Roasted Turkey with Spiced Cranberry, Apple and Sage Stuffing recipe from Rachel Green 21 Nov

We're delighted to be working with award-winning chefs, producers and bakers as well as professional bartenders to provide a varied programme of demonstrators in The Lincolnshire Kitchen at the Lincolnshire Food and Gift fair this year! Rachel Green will be demonstrating at 12pm on Saturday 1st December and has shared this Christmas turkey recipe with us.

Roasted Turkey with Spiced Cranberry, Apple and Sage Stuffing

5kg free-range Totally Traditional Turkey
4 tbsp rapeseed oil
Sea salt and black pepper

Spiced Cranberry, Apple and Sage Stuffing

50g butter
1 tbsp rapeseed oil
1 large onion, peeled and finely chopped
½ tsp mixed spice
1 clove garlic, peeled and finely chopped
200g fresh breadcrumbs
2 eating apples
250g cranberries
50g dried apple, cut into small pieces
2 tbsp fresh sage leaves, chopped
750g sausage meat
2 tbsp chopped parsley
Grated zest of a small orange
1 large egg, beaten
8 rashers rindless streaky bacon
Sea salt and black pepper

Preheat oven to 230°C/Gas Mark 8

Remove turkey giblets and reserve. Rinse the turkey inside and out and dry well. Place the turkey in a large roasting pan, brush the turkey generously with rapeseed oil and season with sea salt and black pepper and cover with foil. Place the prepared turkey in the pre-heated oven and cook at this temperature for the first 30 minutes. Then, lower the oven temperature to 180°C/Gas Mark 4 and cook for approximately 30 minutes per kilo, basting every hour. To prepare the stuffing, heat the butter and rapeseed oil until the butter has melted. Add the onion and mixed spice, fry gently until well softened but not browned. Stir in the garlic and breadcrumbs and season well with sea salt and black pepper. Remove from the heat and place in a bowl, leave to cool. Peel the apples, cut into quarters, remove the core and cut into small cubes. Mix the cubed apples, cranberries, dried apple, sage, sausage meat, parsley and orange zest with the onion mixture, season well with sea salt and black pepper using clean hands and then mix in the beaten egg. The mixture should be quite firm, with wet hands, mould the stuffing into balls the size of a golf ball or make a stuffing cake.

Place the stuffing balls on a greased baking sheet and bake in the pre-heated oven for about 20 minutes, until golden brown and cooked through. To make the stuffing cake; take a 18-20cm spring form cake tin and grease with a little rapeseed oil. Arrange the bacon slices in the tin, leaving a 5cm strip on the base, then lay them up around the sides, let the excess hang over the edge. Carefully fill the tin with the stuffing mixture, making sure it is level on top. Fold the bacon over the top of the stuffing, gathering and twisting the ends loosely over the centre. Place the tin on a baking sheet to catch any juices that escape, then bake for 40-45 minutes until the top is golden. Cool in the tin for 10 minutes. Before you turn out onto a serving plate, place some poached cranberries on top for decoration, cut into wedges and serve. When the turkey is approximately 35 minutes before the end of cooking, remove the foil, drain off any of the excess fat and cook for a further 35 minutes or until golden brown. 

Transfer the turkey to a platter and cover loosely with foil and leave to rest for 20-30 minutes. To make the turkey gravy with Madeira, please see recipe below. Serve the turkey carved with stuffing balls or stuffing cake and warm homemade turkey gravy with Madeira.

Homemade Turkey Gravy with Cranberry and Madeira Serves 10

For the stock:
Giblets from a Totally Traditional Turkey
1 onion, cut into quarters
2 carrots, cut into chunks
1 stick of celery, cut into chunks
1 fresh bay leaf
3 sprigs of parsley
1 sprig of thyme
5 black peppercorns
To finish the gravy:
1 tbsp cranberry jelly
750ml of Totally Traditional Turkey giblet stock
100ml Madeira
2 tbsp of plain flour

Preheat oven to 400°F/200°C/Gas 6

Method

Wash the giblets in cold water, place in a large pan with 1.5 litres of cold water. Bring to the boil and removed any scum of the top of the water with a slatted spoon. Then add the rest of the ingredients, cover and simmer for 40 minutes. Uncover the pan and simmer for a further 20-30 minutes or until the stock has reduced by half. Remove from the heat and strain into a bowl, leave to cool, cover and place in the fridge or use immediately. To make the gravy, bring the stock back to the boil and remove from the heat. When the turkey is cooked pour off the fat from the roasting juices, place the tin on the hob, whisk in the flour and place over a low heat and cook the flour mixture making sure you have scrapped up all the meaty sticky bits, on the bottom of the tin and stir constantly. After 2 minutes, remove from the heat and whisk in the turkey giblet stock, bring slowly to the boil, stirring constantly. Add the Madeira and cook for a further 3 minutes, stirring constantly. Season to taste add a little more Madeira if you want and then strain into a warm jug and serve. Any leftover turkey Madeira gravy can be frozen. The giblet stock can be made 2 days before required.

With thanks to:
www.goldenturkeys.co.uk
www.rachel-green.co.uk
www.michaelpowell.com