Easy, Moist and the Most Flavorful Roast Turkey Breast

I love a Thanksgiving dinner, but it is a lot of work. I always roast a turkey, make stuffing, mash potatoes, candy sweet potatoes, I make a vegetable, my daughter typically makes homemade cranberry sauce and we have side goodies, (like black and green olives). Afterwards, we always have pumpkin pie.

Uhhhhhh, it’s 10:02 and I haven’t had breakfast yet….. I must be hungry, cuz that meal sounds great!!!

I love the leftovers the day after Thanksgiving. My favorite thing, the next day is a turkey breast sandwich with mayonnaise.

I’ve roasted lots and lots of turkeys. So, around the holidays, I get to enjoy the ease of eating leftover roast turkey. What I don’t do as often, is roast a turkey breast. Well, it’s late May and I want roast turkey, but don’t want to roast an entire turkey, (with all it’s time consuming sides), I just want the turkey breast and a couple of simple sides. I want yummy, but simple.

Hunting for Turkey and What to do if it’s Frozen

I went out of my humble abode, in search of turkey. There have been times, when I looked for turkey breast in my local grocery store, but never found any. The day I went looking for turkey breasts (a few days ago), I hit the jackpot. They had about 10 frozen turkey breasts to choose from. I bought three. I put two in my freezer. The last I put in my refrigerator to thaw.

It takes 1½ to 2 days to thaw a turkey breast in a refrigerator. You can thaw it quicker (if need be), by putting the unopened roast in cool water, for 3 to 5 hours (until thawed). Using this method, you change the water every 30 minutes, to keep the turkey cold.

After the turkey breast is thawed, it’s time to roast it.

Ingredients, (try to use organics whenever you can)

Unfortunately, I didn’t accomplish that at all, this time.

• 3 to 8 pound turkey breast
• 1 tablespoon grapeseed oil, (for the roasting dish and rack)
• 2 tablespoons grapeseed oil, (for the turkey breast seasoning paste)
• 2 teaspoons poultry seasoning
• 2 teaspoons dried oregano
• 2 teaspoons rosemary
• 2 teaspoons salt
• 1 teaspoon ground thyme
• 1 teaspoon onion powder
• 1 teaspoon garlic powder
• 1 teaspoon black pepper, (I prefer fine ground)

Prepping the Oven, the Dish and the Turkey

First, position your oven rack in a spot the oven where it allows the turkey breast to cook as close to the center of the oven as possible.

Set the oven to 375°F (191°C), on bake.

Bring your ingredients out so they are ready for use.

Use an oven safe baking/roasting dish. Place a wire rack on the bottom of the dish.

The rack should be placed with the wires horizontally, (the turkey should be placed vertically on the horizontally placed rack).

Put one tablespoon of grapeseed oil, into a small bowl. Apply the grapeseed oil to the inside bottom and inside walls of the dish and on the rack.

Remove the turkey breast packaging and rinse the breast off under cool water.

The turkey breast should be placed on the center of the rack vertically, with the breast and skin up. This placement helps to keep the turkey breast meat above the dish (to help keep it off of the bottom of the baking dish).

In a separate bowl, measure 2 tablespoons grapeseed oil.

Seasoning the Turkey Breast

The order of adding the seasonings into the bowl, doesn’t matter. Just make sure you add them all.

Add 2 teaspoons rosemary.

Add 2 teaspoons poultry seasoning.

Add 2 teaspoons ground oregano.

Add 2 teaspoons salt.

Add 1 teaspoons ground thyme.

Add 1 teaspoons black pepper.

Add 1 teaspoons onion powder.

Add 1 teaspoons garlic powder.

Stir the ingredients thoroughly.

Pull the skin of the turkey, away from the meat, (don’t completely detach it though). Apply half of the paste you made, under the skin and the other half on top of the skin.

It’s Time to Roast the Turkey Breast

Put the dish in the oven, on your center rack and cook the turkey breast 13 minutes for every pound of turkey. I recommend you baste the turkey with it’s pan juices every 20 minutes, until the turkey breast is done (for this bird, that was 4 bastings). This turkey breast is seven pounds, (7 x 13 = 91 minutes of cook time, minimum).

An hour and a half later…..

Check the turkey breast using a meat thermometer, but be careful that you do not touch the thermometer probe to a bone, the wire rack or the glass dish, as the temperature reading may be incorrect.

The turkey must be 170°F (77°C) for it to be considered fully cooked. I check the temperature several places around the breast meat.

Take the turkey breast out of the dish and place it on a cutting board.

We found a Royal brand bamboo cutting board on Amazon, as part of a set of three (one small, one medium and one large size).

You may not know this, but bamboo is a hard wood. Bamboo is not a tree, but a grass. Even though it is a grass, it is harder than oak. Bamboo will grow to maturity, ready for harvest, in 3 to 5 years. Oak matures in 20 to 30 years. It makes more sense to harvest bamboo than oak for the sake of cutting boards. The next time you want to buy yourself a nice set of cutting boards, save a tree and purchase bamboo cutting boards.

Rest the Roasted Turkey Breast

Now, about resting the turkey before carving. The reason you rest the meat, is to allow the majority of the juices to remain in the meat when you cut it. Resting the turkey allows for that.

You are going to see all kinds of time recommendations online, for resting a roasted turkey breast. Some recommendations seem way to long, to the point of dangerous. I recommend resting the turkey 15 minutes. This should provide plenty of time, to allow the turkey to retain most of it’s moisture, when you finally cut it.

Slicing the Roasted Turkey Breast

Use a serrated knife to slice off one of the two breasts (cut as close as you can to the rib bones).

Slice the turkey breast, diagonally.

The knife I used to cut this roast turkey breast is a Russel International brand serrated knife. Some people will say use a serrated knife on roast turkey, others will say use a non-serrated knife on roast turkey. Those who say use non-serrated say that serrated knives tend to shred the meat. Frankly, if your meat isn’t dry (if it is juicy), you won’t likely shred the meat.

I prefer serrated knives for cutting through the skin and then the meat. Even though it wasn’t an expensive knife, it has served me well for many years.

The Meal Is Done

There are all kinds of sides you could make to go with your turkey breast. Today, I decided to have a baked potato with butter and a plant based sour cream substitute. I also made steamed zucchini.

Now, it’s time to dish up the meal.

Bon appétit!!!!

As for me, I can’t wait till tomorrow for leftovers, because I want a turkey sandwich!

Making Your Place Settings Shine

Napkin Rings

I prefer to use highly polished wood, ceramic and crystal napkin rings because I have found they don’t snag my cloth napkins. Unfortunately, the napkin rings I have are not available at this time.

If you like crystal, you might really enjoy this set of crystal napkin rings. They are kitCom brand (2.3″ x 1.2″). They are stated to be sturdy and durable (and are of European craftmanship).

Flatware

I’m allergic to nickel. Did you know, as of the time of this writing, up to 17% of women are allergic to nickel and 3% of men are too. Most flatware found for sale has nickel in it.

The Copeland pattern is nickel free and is still available through Onida.com. I found a similar pattern on Amazon, also by Oneida. The pattern is called Reyna. It too is 100% nickel free, identified as 18/0, (18% chromium 0% nickel).

If you like this pattern, but aren’t able to find it, in the link above you may see other patterns you like. Just make sure you select a pattern that says it is 18/0 if you want nickel free flatware.

Dishware

Blue Adelaide 16 piece place setting, (squared plates)

Turquoise Adelaide 16 piece place setting, (squared plates)

Yellow Adelaide 16 piece place setting, (squared plates)

Black Adelaide 16 piece place setting, (round plates)

Dark Blue Adelaide 16 piece place setting, (round plates)

A Recipe Book I Have Used for Years

When I was a young housewife, I was given a cook book that I have used and used. It is The Joy of Cooking. This is a book you should add to your cooking must haves.

I actually have a few cookbooks, so a set of book ends would help quite a bit. I think this set is adorable.

Here is A Helpful Cleanup Hint

Remember I told you earlier about a way to easily clean CorningWare baking dishes. During cooking when splatter becomes baked onto CorningWare, it can be a nightmare to clean. Use Cerama Bryte.

You will also want to use a cleaning pad designed to be used with Cerama Bryte. Cooking splatter comes off so easy this way.

After you have removed all of the splatter, rinse the baking dish thoroughly, ensuring all of the Cerama Bryte is gone. After this, put the dish into the dishwasher or wash the dish by hand (ensuring all of the cleaning product is rinsed away).

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