Turkey

I had a turkey sitting in my freezer and is actually taking up quite a bit of space so last week smarty hubby decided that this weekend we should make the turkey but to forget that we actually have seminars to attend on the weekend. Initially I was going to stay home because the hyper me is going to get bored sitting there but we decided that we all should attend the seminar so on Saturday we all went for the seminar. We didn't attend the Sunday seminar because hubby had work to do so we will just go to the same seminar probably next month hence I stayed home and cooked the turkey. I did not have a special recipe to cook the turkey and I wanted to make something that didn't require a lot of ingredients and preparation time. So from reading different websites I just came up with my own way(I'm assuming someone has already done this) of cooking the turkey.

The night before we took the turkey out of the bag, washed it and put it on a pan then leave it in the fridge overnight to dry out the skin. The next morning I took the turkey out from the refrigerator so that the turkey is at room temperature before putting it in the oven. Then I minced some (a lot) of garlic and mixed it with butter. I inserted the mixture in between the skin and meat at the breast/tight area. After that I rubbed butter all over the skin and sprinkled various spices that I had on the spice right like rosemary, thyme, marjoram, basil and oregano. I think dump a bunch of those spices in the cavity of the turkey. Pour 1cup of broth of water at the bottom of the rack.

I turned on the oven to 450°F and put turkey in the oven (breast side down) hoping it would make the skin crispy for the first 30 minutes. Then I turned the oven down to 325°F and let it cook slowly. Roasting a turkey breast-side down for the first hour will keep the turkey moist. Turn turkey over after first hour to finish cooking.


Thankfully the turkey didn't come out dry. The turkey browned evenly and the skin was crispy too. It tasted really good too. I was so impressed because I didn't have a particular recipe that I could follow a step by step direction and I still managed to make a good turkey :)

I only based the turkey like 2-3 time because I was lazy and we don't want to keep opening the oven door because I read somewhere that we don't want to keep changing the internal temperature of the oven. Basting the turkey will only allow the turkey to have an even color but not really to moisten the turkey so I didn't feel like basting the turkey that many times.

The next thing that I actually made from scratch was the stuffing. Uncle Richie wanted stuffing and I decided to make some for him with the bread that I've been collecting in the freezer that we cannot finish when is fresh.

Ingredients
1 (1 pound) loaf sliced any bread you have
3/4 cup butter or margarine
1 onion, chopped
4 stalks celery, chopped
2 teaspoons poultry seasoning
salt and pepper to taste
11/2 cup chicken broth

Method
Let bread slices air dry for 1 to 2 hours, then cut into cubes or you can put it in the oven so it dries quicker.
In a Dutch oven, melt butter or margarine over medium heat. Cook onion and celery until soft. Season with poultry seasoning, salt, and pepper. Stir in bread cubes until evenly coated. Moisten with chicken broth; mix well.
Chill, and use as a stuffing for turkey, or bake in a buttered casserole dish at 350 degrees F (175 degrees C) for 30 to 40 minutes.

p/s: If baking it as casserole and if you like moist stuffing I suggest using about 2cups of broth, cover the casserole with foil and take the foil out the last 10 minutes so that it browns and crispy on top.

I cannot believe is so easy to make my own stuffing and I could even use up some of the bread I have sitting in the freezer. I normally use the bread to make croutons and it is fresher I'll used it to make french toast for hubby so I'm really happy that I found another way to use those bread ^-^

The rest of the side dish I served with the turkey was homemade mashed potatoes, greenbean casserole, a can of corn and some cranberry jelly. It was a simple yet yummy dinner I might say.

Now I just have to find away to use the left over turkey. Hubby would probably use the breast to make sandwiches for work and I'm not sure what I'm going to do with the rest. Maybe cook it with noodles or fried rice with it. I kept the bones so I can make broth with it too. I actually dug out 4 chicken bones and made a pot of broth to use to make the above recipes. I let my broth to just boil for at least 4 hours and just add some salt and pepper with no additional seasoning. So keeping these bones can come pretty handy I think.