If you are looking to feed a diverse crowd (think adults AND children eating from the same menu), these Festive Turkey Sliders might be your ticket. We made these recently in advance of an “after party” at our home when a few families came over to eat following a holiday performance. I was to attend the performance, so I needed to have something warm and delicious ready upon our arrival!
It does take a little bit of planning ahead, so please remember to organize your time ahead of your dinner. But the total time is small and the meal is highly memorable!
Make the Tomato Sauce. (Do this the evening before the event; let it cook during the night). Have you bought some good buns for sliders? Gotten the rest of your ingredients? Ok! We’re planning ahead.
Ingredients:
– 4 T olive oil
– 1 can tomato paste
– 2 T red wine vinegar
– A big bunch of fresh basil
– 2 garlic cloves, minced
– 4 cans (28 oz) whole tomatoes, crushed
– salt and pepper to taste
Directions:
Heat all the above in a large slow cooker. Cook on LOW for 8 hours or overnight. Now you have a beautiful bounty of tomato sauce. Take out about half of the sauce and reserve it for your “picky eater pasta dish”. Meaning, I’ve just given you a recipe that makes too much sauce for what you need for your sliders. The reason is that the extra sauce makes a great backup plan for those kids that don’t like sliders or gives you an option for any adults or kids who are vegetarian. Just boil up some pasta for them and serve your homemade sauce over pasta. You might want to put extra parmesan cheese and bread on your shopping list. Easy. Now back to the sliders.
Make the Sliders. You could do this the day before the event too. You will be keeping them warm in a moist tomato sauce, so don’t worry about them being dry. Or you could make them the day of, depending on your other plans.
Ingredients
– 2 pounds ground turkey
– 1/2 cup panko breadcrumbs
– 1/4 cup grated parmesan cheese
– 1/4 cup ricotta cheese
– 1/4 cup chopped parsley
– 2 large eggs
Directions:
Keep the Sliders Ready for Company. You’ve got your tomato sauce in the slow cooker. Submerge the sliders in that sauce–making sure there is plenty of tomato sauce to provide enough volume in the slow cooker– and keep it on LOW. Now go out and have some fun and come back (within a few hours) to a yummy smelling meal!
Assemble the Festive Sliders. Take your slider buns (which we put in a warming drawer but could be quickly warmed in an oven), put on a slider patty, top with a bit of sliced provolone cheese if you like, and serve. Enjoy!
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