
I know I've been shouting the praises of the Mayo Greek Roasted Turkey, but this Thanksgiving I'm going to add something new to the table. After all what's a life without a bit of diversity?
This recipe requires and over-nighter in the refrigerator so you'll need to prep the old bird tonight. But then again how is that a problem? It takes only a few minutes and you'll have that turkey ready to prop in the oven as soon as you wake in the morning. May God bless all those you love!
1 turkey (14 to 16 pounds)
1 tablespoon salt
1 teaspoon ground sage
1/2 teaspoon garlic powder
1 large onion, chopped
3 celery ribs, chopped
3 medium carrots, chopped
1-1/4 cups water, divided
3 tablespoons canola oil
1/2 teaspoon freshly ground pepper
3 fresh sage sprigs
4 fresh thyme sprigs
GRAVY:
1 to 1-1/2 cups reduced-sodium chicken broth or homemade chicken stock
1/4 cup all-purpose flour
1/4 teaspoon minced fresh sage
1/4 teaspoon freshly ground pepper
Remove giblets and neck from turkey. Reserve turkey neck; refrigerate, covered, overnight. Place turkey in a 15x10x1-in. baking pan, breast side up. Secure skin to underside of neck cavity with toothpicks. Mix salt, sage and garlic powder. Tuck wings under turkey; tie drumsticks together. Pat turkey dry. Rub outside of turkey with salt mixture. Refrigerate turkey, loosely covered, overnight.
Preheat oven to 475°. Place onion, celery, carrots and reserved neck in bottom of a broiler pan; add 1/2 cup water. Place broiler pan rack over top; transfer turkey to rack. Rub outside of turkey with oil; sprinkle with pepper. Pour remaining water into turkey cavity; add sage and thyme sprigs ( you can use 1/2 tsp. of dried of each if you don't have fresh).
Place turkey in oven, facing legs toward back of oven. Roast, uncovered, 40 minutes.
Reduce oven setting to 350°. Cover breast tightly with a double thickness of foil. Roast 1-1/2 to 2 hours longer or until a thermometer inserted in thickest part of thigh reads 170°-175°. (Thermometer should not touch bone or fat.)
Remove turkey from oven. Let stand, uncovered, 20 minutes before carving. Using a turkey baster, remove liquid from turkey cavity to a large measuring cup. Line a strainer or colander with cheesecloth; place over measuring cup. With a slotted spoon, remove vegetables from bottom of broiler pan, reserving 1-1/4 cups. Discard turkey neck. Strain cooking liquid into measuring cup. Skim fat, reserving 1/4 cup fat. Add enough broth to the cooking liquid to measure 2 cups.
In a large saucepan, mix flour and reserved fat until smooth; gradually whisk in broth mixture. Bring to a boil, stirring constantly; cook and stir 1-2 minutes or until thickened. Add half of the reserved vegetables. Puree gravy using an immersion blender; or, cool gravy slightly and puree in a blender. Stir in sage, pepper and remaining vegetables; heat through. Serve with turkey.