Christmas Day 2022! It’s amazing how fast this time of year arrives. Nevertheless, the day has arrived, and we are celebrating it for its spiritual meaning as well as a family birthday. Today is my sister Rita’s birthday and though it has been many years since we could all be together at this time as a family, her birth date brings many precious memories. Nostalgia is a very strange thing. It pops up when you least expect it. Taste, smell, music can take you right back to a moment.
My siblings & I grew up on a farm in southern Alberta. Christmas for our family was less about gifts and more about family time & great food. I have such good memories of uncomplicated things that were so special. The Christmas cards hanging on strings decorating every room of our house, cookie cannisters full of Christmas baking, having a wonderful Christmas meal, evenings, when the chores were all done, all of us sitting around the dining room table cracking nuts & eating a few candies with some homemade root beer as a family. And of course, Rita’s birthday meant an added bonus of a birthday cake. In today’s world, all of these things seem so insignificant but they were definitely some of the best and simplest pleasures of a lifetime.
Today, Brion & I are making our day special by having some turkey breast with sweet potato stuffing. Stuffing is a lot like meatloaf — no two recipes are the same, but each one is the best. Aside from sweet potato fries, I’m guessing that most people eat sweet potatoes primarily at Thanksgiving and Christmas. It seems like people fall into one of two categories for the big meal: those who like marshmallows with their sweet potatoes, and those who find the sweet-on-sweet combination revolting. In fact, despite its reputation as a holiday for ‘togetherness,’ these occasions seem to inspire much food-related conflict: should stuffing have fruit in it? Is green bean casserole delicious, or repellant? Is deep-frying a turkey awesome, or deeply terrifying?
Neither Brion or I like the traditional ‘candied yams’, but after making some savory sweet potato bread around Easter this year, I got an idea. Why couldn’t this bread be used in a stuffing for the turkey?? Here’s what evolved from that idea.
HAPPY BIRTHDAY RITA! WE LOVE YOU & CELEBRATE YOU ON YOUR DAY.
SEASONINGS GREETINGS TO EVERYONE WHO ENJOYS & FOLLOWS OUR BLOG
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- 1/3 cup butter,
- 3/4 cup onion, chopped
- 2 stalks celery, chopped
- 2 cloves garlic, minced
- 100 gm mushrooms, chopped
- 1 1/2 tsp rubbed sage leaves
- 3/4 tsp dried summer savory
- 1 tsp sea salt
- 1/2 tsp pepper
- 400 gm (1/2 loaf) SAVORY SWEET POTATO bread cubes See notes about recipe.
- 1 cup chicken or vegetable broth
- 1.3 kg (2 1/2 LBS) boneless/skinless turkey breast, butterflied
- 1 Tbsp butter,
- 1/2 tsp EACH parsley, rosemary, sage leaves & thyme
- 1/2 tsp smoked paprika
Ingredients
Savory Stuffing
Turkey
Herb Butter
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- In a saucepan, sauté onion, celery, garlic, mushrooms & seasonings in margarine. Remove from heat. Place vegetable/seasoning mixture in a large bowl & combine with dry sweet potato bread cubes & broth, adding only enough broth to make proper stuffing consistency. Set aside.
- Preheat oven to 350 F.
- Lay turkey breast on a clean work surface so that it lies open & flat. Cover with plastic wrap, then pound lightly with a meat mallet to flatten into an even thickness all over. Discard plastic wrap. Spread the inside of each half with a bit of the herb butter.
- On one half of the turkey breast place a thick layer of the savory. Fold the adjoining half of the turkey breast overall. Fasten with metal skewers if you wish to help to keep stuffing enclosed.
- Place a wire rack in a roasting pan & lay stuffed turkey roast on it. Brush herb butter over turkey breast. Roast uncovered, until turkey reaches an internal temperature of 180 F. about 2 hours. Cover loosely with foil if top browns too quickly.
- Place any extra savory stuffing in a buttered casserole & bake for about 30 minutes, until the top is lightly toasted.
- Remove turkey breast from oven, tent with foil & allow to rest for about 5-10 minutes. Slice & serve with extra stuffing.
- The recipe for my savory sweet potato bread was previously posted for an Easter Brunch on April 17/2022. I made one recipe & used half of the loaf for this stuffing.