Ingredients:
- 5kg free-range turkey (take out of the fridge at least 1 hour before cooking); we used Sainsbury’s Taste the Difference Free-range Norfolk Black Turkey
- 100g butter, softened
- 4 large celery sticks, halved
- 1 large onion, sliced
- 4 bay leaves
- 6 fresh thyme sprigs
- 8 clementines, halved horizontally
For the stuffing
- 50g butter
- 4 fat garlic cloves, crushed
- 25g fresh breadcrumbs
- 450g British free-range pork sausagemeat
- 100g dried tomatoes, finely chopped
- 2 tbsp chopped fresh flatleaf parsley
- 3 fresh thyme sprigs, leaves picked and roughly chopped
- Freshly grated nutmeg
- Finely grated zest 2 clementines
You’ll also need…
- Aluminium foil
- large roasting tin
- digital probe thermometer (useful but not essential)
Instruction
- For the stuffing, warm the 50g butter in a small frying pan with the garlic and cook gently over low heat for 10 minutes. Stir in the breadcrumbs, then set aside to cool. In a large mixing bowl, use your hands to combine the sausage meat with the tomatoes, herbs, nutmeg, zest, seasoning, and the cooled garlic butter crumbs.
- Heat the oven to 200°C/180°C fan/gas 6. Gently ease the skin away from the neck end of the turkey and use your fingers to carefully spread the 100g butter under and over the skin. Season inside the cavity, then stuff the neck end with the stuffing.
- Put the celery and onion in a large, roomy roasting tin. Sit the stuffed turkey on top, then roast for 30 minutes. Turn down the heat to 180°C/160°C fan/gas 4, cover with foil (securing well), and roast for 1 hour 40 minutes – see Know-how – basting occasionally with the juices.
- For the last 30 minutes of the cooking time, add the herbs and clementines. Baste everything with the juices, then return to the oven.
- The turkey is cooked when it reaches 70°C on a digital probe thermometer or the juices run clear when you pierce the thickest part of the thigh with a skewer. Rest the turkey, loosely covered in its foil, somewhere warm. Turn up the oven to 200°C/180°C fan/gas 6 to cook the rest of your Christmas lunch (the turkey will keep hot for 1-2 hours).
- Serve on a warm platter with the clementine and any additional trimmings. Save the pan juices to make gravy, if you like.