Turkey is one of those things that once you’ve done it once and are over the fear of actually cooking it, you realize that there was nothing to really be afraid of in the first place. Thanksgiving is actually a fairly easy meal to bring together, most of the smaller details like vegetable sides can be done in advance and the gravy is relatively simple to make once the turkey is out of the oven resting. As I mentioned in the menu post I like to keep things simple and fairly traditional. The focus of the meal is always the turkey, the vegetables that you serve on the side could not compete so why stress yourself out with fancy sides when you could be enjoying some wine with your guests?
Organic Roasted Turkey with Sage, Thyme and Parsley Butter, Pan Gravy and Stuffing
The Turkey
1/4 cup finely chopped fresh thyme
1/4 cup finely chopped fresh parsley
1/4 cup finely chopped fresh sage
1 stick butter, at room temperature
1 12-14-lb. organic turkey
2 large carrots, cut in half
3 medium celery stalks, cut in half
1 yellow onion cut into quarters
The Stuffing – adapted from fine cooking
12 cups white bread, cut into 1/2 inch cubes
2 tablespoons butter
2 large yellow onions, cut into medium dice
2 large celery stalks, cut into medium dice
1/2 cup finely chopped fresh Italian parsley
2 tablespoons finely chopped fresh sage
2 tablespoons finely chopped fresh thyme
2 large eggs, lightly beaten
liver from the turkey, finely chopped
2 -3 cups chicken broth
Kosher sale and freshly ground black pepper to taste
The Gravy – adapted from Fine Cooking
1/2 cup dry white wine
1 1/2 cups organic chicken broth
1/4 cup flour
Let’s start with the turkey.
Remove the neck, tail, heart, liver and gizzard from the cavity of the bird, reserving the neck and the liver. Wash the bird thoroughly inside and out and then pat dry making sure to remove as much moisture as possible. At this stage you could refrigerate the bird uncovered over night, but if your fridge is anything like mine on Thanksgiving there won’t be any room for a 14 lb turkey, don’t sweat it, just let it dry out a bit on the counter while you get the stuffing and herb butter together. I let my 14 pound turkey come up to room temperature for about an hour before I seasoned and roasted it.
(This would be a good time to get the stuffing mixture together, so that once the turkey has come up to room tempurature you are ready to go.)
Once the turkey has had a chance to come up to room temperature get your roasting pan together. Put the carrots, celery and onion in the center of a large roasting pan along with the neck.
Combine the butter, freshly chopped parsley, sage and thyme and rub the herb butter under the skin all over the breasts, thighs, wings and inside the cavity.
For the stuffing:
Heat the 2 tablespoons of butter in a large frying pan over medium heat. Saute the diced onions and celery until translucent but not brown, about 10 minutes. Let cool.
In a large bowl mix the bread cubes with the the sauteed onions and celery, add the parsley, sage and thyme. Add 2 cups of chicken broth, eggs, chopped liver salt and pepper and mix to combine. If the mixture is quite dry, and this will depend on the type of bread you use, add some more broth 1/2 cup at a time until the bread is moist but not soggy.
Putting it all together:
Preheat your oven to 400 f
I’m a big fan of stuffing the turkey. I know it’s quite common to make the stuffing on the side but I find that the soft pudding like texture that I find the most desirable stuffing’s to have is not quite attainable when you cook it separate from the turkey. Not to mention that this eliminates the need to cook another dish on the side.
Before you stuff the turkey make sure to generously season the cavity with salt and pepper. Tightly stuff the turkey in both the front and main cavity if necessary. With this recipe I was able to fit all of the stuffing inside the turkey. With some twine or a few metal skewers sew the bird shut on both ends so that none of the stuffing can fall out. Season the outside of the Turkey, top to bottom, generously with salt and pepper.
Once the turkey is stuffed and seasoned tuck the wings behind the turkey and tie the legs together with some twine and set the turkey breast side down on top of the carrots, celery and onion in your roasting pan. Roast for 1 hour.
After an hour of roasting remove the turkey from the oven and baste the top and sides with some of the pan drippings. Turn the turkey breast side up and baste the top as well. Continue to raost the turkey until a thermometer inserted into the thickest part of the thigh reads 175 f , basting it every 20 minutes or so. If you find that the turkey is getting too brown on top, you can lightly place a piece of tin foil over it. This will depend on your oven, I had to reduce the temperature to 350 f and use the tin foil as my oven is quite hot. Also, keep an eye on the vegetables and drippings as you don’t want to burn them, if they are starting to get too dark add a 1/4 cup of water to the roasting pan. I had to do this several times.
Once the turkey is done remove it from the oven and transfer it to a carving board, cover with tin foil and let rest for at least 40 minutes before carving. I try to let it rest for closer to an hour if I can.
Before carving remove the stuffing from both cavities and place into a warm oven proof serving dish. Transfer the stuffing to the oven and keep warm until the turkey is carved.
Note: As soon as the turkey comes out of the oven, maybe just a few minutes before, I turn my potatoes on to boil. I find that when cooking for a crowd the mashed potato process can take about an hour.
For the Gravy:
Remove the neck. Set the roasting pan over medium heat, I use two burners for this as my pan is quite large. Add the wine and mix all of the brown drippings together into the wine with a wooden spoon. Let this reduce by half. Once reduced strain the contents of the pan into a bowl. Discard the solids and transfer the drippings into a medium sized sauce pan and combine the drippings with the chicken broth. Let sit and skim off the fat that rises to the top.
In another saucepan, heat 4 tablespoons of the fat from the drippings, if you dont have that much substiute in olive oil, once hot whisk in the flour. Cook whiskin constantly for 2 minutes to being careful not to burn. Add in 1/2 cup of the chicken stock/dippings mixture as soon as it thickens whisk in another 1/2 cup. Repeat this until you have used up all of the broth and drippings and you have a smooth and relatively thin gravy. Simmer for 5 – 10 minutes. If you prefer a thicker gravy you can continue to simmer until thickened to your liking. Season to taste and transfer to a gravy boat and serve with carved turkey.
