Salt Roasted Turkey With Lemon And Oregano Recipes

ROAST TURKEY WITH LEMON & GARLIC

Steps:

• Up to two days ahead, make the salt mix by grinding the salt with the thyme leaves and pepper in a spice grinder or using a pestle and mortar. Sit the turkey in a roasting tin and gently push your fingers under the skin, starting from the neck, until you can push your whole hand in down the length of the breast. Take care not to tear the skin.
• Season the bird all over with the salt mix, inside and out and under the skin. Leave the turkey in the tin, breast-side up, and put in the fridge for up to two days - the longer you salt it, the more succulent the turkey will be. For the crispest skin, leave the turkey uncovered so it dries out, but loosely cover it if you prefer.
• Tip the butter, vegetable stock powder and lemon zest into a small bowl and mix until completely combined. Cover and chill. Can be made a few days ahead or frozen, wrapped in cling film, for one month.
• Remove the turkey from the fridge an hour or so before you want to cook it. Remove the butter from the fridge to soften. Heat oven to 180C/160C fan/gas 4. Work out your cooking time based on 40 mins per kg for the first 4kg, plus 45 mins for every kg after that.
• Use your hands to spread the butter under the skin so that it covers the entire breast area and work it into the crevice between the thigh and the main body, then smooth the skin over with your hands. Put the onion, lemon halves, and garlic in the cavity.
• Cover the tin loosely with foil and roast for the calculated cooking time. Around 30 mins before the end of cooking, increase the oven temperature to 200C/180C fan/gas 6, remove the foil, baste the turkey and return to the oven. When the turkey is beautifully brown and cooked through, remove from the oven and leave to rest on a warm platter covered with foil for up to 1 hr. Save the juices from the tin to make gravy.

LEMON-HERB ROASTED TURKEY

Steps:

• Preheat oven to 350°. In a small bowl, combine the butter, lemon juice, lemon zest and minced thyme. Pat turkey dry. Sprinkle salt and pepper over skin of turkey and inside cavity; brush with butter mixture. Place the lemon, onion, garlic and thyme sprigs inside cavity. Tuck wings under turkey; tie drumsticks together., Place flour in oven bag and shake to coat. Place bag in a roasting pan; add turkey to bag, breast side up. Cut six 1/2-in. slits in top of bag; close bag with tie provided., Bake at 350° for 2-1/4 to 2-3/4 hours or until a thermometer reads 180°. Remove turkey to a serving platter and keep warm. Let stand for 15 minutes before carving. If desired, thicken pan drippings for gravy. Freeze option: Freeze cooled turkey and gravy in freezer containers. To use, partially thaw in refrigerator overnight. Heat through in a covered skillet, gently stirring and adding a little broth or water if necessary.

LEMON AND HERB ROASTED THANKSGIVING TURKEY

Steps:

• For the turkey: Twenty-four hours before cooking your turkey, liberally season the inside and outside of the bird with salt and pepper. Using a mini chopper or mortar and pestle, grind the oregano, parsley, tarragon, sumac, thyme, shallots and lemon zest together with some salt and pepper; the salt will help draw the moisture and flavor from the mixture. Add the olive oil to form a paste. Spread the herb mixture all around the inside and outside of the turkey. Refrigerate the turkey, uncovered to dry the skin, for 24 hours.
• For the roasting: Remove the turkey from the fridge 90 minutes before roasting and allow it to come to room temperature.
• Preheat the oven to 450 degrees F.
• Season the turkey again with salt and pepper. Put the parsley and thyme sprigs in the cavity with the lemon and shallot halves.
• Put the carrots, celery and onions in the bottom of a roasting pan fitted with a roasting rack. Add a cup of water or stock to the bottom of the pan. Add the turkey to the rack and roast, adding a little more water or stock to the pan if necessary to prevent the drippings from burning, for 30 minutes. Reduce the temperature to 350 degrees F and continue to roast, basting the turkey with the pan drippings every 30 minutes, until the thickest part of the leg registers an internal temperature of 155 degrees F, another 2 1/2 to 3 hours. Allow the bird to rest, tented with foil, for at least 1 hour before carving. The temperature will rise to about 165 degrees F during resting.
• Pour the pan drippings into a saucepan, set the pan over medium-high heat and cook until reduced by one-half, about 10 minutes. Stir in the butter until melted. Pour the reduced turkey drippings over the carved turkey just before serving.

STUFFED TURKEY WITH LEMON, OREGANO, AND RED ONIONS

Steps:

• Make lemon butter and roast turkey:
• Preheat oven to 425°F with rack in lowest position.
• Stir together all butter ingredients with 1 teaspoon salt and 3/4 teaspoon pepper.
• Rinse turkey inside and out, then pat dry. Put turkey on rack in roasting pan. Sprinkle turkey cavities with 1/2 teaspoon salt (total).
• Starting at large cavity, gently slide your fingers between skin and flesh of breast and legs to loosen skin, being careful not to tear skin. Using a tablespoon measure, slide 2 tablespoons butter under skin of each breast half and 1 tablespoon on each drumstick (6 tablespoons total), pushing butter out of spoon with a finger on outside of skin.
• Melt remaining lemon butter in a small saucepan over medium heat. Toss onion wedges with 2 tablespoons melted lemon butter.
• Spoon stuffing into large cavity of turkey. Fold neck skin under body, then tie drumsticks together with kitchen string and tuck wings under body. Brush turkey all over with half of remaining melted lemon butter and sprinkle with 1 1/2 teaspoons salt and 1 teaspoon pepper. Roast until skin is golden brown, about 30 minutes.
• Reduce oven temperature to 350°F. Rotate pan 180 degrees. Brush remaining melted lemon butter over turkey and roast 30 minutes more. Baste turkey and scatter onion wedges around it, then roast, basting turkey and rotating turkey 180 degrees every 30 minutes (if pan becomes completely dry, add 1/2 cup water; if skin becomes too dark, loosely cover turkey with foil) until an instant-read thermometer inserted into fleshy part of thighs (test both; close to but not touching bone) registers 170°F and stuffing registers at least 165°F, about 2 to 2 1/2 hours more (total roasting time: 3 to 3 1/2 hours). Transfer turkey and onions to a platter, reserving juices in pan. Let turkey stand, uncovered, 30 minutes (temperature of thigh meat will rise to 175°F).
• Make gravy while turkey stands:
• Straddle roasting pan across 2 burners, then add 1 cup turkey stock and deglaze pan by boiling over high heat, stirring and scraping up brown bits, 2 minutes. Strain through a fine-mesh sieve into 2-quart measuring cup and skim off and reserve fat. (If using a fat separator, strain pan juices through sieve into separator and let stand until fat rises to top, 1 to 2 minutes. Carefully pour pan juices from separator into measuring cup, reserving fat.)
• Stir together flour and 6 tablespoons reserved fat (if you don't have enough fat, add butter) in a heavy medium saucepan, then cook roux over medium heat, whisking, until pale golden, about 3 minutes. Add pan juices and remaining 3 cups stock in a fast stream, whisking constantly to prevent lumps, then bring to a boil, whisking. Stir in any turkey juices from platter and briskly simmer, whisking occasionally, until gravy is thickened to desired consistency, 10 to 12 minutes. Stir in lemon juice and salt and pepper to taste.

SAGE- AND OREGANO-RUBBED TURKEY WITH HONEY-LEMON GLAZE

Steps:

• Move oven rack to lowest position. Heat oven to 325°F. Remove and discard neck and giblets from turkey. Rinse turkey inside and out with cold water; pat dry with paper towels. Fasten neck skin to back of turkey with skewer. Fold wings across back of turkey so tips are touching. In shallow roasting pan, place turkey, breast side up.
• In small bowl, mix sage, oregano, salt, pepper and oil. Rub herb mixture over turkey. Refasten drumsticks with metal piece or tuck under skin at tail. (Drumsticks can also be tied together with cotton string.) Insert ovenproof meat thermometer so tip is in thickest part of inside thigh and does not touch bone.
• Roast uncovered 1 hour. When turkey begins to turn golden brown, place tent of heavy-duty foil over turkey. Roast 2 hours 15 minutes longer.
• In 1-quart saucepan, heat glaze ingredients over low heat, stirring occasionally, until honey and butter are melted.
• Cut band of skin or remove tie holding legs to allow inside of thighs to cook thoroughly. Brush turkey with glaze; roast uncovered 10 minutes. Brush with glaze; roast uncovered 10 to 20 minutes longer. Turkey is done when thermometer reads 165°F and drumsticks move easily when lifted or twisted.
• Place turkey on warm platter; cover with foil to keep warm. Let stand 15 minutes for easier carving.