Shelly's Recipe

GRILLED TURKEY BREAST WITH SPICED ALMOND BUTTER

Category: Poultry I

1/3 cup butter, softened
1/3 cup finely chopped slivered almonds or chopped pine nuts
1/4 cup snipped fresh parsley
1 tsp finely shredded lemon, orange or tangerine peel
1 tbsp lemon, orange or tangerine juice
2 large cloves garlic, minced
1/2 tsp ground allspice or ground ginger
1/2 tsp freshly ground black pepper
1 (5- to 6-lb) whole turkey breast with bone (thawed, if frozen)

In a small bowl, combine butter, almonds, parsley, lemon peel and juice, garlic, allspice and pepper. Cover and chill in freezer for 10 minutes or in refrigerator for 20 minutes or until easy to handle.

Starting at the breast bone, slip your fingers between skin and meat to loosen skin, leaving skin attached at the sides to make a pocket. Lift skin and spread the slightly chilled butter mixture under skin of turkey.

Place the turkey, breast side up, on a rack in a shallow roasting pan. (To protect your roasting pan on the grill and keep it from darkening, cover the outside of the pan with heavy foil.) Insert a meat thermometer into the thickest part of the breast without touching bone.

For a charcoal grill, arrange medium-hot coals around edges of grill. Test for medium heat in center of grill. Place turkey in roasting pan on grill rack in center of grill. Cover; grill for 1-3/4 to 2 hours or until thermometer registers 170. (For a gas grill, preheat grill. Reduce heat to medium. Adjust for indirect cooking. Grill as above.)

Remove turkey from grill and cover loosely with foil. Let stand for 10 minutes before carving. Carve turkey into thin slices. Serves 8 to 10.