Christmas is the time of year where food becomes a tradition. It’s the time to spice up your taste buds with some traditional Christmas recipes that we have been enjoying from our childhood. Most of these recipes are created by cutting and chopping your favorite vegetables, meats and spices. But how to make this cutting process easy?
You can simply get a wood cutting board and conveniently cut the required ingredients for all recipes that you have selected.
Fat 21.9g 31% | Calories 572 29% | Fiber 3.6g - | Saturates 6.9g 35% | Carbs 20.4g 8% | Protein 75.2g 167% | Salt 2.16g 36% | Sugars 13.5g 15% |
| - 12 strips pancetta or streaky bacon | - sea salt |
| - 1 sprig sage | - 1 pinch grated nutmeg |
| - 1 bulb garlic | - black pepper (ground) |
| - 2 sticks celery | - 4-4.5 kg turkey |
| - 4 red onions | - 2 carrots |
| - 1 handful breadcrumbs | - olive oil |
| - 300 g minced pork/beef | - 12 sprigs of rosemary |
| - 1 handful apricots (dried) | - 1 orange |
| - 1 lemon | - 2 tbsp. plain flour |
| - 1 egg | - liters chicken or vegetable stock |
Before you start the preparation, turn on the oven to the highest setting to preheat it.
In a saucepan, sauté the sage leaves with a little bit of hot olive oil. Next, add the bacon that has been cut into strips or alternatively add half a dozen Pancetta pieces. Now, add the peeled and chopped garlic and onions and finally add the celery. Keep on frying on medium heat till the ingredients become tender and goldish in color.
At this point, the pan should be removed from the stove, and the crumbs of bread should be poured in and mixed well. Once this mixture is cooled enough, you can add the chopped apricots and mix well. When the entire mixture is cool, add the small pieces of beef or pork, zest of a lemons, the eggs, and nutmeg. Next, you can season to taste with salt and black pepper.
Use the sliced Pancetta or bacon strips that have been cut on your cutting board in this step. The peeled garlic gloves should also be sliced into thin pieces. Lay the garlic slices along with the rosemary sprigs at the end of the meat strip and start rolling up the strip. Keep on rolling it till it becomes like a tight Swiss roll. Repeat with all the strips of meat.
Using a sharp knife, make small incisions all over the turkey. The incisions must be large enough to take the rolled meat strips made in Step 4. Push a rolled strip into each incision. This will add the exotic flavor into the turkey. It will also improve the juiciness and moistness of the turkey.
Use a wood cutting board to slice the carrots and onions into thick pieces. Now, dab the turkey dry with a paper napkin and put it on the cutting board with its neck facing you. After this, start lifting the skin from the breast pieces of the big bird. Remove in such a way that sides remain attached; you are trying to make pockets over the top of the breasts.
The next step involves using the mixture created to stuff the pocket between the skin and the meat of the turkey’s breast. Now, heat up an orange in the oven and push it inside the turkey.
Weigh the turkey so you can calculate the cooking time. On average this is calculated by the formula: For every 500 grams or 1 pound roast for 20 minutes.
After rubbing the bird with oil and seasoning, start the roasting process by placing it in the preheated oven. Do not forget to add the carrots, onions and garlic that were chopped in earlier steps. Make sure to add the tin foil covering. The oven should now be at a gas mark 4 or 180 degrees. The bird should be cooked for the time calculated.
When only 40 minutes are left, remove the foil cover so that the skin will brown. Once the cooking time is complete remove it from the oven and let it stand, covered with foil for atleast 10-20 minutes if the turkey is to be served hot.
After this, place the stock and flour into a small saucepan on the stove and heat to boiling point, stirring all the time. When the gravy has been thickened, pour it into a sauce boat or small bowl.
Cut and serve!
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