Roast Turkey with Mush­room Risot­to and Broccolini

Roast Turkey with Mush­room Risot­to and Broccolini
(serves five peo­ple awful­ly hap­py to eat din­ner togeth­er in Iowa)

1 large turkey breast, on the bone (not split, crucially)
6 tbsps butter
4 tbsps olive oil
1/2 tsp each: dried basil, oregano, papri­ka, gar­lic salt
2 cloves gar­lic, minced
4 tbsps minced onion
1 1/2 cup arbo­rio, or risot­to rice
two hand­fuls baby porta­bel­la or but­ton mush­rooms, chopped roughly
1/2 cup white wine
at least 4 cups chick­en broth (canned!)
1 cup fresh grat­ed pecori­no or parme­san cheese
1/2 tbsps fresh thyme leaves (not the stems)
3 bunch­es broc­col­i­ni, trimmed and rinsed
fresh ground pep­per, and salt to taste

So here’s what you do. Two and a half hours before you want to eat, pre­heat your oven to 325 degrees. Spray an oven-safe dish large enough for the turkey breast with non­stick spray. Lay the turkey breast in the dish, sprin­kle with herbs and place 3 tbsps of the but­ter, in pats, along the top of the breast. Roast for two hours.

Mean­while, mince your gar­lic and onion and tear off your thyme leaves. Grate your cheese. Trim your broc­col­i­ni and lay it in a skil­let cov­ered with 2 tbsps of the olive oil, and some salt.

Half an hour before you want to eat, place the remain­ing but­ter and olive oil in a heavy-bot­tomed saucepan. Melt and saute the onion and gar­lic, then toss in the rice and stir till com­plete­ly coat­ed. Add the mush­rooms. Add the white wine and stir over low-medi­um heat till absorbed. Now, add the chick­en stock a bit at a time, maybe half a cup at a time, and stir con­tin­u­ous­ly as you do so, adjust­ing the heat so the liq­uid is absorb­ing steadi­ly but the mix­ture nev­er spits at you. If you have a will­ing and gra­cious moth­er-in-law, she could do this while you do the oth­er bits and pieces.

Ten min­utes before you want to eat, put the heat on under the broc­col­i­ni and stir with tongs, lift­ing up the stalks so they get saut­ed gen­tly on both sides. Mean­while, get the risot­to to the con­sis­ten­cy you want (I like wet but not run­ny), and remove from heat.

HERE’S THE MAG­I­CAL PART. Take the turkey breast out of the oven and drain all the cook­ing liq­uids from the dish into the risot­to. It will be a mix­ture of turkey juices, but­ter and herbs. Sim­ply per­fect, and you can’t get that depth of fla­vor any oth­er way. Stir gen­tly, add the cheese and the thyme leaves and taste for salt and pepper.

Carve your turkey breast and you’re in busi­ness. Enjoy.