Simon and Garfunkle Turkey

I've tried a few different recipes for roasted turkey, but my favourite so far has been a variation on Martha Stewart's Roast Turkey with Herb Butter, the variation being I'm too lazy to make the herb butter, and instead just stuff full herbs in random spots around turkey and add lots of butter.

This year, for International Thanksgiving, I thought I'd combine Martha's recipe with an idea I got from a Jamie Oliver Naked Chef episode I saw a while ago where he replaces the rack of the roasting tray with vegetables. I've tried this with roast beef and had fantastic results, so I thought this year I'd try it with the turkey, and it did not disappoint!

So, if you're still looking for a recipe for this year's turkey, give this one a try! And, let me know if you have any suggestions or alterations - apart from the cheesy name, that is. That's sticking around from now on...

As a side note, in the interests of using all parts of the turkey, rather than throwing out the neck, mashed gravy vegetables, bones and grisly bits left after carving, I save everything and use them all to make turkey stock the next day. The turkey stock can easily be frozen if you're not going to use it right away, or you can make some excellent soup with all the turkey dinner leftovers :)

Simon and Garfunkle Turkey
1 whole turkey (mine was around 11 lbs)
5 - 6 Tbsp butter
1 small handful each of fresh sage, rosemary and thyme
1/2 lemon (optional)
salt and pepper
2 medium yellow onions
2 stalks celery
2 carrots
3 cloves garlic
3 mushrooms
1/2 c. white wine (optional)
A few sprigs of parsley
1 - 2 tsp cranberry sauce
1 Tbsp plain white flour or cornstarch

I've listed the cooking times for my unstuffed turkey first, and the times for a stuffed turkey are in brackets afterwards. It's an extra 1 1/2 to 2 hours for a stuffed turkey.

1. Preheat the oven to 350F.
2. Peel and halve the onions and quarter the celery, carrots and mushrooms.
3. Add all the vegetables in a single layer to your roasting pan and sprinkle with a little salt and pepper.
4. Rinse the turkey inside and out with cold water and pat dry with paper towel.
5. Separate the skin from the turkey breast and drumsticks by carefully sliding your hand under the skin. It should separate fairly easily.
6. Mix salt and pepper with the butter and then rub all over the turkey, inside and out, as well as under the skin where it's been separated.
7. Insert the fresh herbs randomly throughout the space between the skin and the meat; as the turkey roasts the skin will become really thin and partly transparent, so spreading out single sage leaves and placing individual stalks of thyme and rosemary sporadically will look nicer than great clumps of herbs together (if you're going for that aesthetic appeal).
8. If you're stuffing the turkey, add the stuffing now. I didn't stuff the turkey this time (someone else was in charge of stuffing this year) so instead I put a stalk each of sage, rosemary and thyme in the main cavity of the turkey along with 1/2 a lemon to keep things extra moist.
9. Place the turkey over the vegetables in the roasting pan, tucking and tying wings and drumsticks as needed.
10. Loosely cover the turkey with foil and roast at 350F, basting every 45 minutes or so, until a meat thermometer reads 125F, about 2 1/2 to 3 hours (3 to 4 hours).
11. Remove the foil and increase the oven temperature to 400F. Roast for 30 minutes (1 hour), or until the turkey is nicely browned and a meat thermometer reads 180F. If the turkey starts browning too quickly, cover again with the foil.
12. Remove the turkey from the pan to a cutting board. Cover with foil and allow to rest for 30 minutes.
13. Mash the vegetables in the roasting pan, add the white wine, parsley, cranberry sauce and stir everything together, simmering over low heat on the stove and stirring frequently.
14. Collect any extra juices from the turkey and mix with the flour/cornstarch to make a paste. Stir the paste in to the gravy to thicken.
15. Before serving, pour the gravy through a strainer and season with salt and pepper to taste.

**Another option is to simmer the turkey neck in just enough water to cover, and add that stock to the gravy for extra flavour. I've made gravy with and without the turkey neck stock and it's been fine both ways, although I like the idea of being able to use all parts of the turkey, and so I generally do add this step.