roasted turkey breast with bacon and herbs

These big get-togethers are great and it’s a priceless opportunity to visit with my family, relax, and basically gorge ourselves on the scrumptious fair, but the problem is this: not having the large amounts of leftovers to take home, in which to live off of the rest of the weekend. For me, it’s not Thanksgiving unless I am eating turkey, stuffing, cranberry and sweet potatoes in some form or another until the beginning of the following week.

An opportunity presented itself a few years back when my husband’s cousin, Dan, began visiting us every year for Thanksgiving. He was a piano student at the University of Cincinnati, Conservatory of Music and for the four years he was in school, Dan would drive up and visit us for Thanksgiving weekend. He would bring us Graeter’s ice cream from Cinci, I would make us a big crock pot full of sausage and peppers for Wednesday night’s dinner, and he always, always helpped my husband put up the outside Christmas lights. His visits also gave me a great excuse to cook up a Day-After-Thanksgiving-Meal that would generate the perfect amount of leftovers to see us through the weekend. These day-after-Thanksgiving recipes are the ones that make up ‘My Ultimate Thanksgiving’.

‘My Ultimate Thanksgiving’ meal has to start with the turkey-because we all know that the turkey is the showpiece of the meal. Now, because I was roasting a turkey to essentially create the traditional ‘Thanksgiving leftovers’ I knew that I didn’t need to roast a whole bird. A whole breast, on the other hand, would be perfect.

Luck found me, while I was menu planning that first year, by the way of the Martha Stewart Show. It was recently after she and Emeril joined forces, and he appeared on her show making this unbelievably brilliant looking Bacon and Herb Roasted Turkey Breast. My eyes were glued to the screen and I knew as soon as Emeril said ‘fried bacon’ that I had found my recipe.

 

I have made this turkey breast every year since Dan’s first visit. It is knock-your-socks-off good on the first day and it also makes the best turkey leftovers you’ll ever taste.

Last year was the first Thanksgiving after Dan’s graduation and it just wasn’t the same without him. Frankly, I am not as good maneuvering an extension ladder to put up Christmas lights as he is. He’s graduated now, and is a professional musician living and working in the Big Apple. We’ll miss him again this year, too.

This turkey is for you, Dan!