This roulade is great for a compact Thanksgiving dinner, with the addition of a veggie side, cranberry sauce, and nice crusty bread. Follow along with this video for more guidance on butterflying, pounding, rolling, and tying.
Makes 12 servings
Ingredients
Italian Sausage Stuffing
- 1 tablespoon olive oil
- 1 lb sweet Italian sausage, casings removed
- 1/4 cup (2 oz) unsalted butter
- 1 cup finely chopped Spanish onion
- 2 teaspoons minced garlic
- 1/2 cup finely chopped whole cremini mushrooms or cremini mushroom stems
- 3/4 cups (about 4 oz) g shredded low-moisture mozzarella or shredded Fontina
- 3/4 cups freshly toasted breadcrumbs or panko
- 1/4 cup shredded Pecorino Romano
- 1 egg, beaten
- 2 tablespoons finely chopped flat-leaf parsley
- 3 tablespoons basil chiffonade
- 1/4 teaspoon ground black pepper, plus as needed to adjust seasoning
- Kosher salt, as needed to adjust seasoning
Seasoned Butter
- 12 oz (1 1/2 cups) unsalted butter, room temperature
- 4 teaspoons kosher salt
- 1 1/2 teaspoons ground black pepper
Turkey
- 2 whole turkey breasts, boned, skin on, about 5 lb each
- Kosher salt, as needed to adjust seasoning
- Ground black pepper to season turkey, plus as needed to adjust gravy
- 1 batch Turkey Gravy
- 1/2 cup minced flat-leaf parsley
Directions
- For the stuffing: Heat a large sauté pan over medium heat for 1 minute. Add the oil to the pan and heat to hot but not smoking, about 10 seconds. Add the sausage, breaking it into small pieces, adjust the heat to medium-low, and cook, tossing occasionally, until well browned and caramelized, about 30 minutes. Remove the sausage, discarding the fat, and transfer to a bowl. The sausage can be browned in advance. Rapidly cool, then immediately store wrapped in the refrigerator for 2 days or in the freezer for 3 months.
- Melt the butter in the same sauté pan. Add the onions and scrape the fond from the bottom of the pan. Adjust the heat to medium-low and cook until the onions are soft and translucent, about 15 minutes. If the onions start to burn, add 2 tablespoons water to the pan and cook until the liquid evaporates. Move the onions to one side of the pan. Add the garlic to the empty space and cook until fragrant, about 1 minute. Add the mushrooms and combine. Cook until all the liquid released from the mushrooms has evaporated and they have started to caramelize, 10 minutes. Place the contents of the pan into the bowl with the sausage.
- To the bowl, add the mozzarella, breadcrumbs, Pecorino Romano, eggs, parsley, basil, and pepper and combine. Sample the stuffing by microwaving a small amount until it is fully cooked. Taste and adjust seasoning. Salt is not added until this point and may not be needed because many of the ingredients are salty. The stuffing can be made in advance. Rapidly cool, then immediately store wrapped in the refrigerator for 1 day or in the freezer for 3 months.
- For the seasoned butter, combine the butter, salt, and pepper in a bowl with a fork until it forms a smooth paste. The butter can be made 1 week in advance. Store wrapped in the refrigerator.
- Remove the skin from the turkey breasts without tearing it. Reserve. Butterfly the turkey breasts. Pound each breast between 2 sheets of plastic wrap to an even 1/2-inch thickness. The turkey can be prepped but not stuffed 1 day in advance. Store in plastic in the refrigerator.
- Position a rack in the bottom third of the oven and heat it to 450°F. Remove the top layer of plastic wrap on one of the breasts. Evenly coat the turkey with about 2 oz of the seasoned butter. In the center of the breast on the buttered side, place about half of the stuffing on the turkey and press it into an even layer across the turkey, leaving about a 1/2-inch border around all sides.
- With the help of the plastic wrap, lift one side of the turkey and begin to roll toward the stuffing, sealing tightly as you roll. Evenly coat the inside of one of the turkey skins with 2 oz seasoned butter. Carefully lift the stuffed breast off the plastic and onto the skin, so the seam side of the flesh and skin is lined up. Tie with butcher’s twine to hold its shape and place seam side down on a rack in a roasting pan measuring about 18 by 24 inch. Repeat with the other breast. Sprinkle both turkey roulades with salt and pepper.
- Place the turkey in the oven, immediately reduce the temperature to 350°F, and roast, basting every 15 minutes with the extra butter and then the pan drippings, until the turkey is golden brown and the stuffing reaches an internal temperature of 165°F, 60 to 75 minutes. If the drippings in the bottom of the pan start to scorch, add enough water to the bottom of the pan to prevent this. Remove the turkey breasts from the roasting pan, loosely tent with foil, and let the breasts rest for 10 minutes.
- Place any extra stuffing in a separate baking pan in the same pattern as the turkey breast, cover with parchment paper, seal with aluminum foil, and reserve in the refrigerator. Bake it in an oven at 350°F to an internal temperature of 165°F, 25 to 30 minutes.
- Deglaze the roasting pan with the turkey gravy, scraping up all the bits from the bottom. Strain the sauce through a fine-mesh strainer into a medium saucepan, discarding all solids, and return to a simmer until it is reduced to the correct viscosity and flavor. Degrease, taste, and adjust seasoning. Add the parsley. Remove and discard the butcher’s twine from the breasts, slice, and serve with the gravy.