Dateline: June 15, 2021 Turkey Breast Roulade

I had 2.5 lb turkey breast in the fridge that needed to be cooked.  I didn't want to put the oven on, so I am trying roasting it on the grill.

Ingredients

2.5 - 3 lb turkey breast, skinless

1 onion, minced

5 cloves of garlic, minced

1 sprig of rosemary

5-6 sprigs thyme

handful of fresh sage leaves, whole

5-6 sage leaves, chopped

1 T calabrian pepper paste

1 T chopped fennel fronds

1 t fennel seeds, ground

1 T chopped parsley

2 collard leaves, stripped, blanched, and halved lengthwise

6 slices of bacon

salt and pepper

olive oil

butter

butchers twine

Method

1.  Put the turkey breast on a cutting board presentation side down.  Butterfly the turkey breast so that you can lay it out flat and pound it to a relatively uniform thickness.  

2.  In a small pan, bring some water to a boil and blanch the collard leaves, shock in cold water and then half lengthwise.

3.  In a small frying pan, heat some olive oil and butter and sautee the onions, when softened, add in the garlic, chopped sage leaves, and parsley.  Heat them through and continue to soften the onion and garlic, but do not brown.  Set aside to cool.

4.  In a spice grinder, grinder the fennel seeds with the fronds a little pinch of coarse salt, and add in the rosemary.  Grind to a paste, empty into a small bowl, add olive oil and the pepper paste.  Mix well.

5.  Set the cut turkey breast so that one of the long sides is nearest to you.  Salt and pepper the cut side.  

Smear on the fennel frond/seed mixture all over the cut side.  Next layer sage leaves all over that paste in a way that will enable each slice of the finished product to  have a ring of sage.  Then, over the sage leaves spread the onion/garlic mixture.  Over the onion mixture, place the collard leaves so that they over lap and cover the entire surface of the turkey breast.

6.  Starting from one long side, start to roll the breast onto itself, like a jelly roll and set on the cutting board seam side down.  Lay 4 slices of bacon down starting at one end of the roulade and then with the remaining 2 slices, cut them in half crosswise and finish the laying down to completely cover the top of the turkey roll.

7.  Using 5-6 lengths of butchers twine, tie up the roulade into a tight package.  

8.  Lay 2 lengths of plastic wrap out on the counter so that they over lap along their long sides.  Place the roulade near the long side edge that is closest to you and tightly roll up the roulade in the plastic.  Squeeze out the air, and twist the ends tightly and tie closed or use a twist tie.  Put on a sheet pan and place in the fridge until ready to cook.

9.  Remove plastic wrap when grill is heated to 350°F.  I was very impressed with mine, it held 350° on the nose for the entire cook time.  I have learned to build a fire that suits this particular grill!  Place roulade on the cooler part of the grill and close lid.  Check the temp at the thickest part after 45 minutes.  Rotate the roulade to ensure even cooking if necessary.  My roulade had a thicker end and a thinner end.  After 45 minutes, I rotated it to thicker end towards hotter part of the grill.  When roulade hits 170° in the absolute center of the roll, I considered it done.  I took the temp from both ends straight down the middle and then again from the outside into the middle only going 1/2 way and all three temps were in the done range.

10.  Remove to a plate and tent with foil.  Let rest 15 minutes.  Then carve into 1 inch rounds taking care to remove the strings!

steamed green beans and peas

slices of the roulade.