My recent postings about Hot Turkey Sandwiches seem to have sent many of you scurrying to find a good one. Hope you enjoyed yours and that it was even half as good as the ones I enjoy at Magee's Kitchen in the Farmers Market at 3rd and Fairfax here in Los Angeles.
I seem to have become quite a connoisseur of turkey and if you live in Los Angeles, the following may be of value to you. They make an incredible turkey meatloaf at a little hole-in-the-plaster restaurant called The Main Course on Pico in West L.A. Also, if you shop at a Gelson's Market, you may have seen how the deli department has a guy who carves roast turkey that they sell by the pound. It's superb turkey but I'll let you in on a secret. If you ask (this isn't advertised), they'll sell you an entire turkey thigh — cooked and juicy and warm and delicious and with meat enough for 3-4 meals — for under three bucks. Such a deal. Such a delight.
Which brings us to maybe my favorite way to eat turkey. It's the Jennie-O Turkey Pot Roast — a heat-at-home hunk of dark meat that's been slo-cooked to make it oh so moist and oh so tasty. I've written about these before but it's my damn blog so I can write about them again if I like. Let me remind you of the reasons I like these…
- They taste great, whether you consume them as they come out of your microwave or you take the turkey meat and use it in some other recipe.
- They're easy to make and you can do it without any prep. If at 7:00, you get the urge for turkey, you can be dining on one of these by 7:15. These are lifesavers when I have one of my difficult-to-plan days…which lately is every day.
- They're healthy. Or at least healthier than anything else I'd be likely to eat if I didn't have one of these available.
- And they're cheap…about $3.33 a pound for cooked, almost-boneless turkey. One Jennie-O Turkey Pot Roast usually weighs in around three pounds so for ten bucks, I get an awful lot of good, cheap meals. They also reheat rather well.
So is there a downside? Yes, this: They can be hard to find. I used to get mine at Costco but the ones around me have stopped carrying them. In this post and later in this post, I detailed my frantic search to stock up before my supply lines were cut off. Just when I was running out, a couple of readers of this site, starting with Dave Sikula, came to my rescue. They informed me that they're now being carried in outlets of the Fresh and Easy market chain which currently has more than 170 stores in California, Arizona and Nevada. I stopped in at one today and sure enough, there they were.
I believe some Costcos still carry them; just not around here. There are also some other market chains that sell them heated in the same place as they sell cooked rotisserie chickens. That may not be a bad way to enjoy them if you get them when they haven't been sitting out for hours, but you lose that wonderful sense of security when you have an unheated one waiting in the fridge and know you can make it whenever you like. Give one a try if they sell 'em near you.