Herb Crusted Turkey Breast

This post has the greatest time-lag in the history of the LLB.  This is actually the turkey breast that I made for THANKSGIVING, but I got so busy during the month of December that I never posted the recipe!  It was so amazingly delicious though that I couldn’t sit by and not share it with you at all!

Even though this was my Thanksgiving turkey, this could easily be made for dinner any time of the year!  The Potato and Celery Root Mash Topped with Roasted Sunchokes or the Twice-Baked Rosemary Blue Cheese Potatoes would be a great accompaniment to this main dish! The dish was originally adapted from a Rachel Ray recipe and was chosen because of its limited cook and prep time!  An hour out the door and you’ve got a delicious roasted turkey breast!

Ingredients (serves 6)

• 3 lb turkey breast
• 1 small onion (chopped)
• 1 lemon
• 4 fresh sage leaves
• 1/3 cup fresh parsley
• 6 tbsp olive oil (divided)
• 1/2 tsp salt
• 2 fresh bay leaves
• 2 fresh rosemary sprigs

Preheat the oven to 425°. Line a pan with foil or oil a roasting pan. Place the turkey in the pan and slide one sage leaves, bay leaf and rosemary sprig under the skin of the turkey, place another sage leaf, bay leaf and rosemary sprig under the breast. The heat will rise through the pan and release the flavors of the herbs up into the turkey breast.

Next, place the onion and lemon zest into a food processor and chop. Then add 2 sage leaves, the parsley, olive oil and salt to the mixture.

Pulse until the mixture becomes a paste.

Next, rub half of the paste mixture under the skin of the turkey breast and the other half on top and around the sides of the breast.

Looks messy, but comes out delicious!!

Now place in the oven for 20 minutes.  Remove the breast and baste with an additional 3 tbsp of olive oil.  Place back inside the oven and cook for an additional 20-25 minutes or until a thermometer placed inside the thickest part of the breast registers at 170°.

Transfer the breast to a cutting board for carving. Let rest for 10-15 minutes then carve into slices.

This turkey was the perfect main dish for my Thanksgiving feast with friends!

There’s the turkey, in the righthand corner, about to be dominated by a hungry pack of pretty girls!! I love this picture because Gabby looks like she totally just got caught taking all the cranberry sauce!!

I would imagine this turkey would make great leftover sandwiches but I can’t tell you first hand because after these girls got a hold of it, there was nothing “left-over”!!!

♦ Gluten Free Option: This recipe is gluten-free.

♥ All pottery seen on the littleleopardbook can be purchased by visiting www.longaberger.com/muffetbond or e-mailing keepsakebl@sbcglobal.net.