Oven Roasted Turkey Breast

Prepping the turkey breast

1. Place the turkey breast on a plate and sprinkle kosher salt over the whole turkey breast (make sure to sprinkle salt under the breast, as well as under the skin. Lift the skin carefully when you do this, making sure not to tear or detach the skin from the beast). You can sprinkle a little salt over the skin as well, but not too much. Cover the plate with plastic wrap and leave the turkey breast to marinate in the fridge overnight, or up to 2 - 3 days.

Roasting turkey breast

1. On the day you're roasting the turkey breast - remove the turkey breast from the fridge at least an hour before you plan to roast it. Pat dry the turkey breast with paper towels.
2. Mix the cajun spice rub, sugar, and vegetable oil together to make a spice paste. Rub ½ of the paste under the turkey breast skin. Rub a little of the spice paste over the skin, and then rub the rest of the paste on the bottom of the turkey breast, and sides, making sure the breast is completely covered with the cajun spice paste.
3. Preheat your oven to 300°F / 150°C. Line a quarter sheet pan with foil and place a wire rack over the sheet pan. Pour about 1 cup of the stock into the quarter sheet pan and place the marinated turkey breast on the wire rack.
4. When the turkey breast has reached room temperature, cover just the turkey breast with foil and transfer it to the preheated oven to cook.
5. Check on the turkey and pan drippings at 60 minutes. If the liquid is low, add the other cup of stock as well.
6. Check the temperature of the turkey breast after 1.5 hours. Insert the meat thermometer into the thickest part of the roast to check the internal temperature. Check every 10 minutes or so at this stage, until the temp. registers 160°F (this takes about 2 hours for me in my oven).
7. Remove the turkey breast from the oven and keep it covered with foil for at least 20 minutes.
8. MAKE AHEAD - If you'd like to cook this turkey breast roast ahead of time to save time on Thanksgiving/Christmas day, STOP HERE AT THIS STEP. Then once the turkey has cooled down, wrap the roast and place it in an airtight container, in the fridge for up to 2 days. Put the roast turkey drippings in a separate container/bowl to make gravy with it later.

Before serving the roast (on the day of)

1. If you kept the turkey roast in the fridge, remove it at least 40 minutes before grilling to let the roast come to room temperature.
2. Preheat the broiler/grill to high, and position the oven rack in the upper ⅓ of your oven.
3. Place the turkey roast on a foil covered roasting pan (or quarter sheet pan), and drizzle some oil/melted butter over the surface, and brush it on evenly.
4. When the broiler is preheated and ready - place the pan with the roast under the broiler for a few minutes, just until the turkey roast caramelizes on the surface. (If parts of the turkey roast are caramelizing too fast, use a piece of foil to cover that area, and continue to broil until the roast is evenly caramelized).
5. This can take 5-10 minutes, and you MUST KEEP AN EYE ON THE ROAST AS IT BROILS, to prevent it from burning.
6. When ready, remove the roast from the oven and serve with other side dishes and turkey gravy.

Turkey gravy

1. Measure how much pan drippings you get from the turkey roast in a measuring cup.
2. Add enough turkey stock/broth (or chicken stock/broth), to make 2 cups of liquid.
3. Place the butter in a pot and let it melt over medium heat. When the butter has melted, add the flour and whisk until there are no lumps in the flour. Keep stirring this roux until the color changes to brown, and it smells quite nutty.
4. Whisk in the stock and pan drippings and continue to whisk until there are no flour lumps. Bring the gravy to a boil and then lower the heat. Cook until you have a gravy with a desired consistency. If the gravy becomes too thick, you can add more stock to thin it out. Taste the gravy and season with extra salt if needed.
5. Pour the gravy into a bowl and cover with plastic wrap. Make sure the plastic wrap is touching the surface to prevent any gravy skin from forming on top.