The first time She Who Must Be Obeyed served this now oft-requested dish to the famdamily must have been back in the mid 90’s back when we were still trying to live like ‘city folks’ in a southeastern suburb of Salt Lake City.
Our then elementary school aged children (SWMBO would have placed me in that category at the time) were fairly adventurous eaters though really didn’t give a hoot in hell about leftover turkey sandwiches for the third day in a row.
She pulled this out of the oven one snowy early December night and everyone sat up and took notice.
What kid (of any age) wouldn’t eat a handful of crunchy potato chips with just about every meal?
Made even crispier by oven roasting and spiced with paprika, this potato chip layer is better than that last handful of salty chip crumbs left after you’ve devoured every last chip in the bag.
Combine that with a sharp, gooey Cheddar cheese layer, lots of crunchy vegetables (the water chestnuts in particular) as well as the salty ‘pickly stuff’ – the pimento, green olives and capers – and you’ll think of this recipe every time there’s a turkey in the oven.
Yep, this is shameless pedestrian food, simple and hearty, and yep, Ed likes it, though he insists we throw a can or two of roasted and diced green chiles in too.
(The only people we’ve ever seen turn their nose up at it are a select few from SWMBO’s side of the family who wouldn’t know good down-home food if it jumped up and bit them in the ass.)
Frankly this is great fare any time of year and is outstanding with chicken off the grill or a roast chicken from the oven.
Arm yourself with this recipe and you’ll forever win the war with turkey leftovers.
3 cups (+) cooked turkey, white and dark meat, cut into 1/2 inch pieces
2 cans water chestnuts, slices halved
2 and 1/2 cups celery, sliced thinly on the diagonal
1/2 cup diced pimento
1/2 cup sliced green olives (or more)
1/4 cup capers
1 and 1/3 cups frozen green peas
1/2 cup toasted slivered almonds
1 cup good mayonnaise (or gasp! Miracle Whip)
1/4 cup fresh lemon juice
Salt and pepper to taste
2 cups medium Cheddar cheese, grated, packed
2-3 cups crushed, old-fashioned, salted potato chips (use the good stuff)
1-2 tbsp. paprika
Preheat the oven to 350.
Prep work. Cube the turkey, place in a large bowl. Add the sliced celery and the drained and sliced water chestnuts, pimento, green olives and capers. Stir in the almonds and peas, then the lemon juice and mayo or Miracle Whip.
Add the good stuff. Spoon into a 13 x 9 baking dish, sprinkle with the grated cheese then the crushed potato chips. Top it all off with a healthy shake of a good paprika.
Bake. Into the over for 30-40 minutes until the cheese if gooey and melted and it’s bubbling around the edges.
Serve hot with a generous splash of your favorite hot sauce and a crisp, cold beverage.
Enjoy.
