The Turkey Volume 2

Talia's Turkey

I'm back, finally. I planned on posting a lot over the Thanksgiving holiday but got caught up spending sweet time with my family. It was wonderful. I am so thankful to God for my salvation and my family.

Today I am going to post the remainder of the Thanksgiving recipes that I used and a few more recipes for everyday cooking. The turkey recipe that I did this year was a combination of a few different recipes that I have used over the last five years.

Ingredients:

Fresh or frozen turkey (10-17 lbs) (I used fresh for the first time this year)
1 onion cut in large chunks (no need to peel)
1 head of garlic cut in half lengthwise (no need to peel)
1 carrot
1 celery stalk
2 stems fresh rosemary
bunch of thyme
stick of unsalted butter
truffle oil
salt (you will need about a 1/4 cup of kosher salt for the rub and then more the season the inside of the turkey)
2 tbsp. juice of a citrus fruit (lime, lemon or an orange...your choice)

Preheat oven to 500 degrees.

Place the turkey in your roasting pan. You can also use a cookie cooling rack on top of a cookie sheet as your roasting pan or place a few whole carrots and celery stalks on your cookie sheet and place turkey on top.

Then, you want to stuff the cavity of the turkey. First, take some salt (about 4 tbsp) and toss it into the cavity along with some pepper (about 2 tbsp). Stuff the cavity with onions, carrots, celery, garlic, rosemary and all but 3 stems of the thyme. Just stuff everything into the cavity. Once everything is in the cavity, tie the legs with some kitchen twine.

Starting at the cavity end, gently run your fingers between the meat and the skin. Be careful not to puncture the skin with your fingers. Take the truffle butter (recipe to follow) and massage the meat with half of the butter. Rub the skin of the turkey with the remaining truffle butter. Then rub on the salt rub (recipe to follow).

Place the turkey on the lowest rack in the oven. Cook on 500 degrees for 30 minutes. Then, reduce the temperature to 325 and cook until turkey reaches an internal temperature of 165 degrees. Place a meat thermometer in the thickest part of the breast of the turkey. When the temperature reaches 165, your bird is done! Let the turkey rest for 15-20 minutes before you carve it. While it rests, cover it with foil.

Truffle Butter:
1 stick unsalted butter
1/2 tsp to 1 tsp truffle oil (depending on your taste)

In a mixer beat the butter and oil together until smooth.