James Beard's Turkey Breast

Every Sunday night, I roast a turkey breast. Really, it's laziness on my part. I buy boneless restaurant style turkey breast, cut it into halves, thirds or quarters (depending upon how many of us are home), prepare one piece for that night, and season and foil wrap the rest, to be frozen and cooked at a later date. So, in my new James Beard cookbook (from the library book sale), I happened upon a recipe for turkey breast. Since it's the same meat no matter what, it's really a difference in seasoning, but this was very moist and flavorful. I'm sure a bone in turkey breast could be seasoned the same way; give it a whirl - after you're over the Thanksgiving turkey!

JAMES BEARD'S ROAST TURKEY BREAST

1 Turkey breast
2 tbsp butter (frozen)
1/4 cup white wine
salt & pepper to taste
(water for the bottom of the pan)

Place the turkey breast in the pan. Pour the wine over it, then sliver the butter and place it all over the top of the turkey. Sprinkle with salt and pepper as desired, then roast 20 to 24 minutes per pound or as recommended by your personal turkey vendor, until it reaches 165F on the meat thermometer. Notes: first, I always pour some water in the bottom of my pan (about 1/4") to keep it from scorching. Also, I used my tea cup, rinsed out, of course, to measure out the wine. Since it's really big, I probably used closer to 1/2 cup wine. Ah, so what? The alcohol cooks off, but there was a lot of flavor to this sucker. Finally, I have this cute little enameled roaster with a lid on it that's just the right size for a turkey breast, and I roast mine with the lid on, to keep the moisture from evaporating. It was really very moist, likely due to the butter on top.

I served this with spaghetti squash, which I don't have a picture of, because people were starving to death! To cook the squash, I cut it in half and removed the seeds, put it in a buttered baking pan cut side down, put 1/4" of water around it, and baked at 350 for about a half hour. Then, I melted 1/4 cup butter in a pan, sauteed some leeks until soft, added a diced tomato, and shredded the spaghetti squash in with the leeks and tomato. A touch of salt and pepper, and my guys loved it! I also included rice, but that's really boring, now, isn't it?