Ground Turkey Salad Spread

I have always loved the season between Thanksgiving and the end of the year.  We can get roasted turkey very inexpensively, and I just love turkey.  And I especially love leftovers.  Like most people I do the sandwiches, casseroles, soups, and so forth.  BUT, my mom would make a ground turkey salad spread that our family could not get enough of.  I made it for my son, and I make it for my husband.  It's easy, takes very few ingredients.  And it really makes a little meat go a long way.

 As I think back, I sometimes wonder if maybe one of the things I loved most about the anticipation of those turkey salad spread sandwiches, was the chance to turn the crank on the old table top meat grinder that my mom had.  We kids used to take turns, and it always seemed like our turn was never long enough.  Those were certainly good times, now that I look back.

I often wonder what became of my mom's old workhorse of a grinder?

As I said, it doesn't take much meat, and my mom used to make the salad spread anytime we had leftover turkey or even ham.  Both are equally delicious.  And the spread never lasted more than one day.  You can use both white and dark meat.  

You will need:
about 2 cups of meat, (turkey or ham)
1 large onion
dill pickles, (about 3 or 4 whole)
mayonnaise
yellow mustard

1 medium size bowl

 First remove the skin and remove the meat from the bone and chop the meat into chunks.  Chop the onion into chunks.  If your pickles are whole, slice them.  Everything needs to fit into your meat grinder.

Get your meat grinder set up and ready to go.

Today my mom would marvel at how easy I have it in the kitchen, (very little effort goes into grinding, slicing, dicing, etc.).   My kitchen set is at least 30 years old, but it's sturdy, well built and I still use it.

If your meat grinder has multi-blades or settings, choose the smaller blade setting.  This is the smaller blade on mine.

First grind about 1/3 of the meat, then do 1/2 of the onion, and 1/2 of the pickles.

After you have done 1/3 of the meat, 1/2 of the onion, and 1/2 of the pickles, repeat the process.

When you are finished, the last 1/3 of the meat will be the final thing to grind.  Finally, my mom would always push 1 or 2 slices of bread through the grinder.  This was to serve 2 purposes; first to push the last bit of meat out of the grinder, and second to add a small about of binder to the spread.

As you can see, we already have almost a full bowl of ground meat.

 Now add about 1/2 cup of mayonnaise, (more of less depending on the texture and moisture of the meat), and 1 teaspoon of mustard, (you don't need much mustard - just enough for a little flavor).

Now stir everything together, incorporating the mayonnaise and mustard evenly throughout the meat.  The mixture will be creamy and smooth.

And here is your salad spread, ready to spread on bread, crackers, tortillas, (as a roll up), or whatever you want.

I like to give mine a quick taste to see if it needs any salt or seasonings.

On crackers, it's delicious!  On bread, with lettuce and tomatoes, (oh be still my heart, I am a small child again sitting at my mom's table reliving my youth).

See how the spread holds it's shape, it doesn't fall off the cracker when you take a bite.  It's smooth, creamy, yet still has a good body.

My husband likes to make lettuce roll ups with the turkey salad spread.  Just layer it along the inside of a large leaf of lettuce and roll the lettuce around the spread, (like a tortilla), and eat away.

So if you still have a little leftover turkey or ham - try making some salad spread.  It's a great lunch idea.

Enjoy!