Rolled Turkey Breast with Forest Stuffing

If you are looking to do something a bit different for Thanksgiving, this recipe may be for you! It is much more flavorful than your average roast turkey (maybe not more flavorful than a KOL Foods pastured, organic turkey, however!), and you can make it in advance! 

Ingredients:

  • 2 Tbs. oil or schmaltz for sauteing
  • 1 small yellow onion, diced
  • 1 ripe pear, cored and diced
  • 1 apple, cored and diced
  • 4 oz of mixed wild mushrooms, roughly chopped (substitute any mushroom)
  • 1/8 cup almonds, unsalted, roasted and roughly chopped
  • 2 Tbs. mixed fresh poultry herbs: rosemary, sage and thyme, stemmed and minced
  • 1⁄4 cup fresh flat-leaf parsley, minced
  • Salt and freshly ground black pepper, to taste
  • 1 2-3 lb KOL Foods organic-fed and pastured boneless turkey breast, butterflied and pounded
  • 1 Tbs. olive oil
  • 1 to 2 cups KOL Foods poultry broth
  • 1-2 Tbs flour or arrowroot (On Passover, use potato starch)
How to Butterfly the Turkey Breast
  1. Remove the skin and reserve for later
  2. Lay the breast skin-side down and make a cut parallel to the cutting board so the breast opens like a book. It's very important to use a sharp knife. If the it's a large breast, you may need to make a second cut so it opens more like a tri-fold brochure.
  3. Put the butterflied breast between two large sheets of plastic wrap. Using a rolling pin, pound the breast until it is of an even 1/2" thickness.

But I'm not a Fancy-Pants

If you don't want to go through the trouble of butterflying the breast, you can follow the recipe below and use the stuffing as a roasting bed. We'd recommend that you half bury the breast in the stuffing and coat the breast in the herbs rather than adding it to the stuffing. This method is great of our Netted Turkey Roaster (just double the recipe).

Butterfly and pound the turkey breast fillet. Clean all surfaces and equipment well. Set breast and skin aside.
Instructions: 

Preheat oven to 400°F.

In a large, oven-safe saute pan, heat the oil and sweat the onion over medium heat, stirring occasionally, until soft and translucent, about 5 minutes.

Add the fruit and mushrooms and saute until tender, about 5 minutes.

Add the nuts, fresh herbs, parsley, salt and pepper and stir to combine, cook until fragrant, about 1 minute.

Transfer stuffing to a large bowl and set aside to let cool.

Place the butterflied turkey breast on a work surface, with a long side nearest you, and season with salt and pepper.

Mound 2-3 cups of the stuffing in the center, leaving a 1-inch border on each long side. Fold the long side nearest you over the stuffing to enclose, gently pressing on the filling, then roll to form a cylinder; do not roll it too tightly or the filling will slip out of the ends. Wrap the roll with the reserved skin.

Using kitchen twine, tie the rolled turkey breast crosswise at 1-inch intervals. Rub the outside of the turkey breast with the olive oil and season with salt and pepper.

In the same oven-safe saute pan, place any leftover stuffing as a roasting bed (if no leftovers, use thick onion slices as a base) and set the turkey breast, seam-side down on top.

Roast for 15 minutes, then reduce the oven temperature to 300°F. Continue roasting until the skin is crisp and an instant-read thermometer inserted into the thickest part of the breasts registers 165°F.

Transfer the turkey breast to a carving board, cover loosely with aluminum foil and let rest for 10 minutes. Remove stuffing from pan and set aside but leave pan juices. Deglaze the pan using the broth and make gravy from the pan juices, thickening with flour or arrowroot (or potato starch on Passover).

Remove the twine and cut the turkey into 1/2-inch slices.

Serve immediately with turkey gravy, extra stuffing and lots of steamed vegetables.

Serves 4 to 6.