When you think of a roasted Turkey where does your mind take you? To thanksgiving? Why is it that the only time of year we think about roasting a turkey or turkey breast is during the holidays? Today, we’re thinking outside of the turkey and dressing box and adding a beautifully roasted turkey breast back into our regular dinner line up.
How many of you purchase lunch meat each week? A great price for quality turkey is close to $5 a pound at the deli counter and $3 for 9 0z in the deli case. Did you know you can find a Honeysuckle white turkey breast in your meat department for just $1.68/lb? It’s true! What a fantastic value and for a little bit of effort you will have some fantastic turkey meat that you can use as sandwich meat or use in place of chicken in your favorite recipes calling for cooked chicken. Better yet, it’s free of MSG, Gluten, Nitrates and BHT. Cost effective and better for you than conventional deli meat? Win-win.
Today we’re going to start with roasting our Turkey Breast, giving you endless options of what to do with all of the white meat you will be left with plus an idea of what to do with some of it. It’s going to be a delicious process. If you are interested in seeing more of my shopping trip and sandwich making process, you can head over here.
Oven Roasted Turkey Breast
1 frozen bone in turkey breast (like this one from Honeysuckle)
1/4 cup salt
1/4 cup honey
1 tablespoon olive oil
2-3 tablespoons butter
salt and pepper
aromatics (onion, garlic, celery, carrots and herbs)
After thawing your turkey breast according to package directions (24 hours in the fridge) open the package, toss the gravy in the trash and place the turkey breast in a pot tall enough to cover the breast with water. After just covering with enough water to cover the top, add in salt, honey and olive oil. This is called a brine and I recommend you letting this sit overnight. Brining is sort of like marinating and helps to flavor and moisten the meat all the way through. Poultry can dry out easily when cooking and we don’t want that to happen.
Preheat oven to 325. After you’ve let your turkey brine overnight, remove from the pot, discard brine and pat the turkey dry with a towel. In a roasting pan, place aromatics in the bottom of the pan.
(I used 1 onion, 2 carrots, 2 celery stalks, 2 garlic cloves and some parsley, washed and cut into pieces). Place turkey on top of aromatics and then rub down with melted butter. Make sure to lift parts of the skin and rub the underneath with butter as well. Sprinkle liberally with pepper and sea salt.
Roast for 2-3 hours (check the back of the package for time guide depending on size of your turkey breast). This low temperature should produce a golden brown turkey but if you find it’s browning too quickly, you can tent the turkey with a piece of foil. Once your thermometer reaches 155, remove and allow to rest for 10-15 minutes before slicing.
Serve as dinner with your favorite veggies or slice for sandwich meat later, in recipes like the one below.
Cobb Salad Sandwiches
Ingredients
french bread or croissants
sliced roasted turkey breast
avocado slices
cooked bacon
tomato, sliced
1 boiled egg, sliced
cheese of choice (blue cheese crumbles or sharp cheddar)
fresh greens of choice (romaine, iceburg, kale, spinach)
Mustard Spread
1 tablespooon dijon mustard
1 teaspoon red wine vinegar
juice of one small lemon slice
fresh cracked pepper
In a bowl combine mustard spread, set aside. Start by taking your bread and removing some of the inside of the bread, to hollow out and make room for all of the ingredients. Generously spread each side of the bread with mustard spread, then layer greens, turkey, bacon, avocado, egg, tomatoes, cheese and another layer of greens.
Serve with fresh fruit or chips and enjoy!
I am a member of the Collective Bias™ Social Fabric® Community. This content has been compensated as part of a social shopper insights study for Collective Bias™ but recipes and opinions are my own.
