The “Ben Johnson” Upgrade

Back on Dec. 5th, I gave you the recipe for the Ben Johnson hot sandwich. It is a delicious sandwich, but I thought it could be better.

First I replaced the crusty French bread with Portuguese rolls, because I have a hard time chewing crusty breads. That goes for bagels, too. I slice the rolls in half lengthwise and use only one half for my meal...so I get two meals per roll.

Then I increased the amount of deli turkey. I still use 2 slices, but I have it cut a little thicker. You can play with that according to your taste.

I also increased the Swiss cheese to three slices.

But, the biggest upgrade of all is the addition of cooked bacon between the turkey and the cheese.

I cook the bacon in the microwave (3 min. on high) then break each slice in half and lay on top of the turkey before placing the cheese on top.

I have also started putting the half roll in the toaster oven as it heats up to 350°. (I don’t broil it any more.) This starts warming up the roll before the French dressing goes on.

So there it is in recipe form:
Start heating toaster oven to 350°
Put 3 slices of bacon in microwave to cook
Slice Portuguese roll in half, lengthwise and place in oven
When roll is warm, spread with French dressing
Put slices of turkey on warmed roll
Put slices of bacon on turkey
Put Swiss cheese on top of bacon
Put into toaster oven for 6 minutes at 350°
Enjoy

The method and ingredients leave a lot of room for experimentation. It’s the type of open faced sandwich that you can cut into 1” wide pieces and serve as finger food. Be sure to make enough!