Yuletide feast

Celebrate Christmas with some traditional English recipes

December 24, 2014 07:08 pm | Updated 07:09 pm IST - Thiruvananthapuram

Roast turkey with vintage bread stuffing and cranberry sauce

Roast turkey with vintage bread stuffing and cranberry sauce

Roast turkey with vintage bread stuffing and cranberry sauce

Ingredients

Whole turkey: 1

Large thyme sprigs: 8

Butter: 40 gm (melted)

White chicken stock: 750 ml

For the cranberry sauce

Dried sweetened cranberries: 100 gm

Orange, zest finely grated, juiced: 1

Red current jelly: 100 gm

Port wine/red wine: 125 ml

For the stuffing

Butter, chopped: 50 gm

Onions, chopped: 2

Celery stalks, trimmed, chopped: 2

Bacon, chopped: 300 gm

Sage, chopped: 3 gm

Flat leaf (Italian) parsley, chopped: half cup

Thyme, chopped: 1 tbsp

Breadcrumbs made from day-old bread: 480 gm

Lemons, finely grated (zest only): 2

Method

To make the traditional breadcrumb stuffing, heat the butter in a large frying pan over low heat. Add the onions, celery and bacon and cook, stirring occasionally, for 10 minutes or until the onion is soft. Transfer to a large bowl, add the remaining ingredients and mix to combine. Season well with salt and pepper. Set aside to cool completely.

Preheat the oven to 200°C. Wash the turkey under cold running water, remove the neck and giblets and trim any pockets of fat, then pat dry with paper towels. Remove the wishbone. Spoon a quarter of the stuffing into the neck cavity, cover with the skin and tuck the skin under the wings. Spoon the remaining stuffing into the body cavity, then truss the turkey.

Place the thyme sprigs in a large roasting pan and put the turkey on top. Brush all over with melted butter and cover the legs loosely with greased foil. Pour the stock around the turkey and roast for one hour. Reduce the heat to 180°C. Baste the turkey, remove the foil and roast for a further two hours, basting every 30 minutes and covering loosely with greased foil if it is browning too much or until the juices run clear when pierced through the thickest part. Remove from the pan, cover loosely with foil and set aside in a warm place for 15 minutes to rest. Remove the excess fat from the pan juices.

To make the cranberry sauce, place the cranberries in a bowl, cover with hot water and set aside for 30 minutes. Drain the cranberries, put in a saucepan with the remaining ingredients and simmer over low heat for 10 minutes. Set aside to cool. Carve the turkey and serve with the stuffing, pan juices and cranberry sauce.

Chicken liver pate with red wine poached apple

Ingredients

For pate

Uncured bacon from pastured pork: 4 strips

Livers from pastured chicken: 1 pound

Garlic, minced (use more if you like): 1 clove

Onion, minced: 1 cup

Parsley: 4 tbsp

Olive oil: to taste

Method

Cook bacon in cast iron skillet. Remove and set aside to drain and cool. Add chicken livers in bacon fat and cook until brown and well done. Add onion and cook one minute more. Add garlic and onion and sauté until browned. Remove from heat and cool. Finish with parsley.

Put into blender and process on puree till smooth, Chop bacon and stir into puree. Add olive oil as needed to create your preferred consistency.

Press into glass loaf pan or desired mould and chill it till needed and till it gets desired texture.

(The author is a sous chef at Hotel Hilton Garden Inn)

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