Turkey Avocado Sandwich

Thanksgiving. The biggest table in years: Mom, Dad, Tom, Cole, Emma, and June. Six adults and one infant who slept in the portable sleeper in the corner and woke up twice and was settled both times and went back to sleep. The turkey came out right — the brine, the method, the timing, the rest. Dad carved. Tom brought the pecan pie he brings every year. Mom made the sides that she makes every year. Cole and Emma brought a salad, which nobody asked for and which was welcome.

We went around the table: what are you grateful for. Tom said he was glad to have finished the mule book before his eighty-second birthday. Cole said the year. Emma said June, which made everyone look at June in the sleeper and she was asleep and didn't know. Mom said her family and the garden. Dad said same as last year. June said nothing. I said: five years almost done, the ranch running right, everyone at this table. That was enough to say.

After dinner we sat on the porch with blankets even though it was twenty-six degrees because it was the right place to be after that meal. Tom told a story about a Thanksgiving in the 1980s when he shod a horse on Thanksgiving morning for a client who had a parade and was desperate. He got paid double. He said: I didn't mind the work on Thanksgiving. I minded the double pay going to a parade horse.' He still minds it slightly. We all laughed. The evening was cold and good and I was glad to be there for every minute of it.

When the turkey comes out right — the brine, the rest, the whole thing — you don’t want to let what’s left of it go to waste on something careless. The day after everyone drove home and the porch got quiet again, I sliced what remained and built this sandwich, which is about as good a use of that bird as I can think of. It doesn’t ask much of you, which is exactly right for the Friday after a table like that one.

Prep Time: 10 minutes | Cook Time: 0 minutes | Total Time: 10 minutes | Servings: 2

Ingredients

4 slices sturdy sandwich bread (sourdough or country white)
8 oz roasted turkey breast, sliced
1 ripe avocado, sliced
2 tbsp mayonnaise
1 tsp Dijon mustard
2 leaves romaine or butter lettuce
4 slices ripe tomato
4 slices red onion, thin
1/4 tsp kosher salt
1/4 tsp black pepper
1/2 tsp fresh lemon juice

Instructions

Prepare the avocado. Halve, pit, and slice the avocado. Toss gently with lemon juice, salt, and pepper to season and prevent browning.
Spread the bread. Mix mayonnaise and Dijon together and spread evenly on one side of all four bread slices.
Layer the sandwich. On two slices of bread, layer lettuce first, then turkey, then tomato, then red onion, then avocado slices.
Close and press. Top with the remaining bread slices, press gently, and slice diagonally. Serve immediately.

Nutrition (per serving)

Turkey Avocado Sandwich — What to Do With the Bird That Came Out Right