For the past few Christmases, we have been roasting our butcher’s turkey rolls, made from a whole turkey breast, with the dark meat from the legs rolled up inside the breast, along with herbs and spices. Upon request, our butcher will stuff the turkey rolls too.
This means no mess for me as they come from the oven, to the carving board and you just slice through the roll – the meat is always tender and juicy! I use a meat thermometer to roast the rolls to a perfect cooking time. These are 2 turkey rolls weighing 4 and 5 pounds each. I put a herbed coffee rub and some rosemary on the 2 rolls in the photo. I put 2 cups of red wine in the bottom of the roasting pan to keep the rolls moist and then baste the rolls in the wine. The wine with turkey roll drippings makes a great-tasting gravy!
Our butcher leaves the skin and fat cap on the rolls for extra flavour. Sometimes I layer bacon slices over the rolls but this time our bacon was used up for bacon-wrapped baked oysters, which we have as a snack before the turkey dinner.