Dorothy Dean presents: Day-After Thanksgiving Turkey Dips

Thanksgiving dinner is one of the most anticipated meals of the year, and one that truly keeps on giving. And by that, I mean giving you leftovers for days.

But instead of just piling them on a plate to zap in the microwave, how about transforming them into a hot, juicy dip? Think French dip, but with that celebrated holiday bird.

Tender slices of turkey, melted, gooey, Havarti cheese and a sweet-spicy smear of cranberry-horseradish are loaded on a toasted hoagie and served with a rich gravy to dunk each delicious bit.

If you have leftover dinner rolls, you can use those as a bun. They make for tasty little sliders.

This makes an awesome panini, too. And if you don’t like the added kick of horseradish, just leave it out.

It’s a hand-held serving of savory comfort food you’ll be craving long after Thanksgiving has passed. So just throw a turkey breast in your slow cooker, or to roast in the oven, when you don’t have leftovers handy.

Day-After Thanksgiving Turkey Dips

1/4 cup cranberry sauce

1 tablespoon mayonnaise

1 tablespoon horseradish, more or less to your liking

2-3 cups leftover turkey meat, shredded or sliced

1 1/2 cup turkey gravy

1/2 cup turkey or chicken stock

2 hoagie rolls, split

2 slices Havarti cheese

Parsley flakes, optional garnish

Preheat oven to 350 degrees.

In a small bowl, whisk together cranberry sauce, mayonnaise and horseradish. Taste and adjust horseradish to your liking.

In a small pot, heat together turkey and 2/3 cup of the gravy.

Bring turkey or chicken stock to a boil.

Pour remaining gravy into a serving bowl and stir in enough boiling stock to make it thin enough to use as a sandwich dip. The flavor should be of a rich broth.

Place split hoagies in oven to warm until lightly toasted, about 10 minutes. Remove from oven and arrange oven rack 5 to 6 inches from the broiler and set oven to broil.

Slather the cranberry-horseradish on the the toasted hoagies, layer on turkey meat and top with Havarti cheese. Place on baking sheet and broil until cheese is melted and bubbly, 1-2 minutes.

Slice sandwiches diagonally into two halves, sprinkle with parsley flakes and serve hot with gravy dip.