Tuesday, December 1, 2009

Turkey




This was such a juicy turkey. Not dry at all!!! This is a keeper. And the gravy was the best!
This recipe comes from the my kitchen cafe blog.
1 (18-22) pound turkey (I used a 12-pound turkey)
carrots
celery (cut into large chunks)
onion (peeled and cut into large chunks)
garlic cloves (peeled and smashed)
juice of 1 lemon
1 tablespoon salt
1 tablespoon pepper
1 tablespoon poultry seasoning
butter
brown paper bag
drippings, flour, and water for gravy
(I leave the veggies out)

Preheat the oven to 500 degrees and let it heat for one hour.
Meanwhile, remove giblets and neck and wash the turkey. Fill the cavity of the turkey with carrots, celery, garlic and onion.

Combine the lemon juice, salt, pepper and poultry seasoning in a small bowl. With your hands, rub the entire turkey with the lemon juice mixture.Place the turkey breast down (this is opposite of how a turkey is normally cooked - so just flip the turkey upside down) in a large roasting pan. Place the roasting pan in the hot oven for as many minutes as the turkey weighs (ie. 19 lb. turkey = 19 minutes).
Bake for the allotted time.

Meanwhile, grease a large brown paper bag with butter on both sides. Remove the roasting pan from the oven and carefully (because the turkey and roasting pan are HOT) make a tent out of the paper bag and drape it over the turkey, taking care to tuck the sides of the bag into the roasting pan (otherwise, the butter will drip off the bag, leap onto the oven burner and possibly create a large fire OR this time I just used a piece of foil over the top & buttered the turkey a bit more.
Turn the oven down to 400 degrees and cook the turkey for two hours.Remove the roasting pan and turkey from the oven and let turkey sit for 20 minutes. Remove turkey from the roasting pan and pour the drippings into a medium-sized saucepan. Bring to a boil. Make a slurry from flour and water (to the consistency of thick, heavy cream) and add to the drippings until desired consistency is reached.

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