Main Meals

Roast turkey

8
Easy
15 minutes
6 to 6½ hours

This simple turkey recipe is great for first-time turkey roasters. Stuff sage under the skin and baste with butter every 30 minutes and you're guaranteed a succulent bird.

Wine/Spirit Pairing
Nederburg Special Late Harvest 2006

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Ingredients

Method
  • 1 fresh turkey
  • 1 T extra virgin olive oil
  • 20 fresh sage leaves
  • Maldon sea salt
  • 1 cup unsalted butter, melted
  • 2 cups dry white wine

1. Preheat the oven to 170ºC.

2. Remove the neck and gizzards from inside the turkey and rinse the bird thoroughly with cold water. Pat dry. Rub the olive oil over the entire surface of the turkey.

3. Using your fingers, gently loosen the skin of the turkey from the breast and drumsticks. Carefully arrange individual leaves of sage under the skin in a mosaic pattern. Lightly salt the cavity.

4. Stuff the turkey loosely with the porcini-and-rice stuffing (store-bought or see below) or the stuffing of your choice and truss it. Place on a rack on a large roasting pan lined with aluminum foil and brush generously with melted butter.
Roast the turkey, basting it every 30 minutes with melted butter and pan juices, for 6 to 6½ hours, or until an instant-read thermometer pops out. During the last half hour, add the wine to the pan. If the turkey legs or breast brown too quickly, cover them lightly with foil.

5. Transfer the turkey to a cutting board, reserving the pan juices for gravy. Remove the stuffing, tent the turkey with foil, and allow it to sit for 20 to 30 minutes before carving.

For the porcini rice stuffing: brown a handful of mushrooms with a sliced onion and herbs and spices of your choice and mix this with 3 cups of cooked rice.

Abigail Donnelly

Recipe by: Abigail Donnelly

Nothing excites Woolworths TASTE's Food Director quite as much as the challenge of dreaming up recipes with innovative new foods – or the thrill of creating deliciousness on a plate with the humblest of ingredients. With Abi by your side, you’ll be a cooking expert in no time at all.

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