This, to me, is one of the most delicious ways to prepare turkey breast, and in the summer it's hard to beat. If you don't want to do this now, cut and paste this and save it for the dog days of summer. There’s a classic European dish of roasted veal breast in tuna sauce, vitello tonnato. Julia Child adapted it for poached turkey breast instead of veal. (It’s much cheaper and more tender, and it works very well.) This recipe is ideal for hot weather, especially for a luncheon for several people. You make the entire recipe a day or two in advance: the day of the lunch, all you have to do is take the dish out of the fridge and, if desired, decorate it a bit. You can serve this dish with a salad, or make sandwiches with it, or just eat it plain. Delicious. If you don’t like capers, leave them out; it’ll still taste great. I’m reproducing the recipe exactly as Julia has it, but I would note that when I made it I found that the Dijon mustard tended to overpower the other ingredients; even though she calls for 2 to 3 tablespoons, I’d start with only 1 tablespoon and add a little more if needed. (I know it takes chutzpah to overrule Julia, but there you have it.) While it calls for poached turkey breast (and I include her directions for poaching a turkey breast) if you just want to try out the sauce, you can ‘cheat’ and go to the deli and get several slices of precooked turkey breast and use that. (I’ve done that ; works great, although it ends up costing about three times as much as poaching a turkey breast on your own.) She makes the point that you don’t serve it as sliced turkey with a sauce on the side; you need to smear each slice with the sauce and let the slices absorb the flavors for a day or two. You can make the sauce in either a blender or a food processor. If you have a food processor, though, the sauce is extremely easy to make. In fact, my Cuisinart has a push-tube with a hole in it that is designed to drip oil at just the right speed for emulsifying with the other ingredients. Tacchino Tonnato from Julia Child’s The Way to Cook (Cold Sliced turkey breast in tuna and anchovy sauce) For 8 or more servings 1 - 7 oz tin (1 cup) tuna packed in water, drained 1 - 2oz tin of flat fillets of anchovies packed in olive oil, drained One-fourth cup capers, squeezed dry The grated peel of one half lemon 2 to 3 tbsp Dijon-type prepared mustard (you may wish to start with just one and add more if needed) 1 large clove of garlic, pureed, then mashed to a very fine paste with one-fourth tsp salt 4 egg yolks 1 to 1 ½ cups or more virgin olive oil Drops of lemon juice Salt and freshly ground white pepper One 6-pound poached turkey breast (recipe follows this one) or 16 to 20 generous but thin slices of cooked turkey breast Decorations: 1/3 cup capers, drained; coarsely chopped parsley; lemon wedges The sauce. Puree the tuna, anchovies, capers, lemon peel, mustard and garlic paste in the machine, then add the egg yolks and puree several seconds, until the mixture has thickened. Finally, with the motor running, start adding the oil in a very thin stream of droplets, and continue without pause until three-fourths of a cup of oil has gone in and the sauce has thickened into a heavy cream. It will not be as thick as mayonnaise, but should hold itself in creamy suspension. Process in one-half cup more of oil, depending on how thick a sauce you wish to have. Season carefully to taste with lemon juice, salt and pepper; the sauce should have character, but should not be too strong in taste or it will kill off the turkey. Slicing the turkey. If you are using a poached turkey breast, discard the skin. Carefully remove in one piece the whole side of each breast from the carcass. Cut the meat at a slant crosswise (across the grain) into elegant slices less than 1/8 inch thick. Assembling. Spoon a layer of sauce in the bottom of a serving platter, and arrange the turkey on top, spreading each slice with a coating of sauce. Cover with plastic wrap and refrigerate for 24 to 48 hours before serving. Serving. Let the platter sit at room temperature for 20 minutes to take off the chill. Meanwhile sprinkle on the capers and parsley, and decorate with lemon wedges. Poached Turkey Breast Set up a 6-pound bone-in breast of turkey breast up in a kettle just large enough to hold it comfortably, surround it with 1 cup each of chopped carrots, onions and celery, and a large herb bouquet. Pour in 2 cups of chicken broth, 1 cup of dry white French vermouth or dry white wine, and enough water to cover the breast by ½ inch. Bring to the simmer on top of the stove; skim off the gray scum, which will continue to rise for several minutes. Salt lightly, then cover the pot loosely and maintain at the bare simmer for 2 to 2 ½ hours, adding a little boiling water if the liquid evaporates to expose the turkey. It’s done when a meat thermometer, pushed in to the thickest part of the meat near the shoulder (but not touching bone) reads 162 to 165 F. Let the turkey cool in its broth for at least 30 minutes. Refrigerate uncovered; when chilled, remove the turkey to a covered container.

I am making two 9 lb breasts this year. I have them thawing now and will brine them just over night so I'll need them completely thawed by Wed. I have a cell phone pic of my ahem breasts if anyone wants to see LOL!!! No seriously I am taking lots of pics this year to make a scrapbook to pass along to DD. Shhhh!!! Its a secret. I plan to document the entire meal all the prep, tips, serving ect... Cheers! Susie

Yeah you don't want the "cake" turkey. It's chopped up and reformed into a "loaf". LOL I bought a fresh turkey breast yesterday, however, they were frozen..so I stuck it into my freezer until Monday. Just check in your local grocery store near the "whole" chickens or turkey parts. Like ground turkey and such.

LOL Nancy, I'm sure those puppies just can't wait for holidays! They'll probably leave hints about Thanksgiving is year round and Christmas in July! Doing gravy in an electric roaster is kind of a personal preference. I think you'd be better off to take the cookwell and put on the stove. A lot depends on the roaster. Nesco does NOT heat from the bottom. They call it the "circle of heat" since it's in all the sides of the unit which helps keep things from burning on the bottom and the heat is more even. My mother used to make the gravy in the roaster. (I don't remember the brand but it was not Nesco) She'd crank it up full blast but as I recall hers had a heating element in the bottom. A cousin takes the cookwell and puts on the stove. Neither of her roasters are Nesco brand. I have the Roast Air attachment that fits my 6 qt. Now THAT will give you nice crispy skin! I used to just cock the top and let a lot of the moisture out and frequently take a baster and pull the juices out to help dry and crisp the skin, which did work. Now I let it cook and then about the last 1/2 hour or so I turn on the fan and even turn up the heat a bit and the convection action will crisp and brown things up. Be warned though, when the fan goes on, it will blast the juices around so you might want to pull some of them out just in case. The convection action also evaporates it more too. I never thought about the gluten issue on prebasted meats. I usually prefer to get a non-basted if I have a choice but the cheap ones usually are injected. Maybe look at organic or something? I'm not sure about that. Should ask my sister about that since she's Celiac but I know she's still confused on a lot of the things related to it.