Turkey Breast Stuffed with Italian Sausage and Marsala-Steeped Cranberries

Name: Turkey Breast Stuffed with Italian Sausage and Marsala-Steeped Cranberries
Prep time: 45 min
Cook time: 45 min
Total time: 45 min
Yield: 12
Cuisine: Mediterranean, Italian, European
Ingredients: 2 echalion or banana shallots, peeled and finely chopped; 237 milliliters approx bread crumbs; 158 milliliters dried cranberries; 2 eggs, beaten; 2 teaspoons chopped fresh sage; 59 milliliters duck or goose fat; 1 teaspoons ground allspice; 0 teaspoons ground cloves; 1 kilograms Italian sausages; 7 Tbsps Marsala; 2 Tbsps olive oil; 118 milliliters approx grated Parmesan; 1 X 11-pound boneless (double) turkey breast, butterflied, with skin left on

Turkey Breast Stuffed with Italian Sausage and Marsala-Steeped Cranberries might be just the Mediterranean recipe you are searching for. One portion of this dish contains around 30g of protein, 37g of fat, and a total of 519 calories. This recipe covers 17% of your daily requirements of vitamins and minerals. This recipe serves 12. Christmas will be even more special with this recipe. It works best as a side dish, and is done in roughly 45 minutes. If you have olive oil, sausages, sage, and a few other ingredients on hand, you can make it.

Instructions

Put the cranberries and Marsala into a small saucepan and bring to a boil, then take off the heat and leave to one side.

Ingredients you will need

Cranberries

Marsala

Equipment you will use

Sauce Pan

Put the oil into a large frying pan or similar heavy pan, and fry the shallots for a minute or so, then add the spices and chopped sage, turning them in the soft shallots.

Ingredients you will need

Shallot

Spices

Sage

Cooking Oil

Equipment you will use

Frying Pan

Squeeze the sausage meat out of its skins, add to the pan, and break it up—using a wooden fork and spatula for ease—turning it in the hot pan until it loses its pinkness. This will take about 5 minutes.

Ingredients you will need

Ground Pork Sausage

Equipment you will use

Spatula

Frying Pan

Take the frying pan off the heat and turn the contents into a large bowl, mixing in the steeped cranberries and any Marsala clinging to them, and leave to cool. You can cover with plastic wrap and put in the refrigerator for up to 2 days at this stage. When you are ready to stuff the turkey breast, take the bowl of sausage meat out of the refrigerator.

Ingredients you will need

Turkey Breast

Ground Pork Sausage

Cranberries

Marsala

Wrap

Equipment you will use

Plastic Wrap

Frying Pan

Bowl

Preheat the oven to 400°F.

Equipment you will use

Oven

Uncover the bowl of sausage meat, add the eggs, Parmesan, and bread crumbs and—I use my hands for this—mix well.

Ingredients you will need

Breadcrumbs

Ground Pork Sausage

Parmesan

Egg

Equipment you will use

Bowl

Lay the butterflied turkey joint out in front of you. It really does look like a butterfly, though admittedly a fleshy one.

Ingredients you will need

Whole Turkey

Spread the stuffing out first in the slight cavity in the center of the butterfly and then outward onto the wings though not going right up to the edge (or it will squidge out when cooking) but as evenly as possible over the whole joint.

Ingredients you will need

Stuffing

Spread

Chicken Wings

Carefully, in one swift but steady movement, fold one “wing” over the other to close the joint, and then sit the turkey in a large roasting pan, breast bone (or where the breast bone would be) on top as it would look were it the whole bird, with the pointier bit farthest away from you. Thread 2 skewers through the base—i.e., the widest part that is nearer you—to keep it closed, and smear it all over with the duck or goose fat.

Ingredients you will need

Goose Fat

Whole Turkey

Bone

Whole Duck

Equipment you will use

Roasting Pan

Skewers

Roast the turkey breast for 2–2 1/2 hours, then check it is cooked with a turkey or meat thermometer. When cooked, it should read 165°F in the center. (If you're leaving it to rest, as you should, or to cool, you could take it out at 160°F—it will retain heat and continue to cook for a short while once out of the oven.)

Ingredients you will need

Turkey Breast

Whole Turkey

Meat

Equipment you will use

Kitchen Thermometer

Oven

Flex your muscles, then lift out onto a cutting board, and leave to rest for at least 20 minutes. Or leave to get cold if you are eating it as part of a cook-ahead buffet.

Equipment you will use

Cutting Board

Cut through the whole joint in wide slices right across; they will need to be quite thick, at least 1/2 inch, maybe 1 inch, to keep the stuffing intact within the slice.

Ingredients you will need

Stuffing

As you place it on table or sideboard, dot around it the condiments of your choice: I revert to Christmas in Italy here by putting a lusciously extravagant pot or two of Italian mostarda di Cremona on the table alongside: this is a hot and sweet preserve of mustardy candied fruits that gleam beautifully and taste both festive and fabulous.

Ingredients you will need

Fruit

Equipment you will use

Pot

Reprinted with permission from Nigellissima by Nigella Lawson, © 2013 Clarkson PotterNIGELLA LAWSON is the bestselling author of eight books, including Nigella Kitchen, Nigella Express, and Nigella Bites, which together with her television shows on Food Network and her iPhone apps have made her a household name around the world. She is also a contributor to The Oxford Companion to Italian Literature. Nigella lives in London with her family.