My Heart really wanted turkey for Christmas, as is the traditional English Christmas dinner, but a whole turkey didn’t seem practical for just the four of us. Since my son and I are both trying to be gluten-free, I wanted to work out a rice stuffing. And since I was being healthy, wrapping everything in bacon seemed like a good plan.
2c cooked long grain white rice, 1c dried cranberries (craisins), 2/3c toasted chopped pecans, 1c chopped flat-leaf (Italian) parsley. Quantity depends on the size of your turkey breast – I could have easily halved this amount.
Combine and add a hearty sprinkling of freshly ground pepper. You could add salt but I didn’t think it was necessary.
I can somehow never find a boneless turkey breast so I end up boning my own. I am getting pretty good at it. (smile) Scoop stuffing onto the center of the turkey and “roll” up as tightly as possible.
Make a basket weave with the bacon slices and lay flat on the counter. Place the rolled turkey breast at one end and slowly wrap the bacon around the turkey until it is surrounded by bacon. If there are any extra slices, wrap them around the edges to seal. Place in a roasting pan in a pre-heated 375-degree.
While the turkey was cooking – made long-grain and wild rice (I really like the flavors in this Uncle Ben’s brand) and, since I made so much stuffing…
I just combined the freshly cooked wild rice with the existing stuffing mix – it turned out just fine.
Also roasted parsnips and carrots tossed with 2Tbsp olive oil and 1Tbsp Herbs de Province while roasting turkey breast.
Roasted the turkey for 90-minutes (40mins per kg) until it reached 165-degree internal temp.
Let rest for 10-minutes before slicing.
Plated with the roasted vegetables and rice combo and topped with my Heart’s turkey gravy, which included turkey broth made from the turkey breast bones and some cranberry sauce.