Turkey with a twist

County chef Rachel Green shares some delicious recipes to enjoy with family and friends.

ROASTED GOLDEN TURKEY, PANCETTA MUFFINS WITH CRANBERRY, SAUSAGE AND ROSEMARY STUFFING

Ingredients:
• 5kg Golden Turkey
• 2 tbsp rapeseed oil
• Sea salt and black pepper
• 2 clementines, halved
• A few sprigs fresh rosemary
• 3 onions, peeled and roughly chopped
• 2 sticks celery, roughly chopped
• 2 carrots, roughly chopped

Method:
Preheat your oven to 180°C/Fan 160°C/Aga hot oven. Take your turkey out of the fridge two hours before you’re ready to cook it, so it comes up to room temperature before roasting. Place the turkey breast side down and drizzle the meat with rapeseed oil, season with sea salt and black pepper.

Place the clementine halves, an onion, and a few sprigs of rosemary into the cavity. Place the roughly chopped vegetables in the bottom of a roasting pan and lay your turkey on top, pour over 400ml of cold water, then put it in the hot oven. Cook for about 30 minutes per kilo. The 5kg bird in this recipe will take about 2 to 2.5 hours to cook. Halfway through cooking, take the bird out of the oven, turn over to breast side up and season this side. The best way to tell if the bird is cooked is to use a meat thermometer in the thigh. It is cooked when it has reached 65°C.

Rest the turkey for at least 1 hour, preferably 2 hours for bigger birds.

Whilst your turkey is resting, you can get on with cooking your stuffing muffins and making the gravy.

How to make Crispy Pancetta Muffins

Ingredients:
Serves 8
• 50g unsalted butter
• 1 onion, peeled and very finely chopped
• 150ml Madeira wine
• A handful of dried cranberries, soaked and roughly chopped
• 150g sausage meat
• 150g pork mince
• Sea salt and black pepper
• 75g good quality sourdough or country bread, whizzed to coarse crumbs
• 1 tbsp fresh rosemary, chopped, plus extra small sprigs to decorate
• 8 slices of pancetta

Method:
Preheat the oven to 180°C/Gas Mark 4. Melt the butter in a large frying pan and add the onion. Fry gently for 5-10 minutes until softened.

Turn the heat up, add the Madeira and bubble until syrupy. Transfer to a large bowl.

Once the mixture has cooled, add the cranberries, sausage meat and pork mince, mix and add a little salt, then mix in the breadcrumbs, rosemary and black pepper.

Lightly oil the insides of 8 hollows in a muffin tin. Take the pancetta slices and use to line the muffin tin – be careful not to leave any gaps in the pancetta lining. Fill the cups with the stuffing mixture, top with a sprig of rosemary and a fresh cranberry and brush with oil. Cook for 10-15 minutes and serve with the roast turkey.

Turkey Crackling Recipe

Method:
Place the cooked turkey skin on a baking sheet and place in a pre-heated oven to 180°C and cook until the skin is crisp but not burnt. Remove from the oven and drain on kitchen paper, allow to cool slightly and serve with your turkey burger and any turkey sandwich – it’s also lovely in salad.

TURKEY, CHORIZO AND MANCHEGO SANDWICH WITH CHIVE AIOLI

Ingredients:
Serves 2
• 3 garlic cloves, peeled and crushed
• 2 egg yolks
• 1 tbsp Dijon mustard
• 300ml olive oil
• Lemon juice
• A small handful of chopped chives (optional)
• Sea salt and black pepper
• 4 large slices of sourdough bread
• 200g cooked Golden Turkey
• 8 slices chorizo, cooked and sliced
• 4 slices of Manchego or mature cheddar cheese
• Vegetable oil, for frying

Method:
First make the aioli. Put the garlic, egg yolks and mustard into a food processor or blender.

Blitz into a paste and very slowly drizzle in the olive oil to make a thick mayonnaise-style sauce. When everything has come together, add the lemon juice and chopped chives, if using, and then season to taste. The aioli will keep covered in the fridge for up to 2 days.

On a large board, drizzle the slices of bread on one side with a little olive oil and rub the bread with a garlic clove and spread some aioli on the inside of the slices of sourdough, then continue to layer with the turkey, chorizo and slices of Manchego or Cheddar, then top with another slice of bread.

Wipe your frying pan clean with kitchen paper and heat the pan with a drizzle of vegetable oil, then wipe with kitchen paper. Fry the two sandwiches, weighing them down with a clean pan, for 2 minutes on each side or until toasted and crisp. Cut in half and serve immediately with more chive aioli.

Tip:
If you do not want to make the aioli, you could just make a garlic mayonnaise using 4 tbsp of good quality mayonnaise, two cloves of garlic, peeled and crushed and ½ tbsp of Dijon mustard.

MEXICAN STYLE PULLED GOLDEN TURKEY BURGER WITH SPROUT, DILL AND MUSTARD SLAW

Ingredients:
Serves 4
• 1 tbsp oil
• 1 small red onion, peeled and finely chopped
• 1 garlic clove, peeled and crushed
• 1 red chilli, finely chopped
• 1½ tsp smoked paprika
• 1 tsp cumin
• 1 good pinch dried oregano
• Sea salt and black pepper
• 2 tbsp leftover turkey gravy
• A dash of tabasco
• A dash of Worcestershire sauce (optional)
• 300g leftover Golden Turkey breast, shredded

For the slaw:
• 250g Brussels sprouts
• 1 small red onion, peeled and finely diced
• 2 medium carrots, peeled and grated
• 1 apple, chopped (optional)
• 3 tbsp mayonnaise
• 2 tbsp sour cream
• A good handful fresh dill, chopped
• 1 tsp Dijon mustard
• A good squeeze of lemon juice

To serve:
• 4 seeded burger buns
• Guacamole
• Tomato & coriander salsa
• Green pickled jalapeños

Method:
Heat the oil in a frying pan, and add the onion, garlic, chilli, paprika, cumin and oregano and fry gently for 2-3 minutes, taking care not to brown the onion. Season with sea salt and black pepper. When the onion is soft, add all the other ingredients and mix well. Leave on the heat until the turkey is hot.

Take out of the pan, divide the mixture into 4 equal burger shapes and keep warm.

To make the slaw, remove the outer leaves of the sprouts and slice thinly and mix with all the other ingredients in a bowl, seasoning with sea salt and black pepper to taste.

Slice the burger buns in half and toast lightly. Put a burger on the bottom half of each bun; top with some tomato salsa and guacamole and serve with the slaw, some green pickled jalapeño chillies, and turkey crackling.

NB: Don’t let on that there are sprouts in the coleslaw, as nobody will believe you!

We Recommend

Love the skin you’re in

Take an Afternoon Tea Tour

Find your fields of gold

May motivation

Showcase for estate produce

Wild unbreakable bonds

View all