Turkey Tortas (Tortas de Pavo)

One of my favorite things to do on Saturday is to go downtown in Mexico City.  With the cheap shops selling everything from light bulbs to fresh chicken and my favorite market to buy fruits and vegetables, it is one of the best parts of my week.  

On my first trip there, my husband said that we needed to stop at a torta place he really enjoyed for lunch.  Tortas are a specific style of sandwich that you can buy everywhere in Mexico City, with this particular stand specializing in turkey tortas.  The first time I had that warm toasted sandwich containing turkey, avocado and chipotle, I knew what I would be doing with this year's leftover Thanksgiving turkey.

The first thing is to assemble your ingredients...

- Sliced turkey

- Vegetable Oil

- Rolls (as many as you like)

- Can of refried beans

- Can or bottle of chipotle in adobo sauce 

- 1 to 2 ripe avocados

- Butter or sour cream

For the bread, I went to our neighborhood bakery, but feel free to just go to the grocery store.  I think this type of bread is fairly easy to find - just keep in mind, this is not a french-bread type roll, it is a much lighter and less dense than that.

Heat about 1 Tb of oil in a skillet.  When hot, add the turkey and cook until you see some light browning.

Meanwhile, slice the rolls in half and remove some of the fluffy bread from both halves.

Smear a thin layer of canned refried beans on one half of the roll.  You want to be a little generous and cover the entire inside of the roll.

On the other half, you spread a very thin layer of sour cream (more traditional) or butter.

 Place both halves face side down on a heated comal or skillet and lightly toast.

Flip them over and either remove from heat (preferred) or turn off the heat.

 Place the heated turkey on one side followed by slices of avocado.  On the other side, put some chipotle in adobo.  I would recommend tasting the chipotle before deciding how much to add, as it can be very spicy (especially the canned variety.)

Close your delicious sandwich and lightly toast on both sides before serving.

Serve with extra chipotle in adobo sauce or jalapenos (you can substitute jalopenos for chipotle in the sandwich as well, if you like.)

Happy Turkey Eating!

~ Kim