Thursday, January 14, 2010

Turducken...sans Duck

This dish is the result of a classic case of "A and B are about to go bad and OH LOOK, I found C!" Today's A&B were a single boneless turkey breast and a lonely chicken sausage. My OH LOOK! was a fresh jar of Sierra Nevada Honey Mustard (thanks Chas!). Here's how they made their way to my Kismet Mess...

YIELD: 2-4 servings
Non-veg

1 turkey breast half, boneless about 1.5 lbs
1 sausage, I used an applewood smoked w/ Chardonnay variety
2 T bread crumbs, unseasoned is preferred
1/4 red onion, small dice (pencil eraser size)
1 clove garlic, minced
2 t sage, dry
1/3 c. white wine, dry Chard or vermouth
2 T honey mustard, prepared or whisk together equal parts dijon and honey
salt, pepper, olive oil
toof picks or kitchen string

Method:

  1. Preheat oven to 425*, cover roasting pan with foil and let heat IN oven.
  2. Rinse turkey under cold water and pat dry. Lay flat on a board and pound with mallet (strike and slide mallet away from you) to even out thickness to about 1/2 inch thick...careful not to tear it. Lightly S&P both sides of the bird. Leave to rest skin side (or formerly skin side) down.
  3. Heat about a teaspoon of oil in a small pan and add red onion.
  4. Crumble chicken sausage (or regular sausage or spinach) into pan...not easy, but its worth the effort to crumble it as much as you can. Cook until onions start to get translucent, stirring often.
  5. Add garlic & sage, cook for 1-3 minutes, stirring to not burn the garlic. Add bread crumbs and toast. Add a bit of the wine to bring everything together - seeking a 'stuffing' texture. If you use all the wine, so what?...pour yourself some more and try to save some for the mustard sauce later.
  6. Spoon the stuffing down the center of the turkey, long ways. Pinch the edges together and thread closed with toofpicks or tie with string.
  7. Lightly spray or brush the bundle with olive oil and move over towards your oven. You'll want to pull that hot pan out fast and get the bird "seam-side-down" on the hot pan quickly.
  8. Do that.
  9. Pop the whole thing in the middle upper part of the oven and roast about 25 minutes. Its done when you poke and the juice runs clear or an instant read thermometer gets to about 130*...you'll be reading the temp of the stuffing so that should be good.
  10. When done, move bird to a clean plate and tent with foil about 5-10 minutes.
  11. Meanwhile, heat the mustard with about 2 T of the wine to make a nice sauce. Taste and adjust seasons as necessary.
  12. Carve roll into rounds and serve draped in mustard sauce. Nice with any greens and or parmy tater concoction.
This would also be great with the collard greens recipe to follow...too bad I didn't think of that earlier.

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