Ok I know, I know, totally cheating the big traditional Turkey roast of it’s full glory but this year I wanted to come up with a Christmas dinner twist which was a bit more easy going on those who might be tackling a bird for the first time. I’m sure traditional Christmas dinner purists will be up in arms but while it might be old hat to them, stuffing, basting, and carving can all conjure up nightmare scenarios for wannabe turkey wranglers, but there is a short cut. By getting your butcher to bone, stuff and roll your turkey you can skip all the dirty work and then all you have to worry about is time in the oven. Carving becomes a breeze and you get nice even slices with moist stuffing throughout.
This is a ring ahead job, do give your butcher pre-warning of what you want to do. I’m fairly sure he won’t be to happy if you arrive down with your bag of stuffing while he has a queue out the door. The stuffing for this recipe is easy to make ahead of time and you can store it in the fridge in resealable bag until you’re ready to use it.
Both the filling and glaze in this recipe are really adaptable so if you would prefer to adapt this method with your own variations go right ahead. You can do the math in terms of turkey weight to cooking time but I find one of the greatest kitchen gadgets around this time of year, when pressure needs precision, is a meat thermometer which you can get from any good kitchen shop. It takes the guess work out of cooking the bird and means you can be safe in the knowledge the bird is cooked all the way through. This bird alongside some of my favourite Christmas veggies will go down a storm if you try it this year! Enjoy!