The Best Roast Turkey, Christmas or Any Time

The turkey is always the highlight of any Christmas or year end party.  This year, I made a sudden decision to sail into unchartered waters with the turkey - My first attempt with roasting a turkey, all by myself.  Except that E had helped to reserve the turkey from the deli, and mom had helped to bathe the turkey.  Boy, I tell you, a turkey sure looks intimidating.  I've never cooked anything which requires two days of thawing time so I did find the fowl a bit daunting in the beginning.  And mine is only 5 kg.  I can't imagine having to cook an 8 to 9 kg turkey,  I'll probably need to use Little Missy's old bathtub to clean it, for it will not fit into my sink.

Days before the cookout, I poured through my cookbooks in search for a perfect recipe.  I only found one which is agreeable to my palate and that is from Cook with Jamie by Jamie Oliver (JO).

This is sort-of a non-conformist roast turkey, where the stuffing is not exactly stuffed within the cavity of the turkey, but tucked nicely between the turkey’s skin and breasts !  JO had come up with this idea to increase the thickness of the breasts so that they will cook evenly with the legs.  I quote from JO "One of the biggest challenges when cooking a turkey is the legs take longer than the breasts. The breasts dry out in the oven while you’re waiting for the legs to cook. I like to push stuffing between the turkey’s skin and breasts, increasing the thickness of the breasts so they take the same time to cook as the legs. The result? Juicy turkey all round!"

What a great idea. 

By the way, no SOS signals were sent out during the process of roasting this turkey, although the only thing I wasn't too certain was how to truss that damn turkey.  E must have been not very convinced about my turkey skills and had stopped by for an inspection check.  The result ? I am glad to report that my first attempt was a resounding success; look at her, what a beauty.

You will need:

50g butter

A sprig of fresh sage, leaves picked
12 strips of pancetta or thinly sliced streaky bacon
1 bulb of garlic, broken into cloves
4 medium red onions, peeled
2 sticks of celery, trimmed and chopped
A big handful of breadcrumbs
A handful of dried apricots
300g minced pork
Zest of 1 lemon (I omitted)
A pinch of grated nutmeg (I omitted)
1 large free-range or organic egg
Sea salt and freshly ground black pepper
12 small fresh rosemary sprigs, plus a few extra
4–4.5 kg, preferably free-range or organic, at room temperature (Mine was 5 kg)
2 carrots, peeled
1 large orange
Olive oil
2 tbsp plain flour
1.1 litres chicken or vegetable stock (I used turkey stock, which I made with the turkey's innards)

Preparation:
Preheat the oven to maximum. Heat a saucepan until medium hot and drop in the butter, sage leaves and 6 of the pancetta or bacon strips. Peel and chop 2 garlic cloves and 1 onion. Add the garlic, celery and onion to the saucepan and fry everything gently until soft and golden brown. Take the pan off the heat, add the breadcrumbs and, while the mix is cooling down, chop the apricots roughly and stir them in. When the stuffing has cooled down, add the pork, lemon zest, nutmeg, egg and lots of salt and pepper, and mix everything together well.

Slice the remaining strips of pancetta or bacon in half and slice 1 peeled garlic clove into thin slivers. Place a rosemary sprig and a garlic sliver on one end of a halved strip of pancetta and roll it up tightly. Repeat with the other pieces of pancetta until you have 12 little rolls. Stab the thighs and drumsticks of the turkey in 6 places on each side. Push a little pancetta roll into each hole until it just peeps out. This’ll give your turkey thighs a fantastic flavour and will keep them moist while they cook.

Chop the remaining onions in half and slice the carrots thickly. Give your turkey a good wipe, inside and out, with kitchen paper, and place it on a board, with the neck end towards you. Find the edge of the skin that's covering the turkey's breasts and gently peel it back. Work your fingers and then your hand under the skin, freeing it from the meat. If you're careful you should be able to pull all the skin away from the meat, keeping it attached at the sides. Go slowly and try not to make any holes! Lift the loose skin at the neck end and spoon the stuffing between the skin and the breast, tucking the flap of skin underneath to stop anything leaking out. Pop the orange in the microwave for 30 seconds to warm it up and stuff it into the cavity. Weigh the stuffed turkey and calculate the cooking time (about 20 minutes per 500g, I reduced my cooking time by 20 minutes as the turkey was done by then).

Place the bird on a large roasting tray, rub it all over with olive oil (I used butter) and season well. Surround with the chopped carrots, onions, remaining garlic, cover with tinfoil and place in the preheated oven. Turn the heat down right away to 180 deg C, and roast for the calculated time, or until the juices run clear from the thigh if you pierce with it a knife or a skewer. Remove the tinfoil for the last 45 minutes to brown the bird. Carefully lift the turkey out of the tray and rest on a board that’s covered loosely with foil for 20 minutes while you finish off the veg and gravy. Skim the surface fat from the roasting tray and add the flour and stock. Place the tray on the hob and bring to the boil on a high heat. When the gravy starts to thicken, strain it into a bowl. Carve your turkey, serve with the gravy (and cranberry sauce, if required) and dig in !