Whether it’s Thanksgiving, Christmas or just a reason to celebrate, a juicy roast turkey is the go-to bird! Our lovely fowl is lavished with sage butter, and served with a side of sweet, tangy passion fruit jam sauce and roselle flower jam – beautiful flavours and colours for the festive season!
Ingredients:
1 Turkey (about 5-5.5kg), cleaned & giblets removed
3 Onions, quartered
1 Orange, quartered
4 Carrots, cut into chunks
6 Bay leaves
1 Head of garlic, halved horizontally
Mekhala Himalayan Pink Salt
Freshly ground black pepper
Olive oil
Sage Butter
250g Butter, softened
Small bunch of sage, chopped
Zest from half of the orange
Freshly ground black pepper
Mekhala Plum Sauce Gravy
200ml Red wine
1L Chicken stock
3 Tbsp flour
2 Tbsp Mekhala Plum Sauce
Method:
1. Prepare the sage butter by mixing together the butter & sage with generous sprinkles of Mekhala Himalayan Pink Salt and pepper.
2.With your hands or a spoon, loosen the skin on the breasts and legs of the turkey. Carefully stuff the herb butter into the cavities that you’ve created under the skin, massaging it so that the breasts and legs are evenly coated. Insert 4 bay leaves under the skin of the breasts.
3. Rub any leftover butter on the outside of the turkey. Season the skin and cavity of the bird well with Mekhala Himalayan Pink Salt and pepper. Drizzle olive oil on the skin.
4. Stuff 2 onions, 2 carrots, garlic and 2 bay leaves in the cavity. Spear a bamboo or metal skewer (or a thick rosemary stem) through the loose skin around the cavity to secure the skin and prevent it from shrinking back when it cooks. (You may prepare the turkey up till this step the day before.)
5. Heat the oven to its highest temperature.
6. Place the remaining carrots and onions in the middle of a large roasting tray and place the bird on to the pile of vegetables, then cover it with foil.
7. Put the turkey into the oven, then immediately turn its temperature down to 180°C.
8. Roast the turkey for about 35-40min per kilogram. Check on it every 30min and baste it with juices from the roasting pan.
9. About 30min before the end of the calculated cooking time, remove the foil from the turkey, then keep roasting until the bird is cooked. You may check that it is cooked by sticking a skewer into the thickest part of a leg: the juices should run clear.
10. Tip all the juices from the cavity of the cooked turkey into the roasting tray, then transfer the bird to a serving platter and let it rest in a warm place, covered in foil, for about 30-45min before serving.
11. Make the gravy: Discard the carrots and skim off as much fat from the pan juices as possible. Place the roasting tray on high heat, then stir in the flour and cook for about 3 minutes.
12. Add the wine and cook it until almost all the liquid has evaporated (2-3 minutes).
13. Pour in stock and cook for 10 minutes, then strain the gravy into a saucepan. Add the jam and cook over high heat until the gravy is the right consistency (about another 5 minutes), then pour it into your serving/gravy bowl.
14 Serve the roast turkey with the Mekhala Plum Sauce gravy and Mekhala Plum Sauce on the side.
