I drop them on a cookie sheet lined with paper towels, but you can do with them as you please. 

Once you’re through the first frying, let the oil heat up to 350-375 and run the fries through a second time. At this point they will brown up. It’ll take 2-3 minutes, but you can leave them in as long as you like/as brown as you like. I put them back on the cookie sheet (yes, I change the paper towels). To keep them warm, I put the new batch on top of the last batch… they’ll keep warm. 

Finally, I sprinkle the truffle salt, garlic, chopped cilantro over the fries and grate the parmesan. I toss them all together and grate a little more parmesan. Serve hot to the waiting masses.