Field's Special

Years ago when I was in the restaurant business an annual trip to Chicago for the largest restaurant show in the world was a must do. This was held at McCormick Place. Unless you have attended you have no idea how much food you can eat while walking around and how bad your feet can ache. One or two days out of the week we would have to take a break and shop. One of my favorite stores was Marshall Field's Department Store. Back when they really were department stores and had fabulous restaurants.

The popularity of this unusual item - a cross between an open-faced turkey club and a wedge salad kept this on the menu for over 60 years. When is was finally retired to make room for something more contemporary, people just kept ordering it anyway, so back on the menu it went. Try it and you will see why I had to have one at least once during each visit.

Field's Special
Serves 4
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Thousand Island Dressing (can be made days ahead)

1 cup good mayonnaise
1 cup chili sauce (don't forget your homemade)
2 teaspoons Dijon mustard
1 teaspoon apple cider vinegar
1 teaspoon sugar
1 hard-boiled egg, chopped
1/4 cup chopped dill pickle
2 tablespoons minced onion
1/4 teaspoon salt
1/4 teaspoon freshly ground black pepper

8 slices bacon
4 large slices deli-style rye bread, bottom crust removed
2 tablespoons, unsalted butter, at room temperature
1 head iceberg lettuce
8 (1-ounce) slices Swiss Cheese
12 (1-ounce) slices turkey breast
4 tomato slices
4 slices hard boiled egg
4 pitted black olives

To prepare the dressing, whisk all the ingredients together in a small bowl until combined. Use immediately or cover and refrigerate for up to 5 days.

Cook bacon in a large skillet until crisp. Transfer to paper towels to drain.

Spread each slice of bread with butter. Place 1 slice of bread on each of 4 plates.

Reserving 8 large outer leaves of lettuce, core the rest of the head of lettuce and cut into 6 lengthwise slices. Place 1 slice on each piece of bread (reserve the remaining 2 slices for another use0. Place 2 slices of cheese diagonally atop each sandwich. Top each with 2 of the reserved whole lettuce leaves.

Arrange 3 slices of turkey over the lettuce, then pour 1/2 cup of the dressing over each serving of turkey. Add a slice of tomato and top with a slice of egg. Secure the olives to sandwiches with toothpicks, spearing them into the egg and tomato. Arrange 2 slices of bacon next to each sandwich.