Ingredients
Brine
- Cold water enough to submerge the 2 turkey breasts in a large bowl
- 1 Tbsp coarse sea salt
- 1 Tbsp black peppercorns
- 1 Tbsp coriander seeds
- A few bay leaves
- 1 lemon quartered
Turkey
- 2 large turkey breasts skin on and de-boned
- Salt and pepper
- Some all purpose flour
Stuffing
- 1 red onion minced
- 1 stalk celery minced
- 3 Tbsp evo oil
- 2 Tbsp butter
- 1 package of slightly smoked maple bacon cut into slivers
- 200 g coarse ground pork broken up
- 6 white button mushrooms washed dried and sliced
- 300 g bag stuffing bread cubes
- 1 Tbsp poultry seasoning
- 1 tsp fresh ground black pepper
- 1/2 can of cream of low sodium mushroom soup
- 1 cup vegetable broth
Roasting vegetables
- 1 large carrot chopped into large pieces
- 1 celery stalk cut into large pieces
- 1 onion quartered
- 3 cloves garlic
- 2 sprigs fresh rosemary
- 1 cup vegetable stalk
- 2 Tbsp evo oil
- 1 Tbsp butter
Instructions
Brining the turkey breasts
- In a large bowl pour in cold water. Toss in bay leaves, black peppercorns, coriander seeds, salt, and lemon wedges. Give it a stir.
- Now, wash and pat dry your turkey breasts, and place them into the brine. Make sure they are totally submerged. If need be, add more water.
- Cover with plastic wrap, and place in the fridge overnight.
Stuffing
- In a large deep sauté pan drizzle in evo oil, and place in butter. Turn heat to a med to high setting.
- Once the butter is melted, toss in the minced celery, onion, and sliced mushrooms. Let that simmer for about 3 minutes, or until onions and celery have softened.
- Add in the bacon slivers, and let that render for 5 minutes. Add the ground pork. Let that simmer for about 10 minutes. Turn off heat.
- Now add in the bread cubes, season with the poultry seasoning, and black pepper. Give it a good stir until the ingredients are well incorporated.
- Add the cream of mushroom soup to the vegetable stock. Whisk until well blended. Slowly pour it into the stuffing mix and stir the mixture until all the broth is in. This is where I like to get my washed hands into the mix. This way I can tell if it needs more broth. Usually if I can form a ball with the mixture it is done.
- Cover and place in the fridge overnight, or at least let it sit for 3-4 hours.
Butterflying and stuffing
- Get the turkey and stuffing out of the fridge.
- Take the breasts out of the brine and wash. Pat dry with some paper towel.
- Place the breast skin side down onto a cutting board. Starting from the center, cut top to bottom down halfway through the thickness. Then, slice horizontally until almost at the end of the breast, leave a little so the breast stays intact. Do the same for the other half of the breast. Now you have a nice large fillet of turkey.
- Place some plastic wrap over the fillet, and pound with the flat side of a meat cleaver. Not too hard, we don't want to break the flesh, just flatten it a bit. Take the plastic wrap off.
- Now scoop some stuffing onto the turkey fillet and spread it generously right to the edges.
- Starting from the short end, roll the breast until all rolled up. Don't worry if some of the stuffing falls out, just grab it and press it back into the middle.
- Take some butchers twine and tie around four spots on the length of the roll. Then go horizontally around the middle and both ends to keep everything together.
- Grab the other breast out of the brine and do exactly the same from butterflying to stuffing, then rolling and twining.
- Season both rolls with salt and pepper, and dust with flour.
Roasting the breasts
- Pre-heat the oven to 400° F conv.
- In a large frying pan, drizzle in evo oil and toss in butter. Bring pan to a medium-high heat and when butter starts to sizzle, place in one of the turkey rolls. Sear all sides and then take it out of the pan, place on a dish. Take the other turkey roll and do the same until all sides are seared.
- Grab a large roasting dish, toss in roughly chopped carrots, celery, onion and garlic.
- Throw in sprigs of rosemary. Pour in vegetable stalk.
- Now place the turkey rolls on top, and place on the middle rack of the oven. Let that roast for 30 minutes.
- Cover either with foil wrap, or, if the roasting pan has a lid, use that. Turn down heat to 375° F, and let that roast for an additional 45 minutes. Check the internal temperature of the stuffing and meat close to the end of cooking time, if it reads 168° F, it is done.
- Take the rolls out of the oven, place on the cutting board, and cover with foil and let rest for at least 20 minutes.
- Cut into 1 inch thick slices and place on a serving dish.
- Ready to serve.
Notes
Do not throw out the juices from the pan, it is a great ingredient to make a really lovely gravy.
If you are wondering what to do with the roasting veggies, you can place that in a blender discarding the rosemary. Add some of the pan juices and blitz into a puree. Now you have another great side for your festive meal.
Remember, cooking time will vary depending on your oven and thickness, always double check with a good meat thermometer.
For best results, brine the turkey overnight. Also, the stuffing is better to sit overnight, however if you are pressed for time you can just let it sit for at least 3-4 hours.
Important: always stuff your turkey just before cooking it. Do not stuff and let sit for any length of time.
- Prep Time: 30 minutes
- Cook Time: 1 hour35 minutes
- Category: Main
- Method: stovetop/oven
- Cuisine: Canadian
Keywords: Thanksgiving. festive dish, stuffed turkey roll, bacon and mushroom stuffing, poultry seasoning, roasted turkey, brine, stuffing, main dish, holiday