Rolled Turkey Roast with Lemon Quinoa

Alright alright.. I don't always eat salad.  Actually, I only eat salads by craving.  I went through a major salad craze that may not be completely over, but tonight I took a salad break for some roasted food.

Here in France, you can find turkey breast rolled into a roast and bound together with string.  It's actually a strange concept, but works well.  Since it's rolled, they stay moist throughout the roasting instead of becoming dry as if you roasted just a full breast.  It's a concept I like because it stays together well like a log in the oven, and then slices nicely with no bone in the way.

Since I was turning the oven on to roast, I decided to use it to its full extent and roast some eggplant slices, tomato, and zucchini in there as well, you know, to kill 2 birds.

This was a great idea, by the way.  There are few more exciting ways to "déguste" these types of vegetables than roasted or grilled.  The tomatoes become just sublime, the eggplant creamy, and the zucchini just mildly colored and still crunchy.

I also did a no fuss deal.  My rolled turkey roast was frozen when I plopped it into the oven with a drizzle of olive oil, some fleur de sel, and some thyme.  I cooked it at 190°C for about an hour and a half, basting every once in a while.

About halfway through, I slid some olive oiled zucchini sticks, eggplant slices, and tomatoes into the oven.  I sprinkled all fo it with a touch of fleur de sel, some piment d'espelette, some black pepper, and some thyme.

I also cooked up about a cup of quinoa with 1 cup salted water, juice from 1/2 lemon, 1 large grated garlic clove, and 2 Tbsp chopped basil.  I cooked this covered on low until all the liquid was absorbed.

The end result was both hot, creamy, tangy, and meaty.  The lemony quinoa with basil made my heart leap.  

This was exactly the type of comfort I needed to calm my violent uproar of voices in my head.. making me take long deep breaths with my eyes closed and my head slightly tilted back.

Hopefully this remedy will work at least until tomorrow..