Spring-time Roast Turkey Breast
By Kath Dedon
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Turkey breasts are easy to roast. You get a great meal the first night, and you’ll have leftover roast turkey for future dinners and/or sandwiches.
According to the wrapper on the turkey, my seven pound turkey breast would take 2½ – 3 hours at 325˚. With the time it takes to get the turkey ready to go into the oven, I allowed about 3½ hours.
I skipped most of the usual holiday side dishes, but I did make mashed potatoes. (I think they were Bob’s favorite part of the meal.)
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Spring-time Roast Turkey Breast
(Adapted from a recipe by Ina Garten)
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1 6½ – 7 pound whole bone-in turkey breast
2 teaspoons dry mustard
2 teaspoons dry sage leaves, crumbled
2 teaspoons kosher salt
A few grinds of black pepper
2 tablespoons softened butter
1 tablespoon lemon juice
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Preheat the oven to 325˚.
Pat the turkey breast dry with paper towels. Put the turkey on a rack in a pan.
Slide your fingers under the skin and gently separate the skin from the meat.
Combine the mustard, sage, salt, pepper, butter and lemon juice and stir to form a paste.
Spread half of the paste under the skin on the meat. Spread the other half over the skin.
Pour water in the pan until it almost reaches the rack.
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Put the turkey in the oven to roast.
Check the turkey at least a half an hour before you think it will be done. I checked mine at 2 hours and 20 minutes with an instant read thermometer and it was DONE! (The thermometer should read at least 165˚ in the thickest part; check it in several places to be sure.)
It’s not a problem if your turkey is done before the rest of the meal (as mine was last night). Just cover it loosely with a sheet of heavy duty foil and let it “rest” while you finish preparing everything else. (You want to give it at least 15 minutes to rest even if it’s done on schedule.)
Optional: Pour the juices in the pan through a strainer into a pan. Bring to a boil and whisk the juices. Simmer for a few minutes. Serve the juices with the turkey.
In the kitchen with Kath 