Thursday, April 23, 2009

Drooling Over the Thought of Turkey

I thought I was starting to recover from the turkey fiasco that was last weekend, and then my stomach started to growl. You would think McDonald's or pizza would pop into the average college student's head, but noooo, it has to be something to do with turkeys. I guess I am detoxing from turkey season, and this is my payback for being addicted.
I love to fry a turkey, especially a young bird. A good turkey fryer, some peanut oil, good seasoning, and the right cooking time do wonders to a wild bird. Today however, I had turkey breast on the mind. For some reason I am craving marinated and grilled whole turkey breast. Since I didn't bag a bird to cook, I figure I'll share this easy little recipe and hopefully get turkeys off of my mind and stomach for good.
The way I like to cook my turkey breast is to first fillet it off the breast bone very carefully so as to not lose any meat. If there is any fat at all, trim it off. Wash off the meat and set it aside. Then, get some Italian Salad dressing and pour it into a large bowl or dish that is deep enough to cover most of a turkey breast. Next, get some dry mustard and put approximately one tablespoon of the mustard into the salad dressing. Whisk the mixture until the mustard isn't clumped up at all.
Put the turkey breast into the mixture and poke a few holes into the breast with a fork. Cover, and put into the fridge for 24 hours, flipping the breast over after 12 hours.
You can cook this in the oven, or on the grill, and cook it just like you would any chicken breast. I prefer to roll the breast like the ones you can buy from the store and wrap it with butchers twine. You can lay the breast flat like a chicken breast, but I feel this tends to dry the meat out easier. When I grill the turkey, I use medium heat, and baste the breast with the marinade so that the meat doesn't dry out.
Use your own judgment as to when the meat is done, again, it should look and cut similarly to the way done chicken breast does. Laying the breast flat on the grill definitely cooks it faster than rolling it up with butchers twine, but that is up to you to decide how to cook it! The turkey goes great with some wild rice, sauteed asparagus, and a nice Riesling.(Okay, that sounded snobby, but trust me, it is good!)
Hopefully somebody out there will have bagged a bird and has some turkey breasts to try it out on!

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