Turkey for me, and turkey for you

Turkey? But it's not Thanksgiving or lunch-time, you say. Question: why is it that we in the US only use turkey in thin slices on bread for pack lunches or feel as though we need to do turkey "with all the trimmings" even when it's not Thanksgiving (Jim: Guilty!)? What about just a roast turkey breast in place of chicken? Why so rigid when it comes to turkey, a fowl with a distinct, excellent flavor?

Well, we didn't start out wanting to cook turkey; we just wanted a meal that could be marinated the night before and then just thrown into the oven so that Peta wouldn't have to sauté stuff or have multiple pans going while juggling the bambino. So roast meats with a quick veg and starch seemed like the way to go. We used the Ottolenghi cookbook that Peta's brother gave us as a gift and started hunting for recipes. We came across a few that we'll be doing in the future: Roast Chicken with Saffron, Hazelnuts and Honey; Roast Chicken with Sumac, Za'atar and Lemon and Marinated Rack of Lamb with Coriander and Honey but the one that caught our eye was --

Marinated Turkey Breast with Cumin, Coriander and White Wine:
We won't type it all here because you want to buy this book, but suffice it to say you blend the mint, parsley, coriander, garlic, lemon juice, olive oil, white wine, cumin, salt and pepper, dump it over the turkey, let in marinate overnight and then roast starting high and ending low temperature-wise. Then let the meat rest for 10 minutes while you reduce the left-over marinade and de-fatted pan juices into your sauce. So many people forget to let the meat rest. We would spare you that pain...

We served this roast turkey over couscous with sun-dried tomatoes and (homemade!) preserved lemons along with a shaved fennel and grapefruit salad.

Sound good? It was!