Mario Batali's Stuffed Turkey

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Recipe creator's name:  dash
Preparation time:  30 minutes
Total time:  1 hour
Servings:  8
Ingredients:
  • 1 whole turkey breast (5–6 lb total), boned, halved, and butterflied by your butcher
  • Kosher salt and freshly ground black pepper
  • 3 Tbsp plus 1/4 cup extra-virgin olive oil
  • 1/2 lb pancetta, cut into 1/2-inch pieces 1 1/2 lb ground pork shoulder
  • 12 chestnuts, roasted, peeled, and halved
  • 10 prunes, pitted and quartered
  • 2 cups fresh bread crumbs
  • 1 cup Parmigiano-Reggiano, freshly grated
  • 2 eggs
  • 2 Tbsp freshly ground black pepper
  • Freshly grated nutmeg
  • 1 Tbsp fresh rosemary, chopped
  • 1 Tbsp sage, chopped
  • 3 cups dry white wine
Directions:

1. Pound butterflied breast halves to flatten, season with salt and pepper, and refrigerate overnight.

2. Preheat oven to 400°F.

3. In a 12- to 14-inch sauté pan, heat 3 Tbsp oil over medium-high until smoking. Add pancetta and cook until golden brown, 7 to 9 minutes. Add pork and cook for 25 minutes or until it starts to brown, stirring regularly.

4. Drain all but 4 Tbsp fat from pan and add chestnuts and prunes. Continue cooking for 8 minutes or until prunes start to soften. Remove from heat and allow to cool for about 20 minutes.

5. Add bread crumbs, Parmigiano, eggs, 2 Tbsp pepper, nutmeg, and herbs and mix well with your hands. (Overmixing can result in a lead torpedo for stuffing, so do not overdo it.) Place turkey breasts on a cutting board, skin side down, and divide stuffing between them. Roll each breast like a jelly roll and tie firmly in several places with butcher's twine. Place on a rack in a roasting pan, skin side up.

6. Pour 2 cups wine over turkey and season with salt and pepper. Roast until breasts are dark golden brown outside and a meat thermometer reads 165° at fattest part, about 1 hour (plus or minus 10 minutes).

7. Remove and allow to rest 15 minutes before carving. Add remaining 1 cup wine to roasting pan and deglaze, scraping with a wooden spoon. Cook for 5 minutes, then add remaining 1/4 cup oil. Shake pan to emulsify sauce and season with salt and pepper.

8. Carve roast into 1/2-inch-thick slices and drizzle with pan sauce. Serve.

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