Rolled Stuffed Turkey

Photography by Parker Blain ©

Photography by Parker Blain ©

 
 
 

Serves: 8
Medium
Time: 2 hours


Ingredients:

50g butter
1 brown onion, finely chopped
4 garlic cloves, crushed
2 cups torn day-old sourdough bread (without crusts)
⅓ cup dried cranberries
¼ cup whole macadamias 
2 eggs
¼ cup parsley leaves, chopped
2kg turkey breast, skin on 
60g butter, melted

METHOD:

  1. Preheat oven to 200°C (180°C fan-forced). 

  2. Melt the butter in a frypan over a low heat. Add the onion and garlic and fry until soft. Transfer the onion mixture to a food processor and add the bread, cranberries, macadamias, eggs and parsley. Season with salt and freshly ground black pepper, and pulse until well chopped and evenly combined.

  3. Place the turkey breast skin side down onto a chopping board. Using a sharp knife, cut horizontally from the centre of the breast out to one side, taking care not to cut all the way through. Repeat, cutting towards the other side. Open out the meat (like a book) and use a rolling pin to bash out the meat until it is 3cm thick. 

  4. On a clean surface, lie 8 x 40cm pieces of kitchen string vertically with a 5cm space in between. Place the prepared breast, skin side down on top of the string. Firmly pack the prepared stuffing vertically in the centre of the meat. Roll the breast to enclose the filling and tie each piece of string firmly to hold the shape. 

  5. Place the prepared turkey onto a rimmed baking tray. Paint the meat with the melted butter and cover with foil. Bake for 1 hour, basting every 20 minutes with the pan juices to ensure the meat doesn’t dry out. Remove the foil and bake for another 15 minutes or until the skin becomes golden.

  6. Take the turkey out of the oven, loosely cover with foil and allow to rest for 20 minutes.

  7. To serve, remove the kitchen string and carve into slices.

If you want to save time and maximise flavour, add Dutch carrots to the roasting tray when there is 30 minutes remaining for the turkey. Then add beans to the tray when there is 15 minutes to go. The pan juices just take the vegetables to a whole new level!

“If you’re ever slightly intimidated by rolling your turkey, just take your prepared stuffing to your butcher and get them to roll it for you!”