Roasted Turkey Roulade with Gravy

Picture
Ingredients
1 turkey breast, skin on (approx 40 oz)
Filling
1 1/4 cups turkey leg meat, trimmed, cubed
1 egg white
salt and white pepper to taste
1 teaspoon thyme, chopped
1 teaspoon, parsley, chopped
For roasting
1 cup onion, peeled, roughly chopped
1/2 cup celery, roughly chopped
1/3 cup carrot, roughly chopped
2 cups chicken stock
salt and black pepper to taste

Gravy
2 tablespoons butter, melted
1/4 cup flour
salt and white pepper to taste
1 1/4 cups chicken stock

Directions
  1. Preheat the oven to 450F.
  2. Butterfly the turkey breast into a rectangle and place between 2 pieces of plastic wrap; tap the breast gently with a mallet (or back of a saucepan) until it is approx 1/2 inch thick then season and set aside.
  3. Place the leg meat and any breast meat trimmings in a chilled food processor bowl.
  4. Add the egg white and chop until smooth.
  5. Add the seasoning and herbs, and combine well. Cook a small portion to taste for seasoning and adjust if necessary.
  6. Lay the turkey breast meat out and top the breast meat with the chopped leg meat; leave a 1/2 inch margin on all sides.
  7. Roll up the turkey breast to form a tight roll. Truss the roll as you would a roast. Season to taste.
  8. Place the reserved turkey bones and the chopped vegetables in a roasting pan.
  9. Please the turkey roll on top and roast for 15 minutes to sear the meat. turn the oven down to 350F, add the chicken stock to the pan, and roast until the turkey reaches an internal temperature of 165F. Pull from the oven slightly before meat reaches 165F to allow for carryover cooking.
  10. Remove the roast form the oven. Place the turkey on a platter and keep warm. Strain pan juices and use to make gravy.
Gravy Directions
  1. Melt butter in a saucepan, add the flour and make a dark roux, cook about 8 minutes.
  2. After turkey is removed from the oven, deglaze the roasting pan with chicken stock and remove fond. You may take the mirepoix and process in a food processor and add to gravy as thickener if desired. This will add color, texture and flavor.
  3. Slowly add stock with fond to roux and whisk to incorporate. Continue to simmer gravy until nappe consistency, about 20 minutes. Add additional stock to thin gravy, as needed. 

Critique
Chef: Nicely cooked, good moisture, good seasoning. Roulades have nice appearance, can see the seasoning throughout the meat, could have been sliced thinner. Gravy has a nice color, not too dark or light.

Team/Personal: I thought this had a great flavor, you could taste the seasoning throughout. the gravy had a good thickness and flavor without using too much fat. Also, because we blended the mirepoix vegetables to thicken the gravy, simmering time was low, could have used more pepper.

Lessons Learned:
Roullades are great for service for several reasons. They retain moisture better, cook more evenly, have a nicer appearance on the plate and you can get seasoning throughout the meat. They are also easier to slice.

When roasting, you have the option to go form a high heat initially to a lower heat or start from the low heat and use high heat at the end. Either way, you will get a nice browning to the skin. the benefit to going low to high is that the skin will stay a little crispier since the meat will lose moisture while it is cooking, but the problem is that you need to make sure you are carefully attending to the meat in the last part of cooking so it doesn't get overcooked. This can be difficult sometimes in a busy kitchen setting, so it is important to know ahead of time if you will be able to watch the meat closely in the end if you choose this method.