The weekend before Easter I was craving a full turkey dinner for some reason. We normally have ham for Easter so I knew if I wanted to fulfill this craving I'd have whip it up myself. I've never made a whole turkey before...actually I've never done much with turkey myself other than some delicious sandwiches. I looked to see what I had marked for turkey recipes in my Cooking Light magazines and apparently this is the only one that had piqued my interest. It actually turned out to be the perfect thing for a whole turkey dinner for one. I think the only thing missing was the mashed potatoes!Whenever anyone cooks with turkey on TV everyone is always worried about how dry it's going to be, so I didn't go into this one with real high expectations. I've also had back luck with "rolled up" or "stuffed" things in the past because I can usually only get a little bit of the stuff stuffed into the meat and that ends up being the best stuff...I mean part. I decided to give a shot anyway because it looked fairly easy and if it turned out to be pretty good it'd be a nice dish to add to the rotation because it'd be nice change from the usual pasta and chicken dishes. It took me forever to find anything resembling a "turkey cutlet" in my mega mart and I think I end up buying turkey tenderloins. Turns out these don't really pound to be really thin and then have something rolled up in them very well, but they worked. Wonder if I could find turky cutlets anywhere else in town. I've been settling with whatever ingredients I find at this store (it's literally just a couple blocks from my house and I've walked over there on numerous occassions) but I may have to venture farther in the grocery store world as I continue to further my food adventures!
The Quick & Dirty
Changes:
- Used turkey tenderloins instead of cutlets just because that's all I could find, cutlets probably would've worked better
- Didn't use any dried sage...pretty much just forgot to buy any, probably would've helped spice up the stuffing mixture
- Used regular chicken broth instead of the fat-free, less sodium stuff...this is one place where I don't think losing the few extra calories is worth the taste that's lost
Yumminess:
- The chicken actually came out pretty moist and not dry at all! Some people suggested cooking the turkey in the chicken broth which probably wouldn't be a bad idea
- I kept the extra stuffing that wouldn't fit in the turkey and just served it on the side which turned out to be a great plan
- I made a few rolls and had the extras for dinner a few nights later and I think it was even better warmed up the second time around! I kept the cranberry glaze in a separate dish and warmed that up again too and all the flavors seemed to be even stronger after sitting together in the fridge
Sadness:
- The stuffing tasted pretty strongly of onion and not a lot of apple, but that's probably my own fault in not cutting back on all the ingredients in equal proportions when halving the recipe
- I think the sage would've helped so next time I'll have to make sure and get some
- The stupid roll up concept really wasn't necessary and seemed to add extra stress to the prep. Next time I might just try making everything separately and piling it up together at the end
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