Food update - Turkey recipe

With all this sleep I'm getting (that Critter Girl slept 9.5 hours straight last night!!!!), I can begin to think about cooking again. So after bitching about the food rut we've been in, and your lovely suggestions, I've done some yummy things over the last few days. Here's one recap for those of you that may be looking to cook too.

I'll preface this by saying I'm not big on following recipes exactly or using exact measurements - I believe in learning cooking techniques and making a "recipe" your own.

First, the turkey breast. I bought a whole breast, so 2 big lobes on the bone. Like a 6 lb thing. I broke it down, into 2 boneless lobes of about 1.5 lbs each, and the bones. I made roast turkey with one lobe, which for all you turkey sandwich lovers should be required versus that yucky deli stuff.

To roast in a 400-425 oven, I tie up the boneless breast, just so it is more compact/even. I put the breast in an oven-proof pan (a big frying pan is good, but not non-stick!) on top of veggies (potatoes, sweet taters, onion, celery, carrot - really whatever you like or have around) tossed in a bit of olive oil and s&p. Lots of s&p on the turkey breast too. I'd say it takes about 1 hour 15 - 30 minutes. I swear by the fancy-but-worth-every-penny instant read thermometer I have, you're looking for a temp of 160-ish, and the juices should run clear/yellowish.

Take out the breast, put it on a cutting board (or something with sides to catch the juices) to rest, stick the veg back in the oven for 5-10 minutes to brown up a bit more, then remove the veg from the pan. Put that pan with all the browned bits of goodness on the stove on med-high heat, throw in a pat of butter or more olive oil if the pan looks dry, a sprinkle or two of flour, stir it up (it will look lumpy and scary) and then add some chicken broth/water to deglaze. Maybe a cup, cup and a half. Whisk together and scrape up all the browned bits, stir it all up let it boil til it thickens and yum - gravy. Don't forget to add any accumulated juices from the resting turkey breast!

Seriously, this was so good! And very little hands-on time, so it could cook while I'm doing baby nighttime routine stuff. And leftovers were great!

Tomorrow, a yummy new pasta recipe to share. With only 5 ingredients.