PRESSED HERBS AND SPICES TURKEY BREAST

Source: Food Network (Rachael Ray)

After all this years i finally decided to cook turkey for Thanksgiving. Nope, not the whole bird=:)

I was watching Rachael Ray's Thanksgiving show and she made this recipe. It looked good, easy and interesting because of the ingredients. It is sort of an Indian/Middle Eastern fare.

I brined the turkey breast w/c was not required in this recipe, but it seems to me that majority of the Chefs recommends brining to make the turkey juicy.
It came out pretty good!!! It was juicy and moist. I will probably lessen the parsley next time because my daughter doesn't like too much parsley.

Ingredients:

3 tbsp. grill seasoning (Montreal Seasoning)
1 tbsp. ground cumin
1 tbsp. smoked sweet paprika
1 tbsp. coriander
4 tbsp fresh thyme leaves, 8 sprigs, stripped of stems
1 cup cilantro leaves, or 1/2 cup basil leaves
1 cup loosely packed flat-leaf parsley
1 cup shelled natural pistachios
Exra-virgin olive oil, for generous drizzling
2 boneless halved turkey breasts, about 3 pounds each

Procedure:

Preheat oven to 450 degress F.
*Preheat a 14 inch skillet or medium roasting pan over medium heat on your largest burner. *Mix grill seasoning, cumin, paprika and coriander together.
*Place the thyme, cilantro or basil, parsley and pistachios in the food processor and process into a paste.
*Remove bowl from processor and remove blade from bowl.
*Have a rubber spatula on hand.
*Drizzle extra-virgin olive oil generously over the breasts to coat the skin.
*Loosen skin of the breasts with a small sharp knife.
*Divide the herb and nut paste between the flesh and skin on each breast.
*Use your hands to move the paste around under the skin to evenly distribute the mixture.
*Coat the extra-virgin olive oil coated skin with the spice mixture.
*Set the coated breasts into the large skillet or roasting pan.
*Wash hands, Set a second slightly smaller skillet or pan on top of the breasts and weight down with a couple of bricks covered in foil.
*Crisp the skin 8 to 10 minutes then transfer meat to oven and roast 35 to 40 minutes, until and isntant-read meat thermometer registers 165 to 179 degrees F.
*Let turkey rest to distribute juices then thinly slice and serve with stuffing and gravy.
***It was moist, tender and juicy!!!

HUMUT AND LAMI KAAYO - VERY AROMATIC AND VERY DELICIOUS