Italian roast turkey
Christmas roast turkey with a difference, flavoured with garlic, lemon and rosemary
Difficulty and servings
Serves 8
Preparation and cooking times
Prep 30 mins
Cook 4 hrs 30 mins
based on 6kg bird
- Heat the oven to 180C/fan 160C/gas 4. Mix the butter with the lemon and season well. Gently push your fingers under the turkey's skin, starting from the neck end of the bird, easing the skin away from the flesh over both the breast and tops of the drumsticks - you'll have to slide your whole hand in to reach this far. Spread the lemon butter under the skin, pushing it as far in as you can, then smooth the skin back into place. Put the onion halves and bay leaves in the turkey cavity.
- Mix the garlic and rosemary with enough olive oil to make a paste, rub this over the skin of the turkey and sprinkle with salt flakes.
- Arrange the sliced onion in the bottom of a large roasting tin to act as a trivet for the bird and pour in the wine. Sit the turkey on top and cover both the bird and tin completely with foil to make a tent. Cook the turkey for 40 minutes per kilo, basting once or twice. Take out the turkey and turn up the oven to 220C/fan 200C/gas 7. Remove the foil and return to the oven for a further 30 minutes, or until the skin is golden. To test if it is cooked, pierce the fattest part of the thigh with a skewer - the juices that run out should be clear and not pink; keep cooking if the juices are pink and check again after each 10 minutes. If you like your turkey meat almost falling off the bones, test by wiggling the leg - it should give slightly if the meat is ready to come away from the bones.
- Rest the turkey, covered loosely with foil for at least 30 minutes and up to an hour before serving (this will also free up the oven for the parsnips and stuffing).
- To make the gravy, pour away any excess fat from the roasting tin but keep the onion slices - a fat separator will help with this. Set the tin over a medium heat, then sprinkle over the flour. Stir through and cook for 2 minutes, turning the onion over in the mixture to extract the flavour. Slowly stir in the wine, stock and juices and a little chopped rosemary. Bring to a boil, scraping bits from the bottom, then simmer over a low heat for 15 minutes. Season and sieve into a jug. Serve with the turkey.
PER SERVING
736 kcalories, protein 100.6g, carbohydrate 41g, fat 35.3 g, saturated fat 13.4g, fibre 0.7g, salt 1.23 g
Recipe from olive magazine, December 2010.
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Ingredients
- 1 oven-ready turkey , about 6kg
- 125g butter
- 1 lemon , zested and halved
- 2 large onions , peeled, 1 halved and 1 thickly sliced
- 2 bay leaves
- 1 garlic clove , crushed
- 1 sprig rosemary , leaves pulled off and finely chopped
- olive oil
- sea salt flakes, to sprinkle
- 2 glasses white wine
FOR THE GRAVY
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Difficulty and servings
Serves 8
Preparation and cooking times
Prep 30 mins
Cook 4 hrs 30 mins
based on 6kg birdIngredients
- 1 oven-ready turkey , about 6kg
- 125g butter
- 1 lemon , zested and halved
- 2 large onions , peeled, 1 halved and 1 thickly sliced
- 2 bay leaves
- 1 garlic clove , crushed
- 1 sprig rosemary , leaves pulled off and finely chopped
- olive oil
- sea salt flakes, to sprinkle
- 2 glasses white wine
FOR THE GRAVY
PER SERVING
736 kcalories, protein 100.6g, carbohydrate 41g, fat 35.3 g, saturated fat 13.4g, fibre 0.7g, salt 1.23 g
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25 December 2011
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28 December 2011
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