Hi,
one of my go-to fancy recipes is this one for turkey breast roll with mushroom filling. Ideally, you would buy a big turkey breast then butterfly it to make it ready for rolling, but I found it hard to find the turkey breast off the right size. So instead of one big piece of turkey breast, I buy turkey schnitzels and then make something of a franken-roll. I will talk you through that procedure in this post.
Needed ingredients for Turkey Breast Roll
1 kg (2 lb) turkey breast – in one piece or cut in schnitzels
2 Tbsp bread crumbs
2 small red onions
dried mushrooms
butter
salt & pepper
If you are making the mushroom gravy then use the soaked mushrooms for filling. Otherwise, soak dried mushrooms in hot water for at least 20min. While mushrooms are soaking dice the onions in small dices. The smaller the better. Add the onions and bread crumbs to a small bowl.
Prepare the turkey breast by butterflying the breast. Put the turkey on the parchment paper. If your breast is in schnitzels then make sure to cut off any silverskin from the edges of the schnitzels – you can use them for mushroom gravy. Then connect the schnitzels by overlapping then at least 0.5cm to form one big square. In order to attach them a bit more slightly beat them.
When the meat is prepared spread the butter in a 1mm layer over it. Make sure to leave 1-2 cm edge without butter, so it sticks when rolled. Then finish the filling by chopping up the now revived mushroom into as small pieces as possible, so they almost resemble crumbs. Add mushrooms to onions and bread crumbs and add 2 Tbsp of mushroom water so that it resembles wet sand. Season with a bit of salt and pepper. Then spread it atop the turkey and butter.
Rolling the turkey
When the turkey is ready for rolling turn the longer edge towards yourself. Then fold the side edges over the filling edge. Next, fold the lower edge over the filling using your thumbs, all the way tucking the folded side edges so they don’t unfold. Then keep the edges with your pointer fingers and use the parchment to tightly roll the turkey. Making sure that the side edges remain folded. When you have finished folding it squeeze the roll a bit so it maintains the shape, then use the kitchen string to knot the turkey.
Lay the turkey seam down. If you are using the whole butterflied breast then you can just knot it on the upper side then turn it up and knot the lower side. If you are using the turkey schnitzels, then make sure to also knot it on the sides so it is in a mesh of kitchen string. Lastly, season it with salt and pepper and roll it into the parchment paper. And make a bonbon shape (or a Christmas cracker shape) by tying the sides of the parchment paper. Leave it to rest in the fridge for at least half an hour and up to one day.
Cooking the Turkey Breast Roll with Mushroom Filling
Heat the oven to 190°C (375°F). Put the turkey roll with mushroom filling in a pan so that the juices are collected. Roast the turkey roll till done (about 1 hour). Leave the turkey roll to rest for 20 min on a plate, and deglaze the pan with water or gravy base.
When the turkey is rested take it out of the parchment and remove the kitchen string. It should look like a roast. Then cut it into 1cm (0.5″) thick pieces and serve!
