Whose coming to dinner? How many?
Do you have enough cutlery and crockery?
Do you have to be Posh*?
Depends who you want to impress!
Prospective in-laws?
Courting disaster unless you
already know them well.
Someone you really fancy!!!!
Your boss! Seduce your boss!!!
Lads and lassies from the pub.
A family who can’t afford a dinner.
A very noble and worthwhile gesture.
What’s going to be on the menu?
Turkey (well that’s obvious).
If you don’t want the fuss of a cooking a big turkey, you can get turkey roll or a turkey breast.
Stuffing. There’s a lot of talk about whether you should stuff the Turkey, incase it doesn’t cook properly.
It’s your choice.
Here are two stuffing recipes that work for me when I stuff the bird. If you’re worried about the stuffed bird not cooking completely, put 2 whole peeled onions into the cavity and cook the stuffing separately.
Celery and walnut Stuffing.
Chestnut stuffing.
Small sausages wrapped in bacon.
Gravy.
Bread sauce.
Cranberry sauce.
Vegetables,
Roast potatoes, mash potatoes for the really hungry.
Brussel sprouts, Carrots.
Roasted parsnips are a favourite amongst some.
The turkey. Remember this is how I would cook the turkey.
The “F” guy will probably cook it differently.
Remember we’re just bachelor beginners.
Turkey size depends on how many you will provide for 10 to 15lbs is usually a good tasting turkey. I like a fresh unadulterated bird.
Streaky bacon to cover the bird while cooking.
There are many ways to prepare the turkey. Rubbing with butter and shoving butter under the skin is one. You may as well buy a butterball turkey.
After rinsing the inside and out. Remembering to take out the giblets. Put them aside to make the gravy. Dry the turkey inside and out. Season, both inside and out with salt and pepper.
Cover as much of the turkey as you can with the bacon. Using cocktail sticks or toothpicks (unused) to hold the awkward ends down.
If you are not going to stuff the bird, put in the two whole onions and start cooking in a pre-heated oven set at 220°C/425°F/gas mark 7.
The Stuffing ingredients.
Celery and walnut.
2 Onions finely chopped. 2 tbsp butter
55g/2oz wholemeal breadcrumbs
4 celery sticks, chopped 110g/4 oz chopped walnuts
2 apples cored and chopped 110g/4oz dried apricots
Salt and pepper 2tbsp fresh parsley
Chestnut stuffing
110g/4oz streaky bacon, cut into 1” size pieces
1 onion finely chopped
110g/4oz sliced button mushrooms
225g/8oz chestnut puree 2 tbsp Fresh parsley
Grated rind of 2 lemons salt and pepper
Make the stuffing
Celery and walnut: Fry the onion in the butter until soft. In a bowl mix together the breadcrumbs, celery, apple, apricots and walnuts. Add the cooked onions and season to taste, stir in the parsley.
Chestnut stuffing: Fry the bacon and onion in the butter until soft. Add the mushrooms and cook for a minute or two. In a bowl mix together the chestnut puree with the parsley and lemon rind season well with salt and pepper. Add the onions, bacon and mushrooms. Allow to cool.
To save time, the stuffing could be made the day before.
Stuff the main body (from the bottom end) of the bird with the celery and walnut stuffing. Stuff the neck end with the chestnut stuffing. Secure both end with skewers and cooking string.
Grease the roasting dish with a good helping of butter.
Cover the turkey with cooking foil and roast in the hot oven for 30 minutes.
Then reduce the oven setting to 180°C/350°F/ Gas mark 4. Baste every 30 minutes. If you can (in my opinion) it is a good idea to turn the bird upside down to cook for a while between bastings.
Cooking time will depend on the size of the turkey. 15 to 20 minutes to the pound. It will take 3-4 hours.
Take off the foil when you judge there is about 45 minutes cooking time left. This will brown off the bacon and top of the turkey.
If you are going to have sausages wrapped in bacon you can put them in now.
To test, stick a pointed knife in the thickest part to judge if cooked.
The juice should run clear and bloodless. Gently pull a leg away, it should come away easily don’t pull too hard though, it may come right off.
If you have a meat thermometer, the internal temperature should be about 160°F.
You can finish cooking the turkey up to an hour before you want to serve dinner. This gives you time to have a glass of wine and sort out all the other stuff.
Drain of all the turkey cooking juices, you’ll use these in the gravy. Put the turkey on your warmed serving/carving dish, cover with foil and put somewhere safe. Where no one can pick bits off for and nibble. Or that the dog thinks it’s his dinner.
Bread sauce.
This is really served as an extra filler. Keep those big hunky guys happy.
Make up to a dozen small holes in a peeled onion with something like a skewer and stick a clove in each hole.
Put the onion, a bay leave or 3 and 6 or so peppercorns in a small saucepan with a pint of milk. Place over a medium heat and bring to the boil, remove from the heat, then cover to leave the onion flavour to infuse into the milk for about an hour.
Strain the milk and throw away the onion and other bits. Return the milk to the rinsed out pan and add 4 oz/115g fresh white bread crumbs. Cook gently, watching carefully cos’ the milk will boil over, until the bread crumbs have swollen and the sauce has thickened.
Beat in 25g/1oz butter and season well to your taste. You can grate in some nutmeg. And be really naughty and add a couple spoons of double cream. Go on be decadent.
Keep in warm in a serving bowl and serve with the turkey.
Cranberry sauce.
You can buy it already in a can. But we are out to impress!
Put 8oz/225g of fresh cranberries and 3oz/85g of soft brown sugar into a saucepan with 150ml of fresh orange juice, ½ teaspoon of cinnamon and ½ teaspoon grated nutmeg.
Cook slowly stirring occasionally to stop it sticking to the pan, bringing to the boil, cook for about 10 minutes until the cranberries have split open. Be ready for them to spit hot juice at you.
Put into a serving bowl until needed. The cranberries can be served hot or cold.
The bread sauce and cranberry sauce can both be made in a microwave in a microwave safe bowl. Being careful what heat settings you use, low setting will be needed once things have come to the boil.
