Turkey Levengi Roulade

TURKEY ROULADE with LEVENGI STUFFING

*A full-sized picture of this dish is available in the Gallery.

Ingredients for 4 servings:
1 large boneless turkey breast with skin
1 large onion
1 cup walnuts
1 cup raisins
1 cup seedless prunes
½ cup seedless sour cherry-plums (or lavashana)
4 tbsp melted clarified butter
1 cup chicken broth (or water)
Salt and pepper to taste

Preparation:
Preparing the stuffing.

Peel and chop the onion and fry in the 2 tbsp of clarified butter until golden brown.

Grind the fried onion, nuts, raisins, prunes, and cherry plums with a food processor or a meat grinder.

Afterward, mix all the stuffing’s ingredients together.

Preparing the turkey breast.
Remove and put aside the skin from the turkey breast.
Place the breast on a large piece of plastic wrap so the side that had the skin is facing down.
With a sharp knife, “butterfly” the thickest part of the breast by holding the blade of the knife parallel to the breast and slicing it in half, but not all the way through.
Unfold the breast, cover it with another large piece of plastic wrap, and pound it with a meat mallet until it is 1 cm thick.

Preparing the roulade.
Remove the plastic wrap covering the top of the turkey breast and season with salt and pepper.
Spread the stuffing evenly over the breast, leaving about a 2 cm (½ inch) border around the edge.

Roll it into a tight roulade.
Place the turkey skin on the roulade and tie it with kitchen twine. The skin will prevent the meat from getting dry and will keep it moist. Season the roulade with salt and pepper and place it on a baking or roasting pan with tall edges.

Cooking the turkey roulade.
Preheat the oven to 350°F (180°C).
Coat the roulade with 2 tbsp melted butter.
Pour the chicken broth (or water) into the pan and roast it uncovered in the oven until the skin is golden brown and the meat is fully cooked (about 1 hour).
From time to time, remove the pan from the oven and baste the roulade with juices from the pan.

If your roulade is golden brown, but not yet cooked, loosely cover it with foil. If needed, add more broth into the pan to prevent the roulade from burning.
Remove the cooked roulade from the oven, cover loosely with foil, and let it rest for 10 minutes. Remove the twine with scissors before slicing.

Slice the roulade into portion-sized pieces and serve with Pilaf and gravy from the roasting pan.
Bon Appétit! Enjoy!

This post is also available in: Russian