Christmas Eve in Delfryn

It’s Christmas Eve in my fictional village of Delfryn, and you’ve arrived in front of a row of quaint cottages made of Welsh slate. A garland of holly and pine is artfully arranged above the doors of the three cottages.  The tangled vine around the door of Vine Cottage is laden with fairy lights. No one answers the door, so you decide to check the address stored on your phone. Reaching into your pocket, you find an envelope marked ‘Christmas Turkey Recipe’.

Once you are inside Vine Cottage, Sophie makes you some hot chocolate with a hint of cinnamon, ginger biscuits and marshmallows.  She returns to the pile of presents, wrapping paper and bows. ‘I’ve got so much to do,’ she complains.

Jack searches through recipe books and asks you, ‘Do you have a failsafe recipe to cook tomorrow’s Christmas dinner?  I’ve bought a free range turkey from Delfryn Farm but haven’t had time to perfect a recipe.’

You realise the magical significance of the envelope found in your pocket.  ‘There’s a recipe inside of this envelope,’ you soothe then hand over the envelope.

This will take around 4 to 4 ½ hours.

Ingredients

• Turkey 3-4 kg (including giblets)
• Bottle of dry white wine or sparkling white wine
• Variety of fresh herbs (such as Thyme, Rosemary, Sage, Oregano, Marjoram, Bay Leaves) – 3 handfuls
• 4 Juniper Berries
• Pinch of Saffron
• ½ pack of butter (leave out at room temperature before using)
• 1 pack Bacon (225g) – preferably streaky
• 2 lemons
• Salt and Pepper
• Beef Dripping / Fat or Goose Fat
• Water
• Potatoes for Roasting (such as Maris Piper, King Edwards) – approx. 1kg for 4 people
• Variety of Root Vegetables (such as Parsnips, Carrots, Squash, Sweet Potato, Swede, Turnip) – approx. 1kg for 4 people
• Wholegrain Mustard – couple of spoons
• Cornflour – 2 or 3 teaspoons

Method

• Take the turkey out of the fridge at least an hour before cooking
• Remove the giblets from the cavity of the turkey and place in a pan with 2/3 wine. Add a handful of the herbs (no need to chop), the Juniper Berries and the Saffron, some salt and pepper. Put on a slow simmer. May need to top up with water as it dries out.
• Peel and chop up the root vegetables and place in a large baking tray (needs to deep enough to take juices that will come out of the turkey).  Chop up a handful of herbs quite finely and add these, the remaining wine, juice of 1 lemon, salt and pepper. Then add some water to just cover the vegetables.
• Chop up the remaining herbs and mix in with the softened butter
• Pre-heat the oven to 165 C / 325 F / Gas Mark 3 (with a fan) or 180C / 350 F / Gas Mark 4 (without a fan)
• Take the turkey and gently prise the skin slightly apart from the meat (but do not remove it). Take the herb butter and spread it between the meat and the skin as far as you can. This will help to keep the turkey moist whilst cooking.
• Then take the rashers of bacon and spread over the top of the turkey. This will help to protect and baste the turkey further.
• Place the turkey onto the tray of vegetables and cover with aluminium foil and place in the oven and cook for approx. 3 hours (A larger turkey will be at least ½ hour longer)
• After approx. 1 ½ hours, whilst the turkey is cooking, peel and chop up the potatoes for roasting. Place the potatoes into a pan, cover with water, add salt and bring to the boil. Boil for around 15 minutes or until the potatoes start to break up slightly. Strain them and leave to dry out for a few minutes.
• Whilst the potatoes are boiling add the beef dripping or goose fat to a roasting tray and put in the oven. Heat the oven to 220 C / 425 F / Gas Mark 7.
• After 2 ½ hours, you will need to remove the foil and the bacon, so that you can brown the turkey skin
• When the potatoes have dried, and just after the foil has been removed from the turkey, remove the hot roasting tray with beef dripping or goose fat from the oven and add the potatoes. Stir well to coat the potatoes and return to the oven. Ideally the potatoes will break up slightly, but don’t worry if they do not. This adds lots of crispy bits. Cook for about an hour or until golden brown and crispy at the edges.
• Remove the turkey when cooked, cover with foil and rest for half an hour.  To test the turkey, pierce the turkey and check that the juices are clear. Add any juices that come from the resting turkey to the sauce (there may be a lot!). N.B. The potatoes should still have ½ hour to cook.
• Strain off the liquid from the turkey and roast vegetables and place in a large frying pan.
• Strain the stock from the giblets and add it to this pan.
• Add the remaining wine, some grated peel from the final lemon and the juice of that lemon.
• Boil the sauce rapidly and reduce it down. Taste the sauce to see if reduced enough. If it tastes watery or weak, leave to reduce longer. Skim any fat off the top and put aside in a bowl (to use later or discard). Put in into a jug to serve.
• Mix the cornflour with a few teaspoons water and add to the sauce to thicken it, stirring well whilst doing it. Add the mustard to the sauce. Add some extra pepper.
• Serve

This recipe is a gift from Delfryn. Thank you so much for stepping into Delfryn and my blogging world. Merry Christmas and a Happy New Year to my lovely readers and friends.  May your dreams come true in 2019.  In the meantime, happy reading and writing. Thank you for your support and friendship! You are all bright stars shining as I continue my writing adventure and it wouldn’t mean anything without your kind words.  So let’s raise our glasses to kindness this Christmas and New Year.

Please see all my food related posts at Writing on a Plate and my website and blog at JessieCahalin.com.