This was the first holiday dinner I've ever cooked! It was really the only special Christmas-y thing we did all day, other than some gift opening and phone calling.
I bought the boneless turkey breast at Whole Foods. I just love buying meat at Whole Foods! They wrap it up so nice and will prepare it in whichever way your heart desires. The stuffing wasn't too hard to make other than getting the skins off the toasted hazelnuts. I got to use the food processor, which means less chopping for me! It was strange to wrap the breast in bacon and fry it. It smelled so good, I ended up frying an extra piece of bacon for me to eat while the turkey roasted in the oven.
I would definitely make this again for a special dinner for 2-4 people. The hazelnuts in the stuffing added so much to it. I wasn't too impressed with the Marsala glaze, but I think I'm just not too fond of Marsala wine.
As a side dish, we tried making some roasted butternut squash. Oh that was sooo good! Even though it added a lot of time to the meal preparation, the turkey was still warm when the squash was finally done. The squash was delicious!!! I think Jay liked it so much, not only did he cook the other half of the squash later, he bought another butternut squash for us to eat soon.
Two lessons learned:
- Dried Apricot & Date Stuffed Turkey Breast with Marsala Glaze (Fine Cooking, Oct/Nov 2006, p.48)
- Roasted Rosemary Butternut Squash & Shallots (Fine Cooking, Oct/Nov 2006, p.56)
Comments (2)
Oh, I loved this too. Larry actually requested this dish for Thanksgiving instead of a whole turkey.
Trader Joe's sells butternut squash in bags already cut into cubes. I wonder if CM does the same?
I just did the grab-the-hot-handle-straight-out-of-the-oven yesterday. I never seem to learn!
I love your lessons learned section. :)
Posted by Sheri | January 8, 2007 10:15 PM
Posted on January 8, 2007 22:15
Julia, that turkey is beautiful! I made the same recipe, but I don't think my swirls were anywhere near that pretty.
Someone taught me the coolest trick to skin hazelnuts. You put them in boiling water with baking soda and it has a chemical reaction that makes the water black and skins literally slide off. I couldn't believe it. Then you toast the nekkid hazelnuts. I'll have to look up the exact proportions so you can try it just for fun.
Posted by Amy | January 9, 2007 5:47 AM
Posted on January 9, 2007 05:47