My Buonasera Roast Turkey....

This is a belated post of my roast turkey which I cooked for my sister's Christmas party last month. I had never attempted to cook this big bird before as it is very time comsuming and I never have a liking for its tough meat as prefer to chicken. So I decided to try my hands on this when I saw a special Italian recipe from Flavours magazine. It turns out lovely especially the stuffings which uses fresh herbs, mushrooms, eggs, breadcrumbs and streaky bacons. I would love to try it out with my roast chicken next time. Have some pics here to share as well as the recipe. I made some lovely gravy with chicken stocks and the juices from the roasting pan for dippings instead of cranberry sauce.

My almost 4 kg turkey from Tesco,thaw for a whole day in refrigerator..


Cleaned, pat dry inside and outside with wings tuck under ....oh my...is it the correct way? never mind, that's the only way I could do it....

Ingredients for the stuffings:

2 tbsp olive oil

1/2 onion - diced

200g streaky bacon, diced

1 tbsp sage- chopped

1 tbsp thyme- chopped

1 tbsp rosemary- chopped

10g shitake mushroom- sliced

20g oyster mushroom- sliced

40g button mushroom-sliced

4 eggs, beaten

150g fresh breadcrumbs, toasted

sea salt and pepper to taste

Oyster mushroom.........

Shitake mushroom.............


Button mushroom..............

Diced streaky bacon........

Sage.............

Rosemary...........

Thyme............

5kg whole turkey

200ml extra virgin oil

cracked black pepper and sea salt

250ml chicken broth

Gravy:

750ml chicken stock

4 tbsp flour

To make stuffing:

Heat olive oil in pan, cook the onions over over medium heat for 5 mins or til soft. Add bacon, and saute until browned. Add sage, rosemary and thyme and cook for another 5 mins. Add all the mushroom and cook for 2 mins. Remove from heat and leave to cool. Add eggs and breadcrumbs. Mix to combine, and season to taste with salt and pepper. Set aside.

Turkey roasting in oven.................

To roast turkey:

Preheat the oven to 160 degrees celcius. Remove the giblets, neck and excess fat from the turkey. Rinse turkey and pat dry. Season the inside with salt and pepper, and fill with stuffing.

Tie the legs with butcher string. Twist wings under back.

Rub turkey all over with extra virgin oil, and place breast side down, on a rack placed in a shallow roasting tray. Pour chicken broth all over turkey.

Roast for 2 1/2 hrs or until brown, basting the turkey every 30 mins. (I turn it over breast up to cook for a further 30 mins to brown it evenly)

Remove from oven. Cover with aluminium foil for 1 hr, set in a warm place.

To make gravy:

Remove 3 tablespoon of pan juices ( I used more) from the roasting tray into a small saucepan placed over medium heat. Add flour and stir to comnine to a smooth paste. Add chicken stock and cook stirring to prevent any lumps from forming, until the sauce thickens. Season to taste with salt and pepper.

Shepherd's Pie...and Co.....for Christmas.......

My sister karen had moved into her new apartment this year and she had her first christmas at her new home.....so we sisters and nieces and mum and my dear son H......get to cook some of our speciality for her party ......on Christmas Day.......i cannot deny that we are a family of good cooks if not the best.....! Here are some pictures of what i prepared......more pics in later post 'coz still in iris's camera....

my just out of the oven shepherd's pie before decoration.....


after decoration.......with ketcup + mash potato....son says..christmas tree drawing not nice...so u know i can cook but lousy at drawing......


Another plate of shepherd's pie to fill over 30 plus stomach.....
Those who wants to make this shepherd's pie just click here....

my fried chicken using Chanlilian's recipe here......i marinade it with tumeric...cummin and fennel powder....salt...and some sliced onions.....i marinade another batch of chicken with five-spice powder.......and soya sauce and oyster sauce........

this is the only picture left of the two square tins of delicious walnut and almond nuts chocolate brownies son H made.......the small piece i kept for myself before the rest was taken away to sis's place...... ^-^......sis. karen was in a panic state when her guests had arrived and there were no food on the table...yet the brownies were still baking in the oven after the shepherd's pie......(sorry sis...next time you better learn how to cook instead of spending all your time at Kidscomp...) so the brownies were quickly sent over with the rest of the food with no time for me to shoot some pics.....the brownies were so good that sis. karen stole a small piece to hide in her secret place...before it was all gone...!
I would like those who had tried the above food .....to give some frank comments........just to brighten up my traffic......thanks...i always enjoy seeing people eating the food i cook.........