at the risk of being mistaken for a travel blog, with a second travel tip in one week, if you’re ever in falmouth, massachusetts, be sure to visit maison villatte on main st. it is a truly excellent french bakery that has all of the delicious things.
besides a huge variety of crusty breads and elaborate pastries, tarts, and cakes, they also have prepared sandwiches (no, it’s ok, bear with me; i know prepared sandwiches are gross. usually.). my husband and i like to get sandwiches to take with us on the bike path (/or eat in the car on the way to the start of the bike path, not naming names…).
the first time we went to the bakery with the intention of getting something other than a tasty pile of sugar, we perused the sandwiches and noted that they were pretty simple in terms of ingredients. in retrospect, based on how amazing everything else we had tried at the bakery was, that should have been our first clue that these sandwiches were going to be made with high quality ingredients and be delicious.
i selected a turkey and brie sandwich on a cranberry baguette (picture a mini french baguette studded with dried cranberries). immediately upon taking my first bite, i was hooked. again, the ingredients were really simple but really good. that’s the key here: get the best bread you can find and good turkey and brie too. recreating the sandwich isn’t technically difficult (in the bakery version, there are only 5 ingredients and i can see all of them) but getting the sandwich to be maximally delicious does take a tiny bit of effort.
since i’m all about customization and using what you have, though, there are a couple of options for this sandwich. i will start with the most obvious change i made from the bakery version, the cranberry bread. tracking down a good french baguette is one thing, finding a good cranberry baguette is too much to ask. we can add cranberries ourselves (i used dried cranberries but if you are about to have, say, a pile of good cranberry sauce sitting in your fridge, you could use that instead).
the next change i made will erase any lingering doubts about whether or not i have so much as a drop of french blood: i replaced the mustard compound butter that the bakery uses with straight up dijon mustard. i actually just don’t like wads of cold mustard butter crammed in my sandwich. if you do though, feel free to add some dry mustard powder to softened butter, then slather that right on your bread instead of the dijon mustard.
finally, the turkey. the whole reason i saved this recipe to share with you right now, instead of back in september when i enjoyed the sandwich most recently, is because i suspect that in a minute or two, many of you are going to have big piles of turkey threatening to take over your refrigerators. if that doesn’t describe you (or, like me, you prefer deli turkey to carved turkey), feel free to use sliced deli turkey. that’s what the bakery uses and i do not mind one bit.
and speaking of heaps of turkey, if this turkey, brie, and cranberry sandwich doesn’t appeal to you (or your mountain of leftover turkey seems truly insurmountable), check out the ny times’ ideas for using up leftover turkey. turkey tikka masala? yes please!
happy thanksgiving, friends!
turkey, brie, and cranberry sandwich
Save to BigOven Ingredients
- 6 oz. (170 g.) french bread, sliced in half lengthwise
- 2 teaspoons (or to taste) dijon mustard
- 3 oz. (85 g.) sliced turkey
- 2 oz. (57 g.) brie cheese, sliced
- 1 oz. (28 g. / ¼ cup) dried cranberries or cranberry sauce
Instructions
- depending on how dense your bread is and how bready you like your sandwiches, you may wish to rip some of the squishy inside out of your slices of bread. spread the mustard on one side of the baguette, add the turkey, brie, and cranberries. if you’re using dried cranberries, press them gently into the brie a little bit so they don’t fall out of the sandwich. cut the sandwich in half and enjoy!
I love the variations that you made to this inspiring bakery recipe! I’m sure lots of folks will be hankering to try it with plenty of turkey leftovers on the way 🙂 happy Thanksgiving! xo
hi ala,
thanks – i was trying to make the recipe easy for anyone to recreate, accounting for their personal preferences. i’m sure i’ll think of even more versions starting on friday! 🙂 happy thanksgiving to you too!