Mmmm ... raw meat.

Since my cousins and various other family members moved out of the state and/or stopped coming over for Thanksgiving, we've pared our Thanksgiving menu down considerably. Over the past few years, we've been cooking cornish hen or chicken instead, and last year (especially since I wasn't here for Thanksgiving) we opted to make a chicken and leek pie instead.

This year I found a couple of recipes for a stuffed turkey breast that allowed us to incorporate the traditional turkey and stuffing into the meal while not having to worry about having leftovers for weeks! We went really low-key this year, even forgoing (or maybe just forgetting) the beloved gravy.

Mushroom Turkey Roulade (adapted from this and this recipe)
Serves about 4-5

Ingredients
1/2 a turkey breast, about 2 1/2 pounds
1 cup of chicken stock
2 cups of various mushrooms, sliced (I used baby bellas)
2 tablespoons of chopped shallots
1 leek, cleaned and sliced
1 rib of celery
1 carrot, chopped into bite-sized cubes
1 teaspoon of fresh sage
1 teaspoon of herbs de Provence (dried basil, oregano, thyme, rosemary, marjoram, etc.)
2 cups of toasted bread crumbs or cubes
1 tablespoon of butter
Salt and freshly ground black pepper

Recipe
Preheat the oven to 375 degrees Fahrenheit. Heat a saute pan and add butter, then the carrots. Saute for about 3 minutes, then add the celery and leeks. After yet another 3 minutes, add the mushrooms. Cook until the mushrooms are tender, about 5 minutes, then add shallots and herbs. After 2 minutes, add the chicken stock and bring to a simmer. Season with salt and pepper, and pour over the bread crumbs/cubes. Mix well and allow to cool.

Butterfly the turkey breast and pound the meat down so that it's of an even thickness. Spoon the stuffing lengthwise across the turkey breast and roll up using twine, tucking in the ends of the meat.

Season the roulade with salt and pepper and bake for 45 minutes to an hour, or until a meat thermometer shows a reading of 165 degrees Fahrenheit in the middle of the roulade. Remove and allow to rest for 10 minutes before removing the twine and slicing.


The turkey was a lot more moist than I thought it would be, considering it was breast meat and we didn't cook it with much fat. We had this with cranberry sauce, pesto mashed potatoes, baked yams and green beans. And sweet potato pie ... can't forget the pie!