With Thanksgiving around the corner for Canadians (we celebrate it on the second Monday of October), everyone is in festive moods despite the temperatures outside dropping with every day. The reason? We soon get to enjoy an extra day off to see family, play games, watch sports and eat Thanksgiving dinner together.
Every year I see my mom calculating minutes in her head until she has to put the turkey in the oven and tirelessly setting alarms over and over to baste the turkey to perfection. Last year I served a spatchcocked turkey for friends for Thanksgiving and it was praised. This year, I'd like to bring the recipe home to my mother and to all of my readers so that they can spend less time basting turkey and more time basking in compliments from friends!
Prep Time: 20 minutes
Total Time: 2 hours
Yields: 10 servings
Ingredients:
For the Turkey:
1 whole turkey 12-14 lbs, spatchcocked
3 large onions, roughly chopped
3 large carrots, peeled and roughly chopped
4 stalks celery, roughly chopped
9 thyme sprigs
1 tablespoon vegetable oil
Salt and freshly ground black pepper
For the Gravy:
Turkey backbone, neck and giblets
6 cups chicken or turkey stock
1 tablespoon vegetable oil
2 bay leaves
3 tablespoons butter
4 tablespoons flour
Instructions for the Turkey:
1. Preheat oven to 450°F. Line a rimmed baking sheet or roasting pan with aluminum foil. Scatter onions, carrots, celery and thyme across bottom of pan reserving 1/3 of veggies and thyme for the gravy. Place slotted rack directly on top of vegetables.
2. Brine the turkey according to the instructions in this post. This will really seal the moisture in the meat and you won't need to baste the turkey as it roasts. If you purchased a pre-brined or Kosher turkey, skip this step.
3. Rub the turkey down on all surfaces with 1 teaspoon of oil, salt and pepper. Place turkey on top of roasting rack - make sure it's as flat as possible, no edges sticking out and the wing tips are tucked under the bird.
4. Transfer turkey to oven and roast, rotating the pan occasionally, until an instant read thermometer inserted into the deepest part of the breast registers 150°F, and the thighs register at a minimum of 165°F, about 1 hour and 20 minutes. Work on the gravy for the time being.
Instructions for the Gravy:
1. In the meantime, chop up the remaining turkey bits (backbone, neck, giblets). Heat the remaining oil in a saucepan over high heat until simmering. Add chopped turkey parts and cook, stirring occasionally, until lightly browned, about 5 minutes.
2. Add remaining 1/3 veggies (onions, carrots, and celery) and continue to cook, stirring occasionally, until vegetables start to soften and brown in spots, another 5 minutes.
3. Add stock, remaining thyme, and bay leaves. Bring to a boil and reduce to a simmer. Allow to cook 45 minutes, then strain through a fine mesh strainer into a measuring cup (8 cups or more) discarding all solids. Skim off any fat from the surface.
4. Melt butter over medium-high heat in a saucepan. Add flour and continuously stir until flour is golden brown, approximately 3 minutes.
5. Using a whisk and stirring non-stop, add broth in a slow stream until everything is blended uniformly. Bring to a boil, reduce to a simmer, and cook until reduced from 8 cups to 6 cups about 20 minutes longer. Season to taste with salt and pepper, cover, and keep gravy warm.
Final Instructions:
1. Remove the turkey from the oven, move the turkey with the roasting grate to another lined baking sheet and allow it to rest at room temperature for around 20 minutes before carving.
2. Carefully collect juices from bottom of the original roasting pan and pour through a fine mesh strainer into a measuring cup. Skim off excess fat and whisk juices into gravy.
3. Carve the turkey:
- remove each leg by cutting through the turkey where the thigh connects to the breast
- At the joint of each leg, cut drumstick from thigh. Transfer thighs and drumsticks to a warm platter. Tent with foil.
- On one side, find the joint connecting wing and breast, and cut through it. Repeat to cut off other wing. Cut breast meat into two pieces, slicing along either side of breastbone.
- Slice the breast meat across the grain. Arrange on the platter with the dark meat, and add the wings.
4. Serve warm with gravy on the side!
I hope you enjoy making your turkey a little different this holiday season and that your guests are wowed by your presentation. You can always include some green herbs in between the cuts of meat or spruce the serving plate up with fruits like clementines, pomegranates, kumquats and gooseberries (see Martha Stewart's presentation below!)
Please let me know how your turkey turned out or if you made any modifications! I'd love to hear from you in the comments below. Please subscribe to my blog to stay up to date with more hacks, recipes, tips and posts directly from Linda's Study.
Happy Holidays, Cheers and Bon Appetit!
Linda Kamaev
PS. This post is not sponsored at all however I did want you know the products that I use in my kitchen - I truly believe in providing my readers with inexpensive options for their kitchens because as Millenials we're living the #brokelife and really need to save every penny.