Wednesday, January 20, 2010

Turkey Pesto Roll - A Real Hometown Favorite!

Another dish that reminds me of home. My mom made this like once a week growing up, then it tapered off, but now its back! We ate it a lot this summer, and I finally took the step of faith and tried my hand at it. It was pretty successful, but I had a good teacher!

Turkey Pesto Roll

1 lb ground turkey
1 egg
1 cup bread crumbs
1 cup basil leaves
1/4 cup parsley leaves
1/2 cup parmesan cheese
3 garlic cloves, peeled
1/4 cup oil
1/2 t salt
1/4 t ground black pepper
Some Kind of Tomato/Pasta Sauce to serve over top

We always serve this dish with whole wheat pasta, but choose any veggie or grain!

How to Start:

PREHEAT the oven to 375

Take the first 3 ingredients and mix/mash well in a large bowl



Now, on wax paper, or aluminum foil (I went with foil) - push down your turkey and form into a rectangle. DO NOT ATTEMPT TO DO SO WITH A ROLLING PIN. Just get your hands messy!




As you can tell, perfection is not required! Now, take the rest of your ingredients and put them all in a food processor.



Pulse until everything is well combined. GREEN IS GOOD!




Now, reserve about a tablespoon of that yummy pesto, and spread the rest all over the turkey:




Now, this is not hard, I promise. DON'T BE INTIMIDATED! Start to lift up the foil and roll the turkey. Kind of peel it off the foil as you go. Here's how it will start to look as you go



Keep lifting the foil, and rolling the turkey, until you have a soild roll. Place it seam side down on a greased baking sheet, and spread the remaining pesto over top




Bake in the oven for 40 minutes at 375 degrees. Meanwhile, heat up your pasta sauce to serve alongside, and if you are making pasta, start cooking it when this guy has about 15 minutes to go!

And when its ready, take it on out and start slicing it and serving topped with tomato sauce




You want to see the inside, don't you?

As you wish!




Its pesto all the way through- EVERY BITE! This dish is sooo good. Enjoy :)






3 comments:

  1. I have always loved this recipe - this reminds me that I need to cook it again!!!

    Aunt Kel, the anonymous poster!!

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  2. This looks so good! I am majoring in exercise science as well, so eating good food is really important to me(not so much to my husband though lol). Anyway thanks for all these wonderful recipies! Keep the faith, Kat

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  3. This is SOOOOO good. It turned out perfectly and looked great, definitely something to serve for company. Thanks Aly!

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