TURKEY HELPER RECIPE RECIPES

Steps:

• Preheat oven to 400 degrees. Melt butter in a skillet or dutch oven. Add onion, carrots, and celery, and cook until translucent (a couple of minutes.) Add turkey and stir. Sprinkle flour over mixture and stir. Cook over medium heat for a couple of minutes, stirring constantly. Pour in chicken or turkey broth, stirring constantly. Splash in wine (you can leave this out if you’d like.) Pour in cream. (May add frozen peas at this point if you’d like.) Bring to a slow boil and allow mixture to cook and thicken for a few minutes. Add salt and pepper to taste (do not underseason), and fresh or dried thyme to taste. Do one final taste at the end and add what it needs. Pour mixture into a casserole dish or deep pie pan. Roll out crust so that it’s about 1 inch larger than the pan you’re using. Place the crust on top of the pot pie mixture, and press crust into the sides of the dish. Cut vents in the top of the crust. Bake for 30-40 minutes or until very golden and bubbly and the crust is done. Allow to cool for a little bit before serving. Serve with a large spoon.

Steps:

• Combine all the brine ingredients in a large pot with 2 gallons cold water. Stir until the sugar and salt dissolve. Bring to a boil, then turn off the heat and cover. Let cool completely. Pour the cooled brine into a large brining bag or pot. Add the turkey and refrigerate for 16 to 24 hours. When ready to roast, remove the turkey from the brine. Submerge the turkey in a pot of fresh cold water. Allow to sit in the clean water for 15 minutes to remove the excess salt. Preheat the oven to 275 ̊. Remove the turkey from the water, pat dry and place breast-side up on a roasting rack set in a large roasting pan. Using a vegetable peeler, shave off thick pieces of orange peel and slice them very thin (reserve the orange). Combine with the butter, thyme leaves, salt and pepper in a bowl. Smear the butter mixture all over the skin and in the crevices so that the turkey is totally covered. Slice the reserved orange into wedges and place in the cavity of the turkey along with the thyme sprigs. Cross the legs and tie them together with kitchen twine. Pour the chicken broth and wine into the bottom of the pan. Cover the whole pan with heavy- duty foil, tucking it underneath the pan. Roast for 10 minutes per pound (so, for a 12-pound turkey, about 2 hours). After the first stage of cooking, remove the turkey from the oven and discard the foil (the turkey will still be pale). Insert a meat thermometer into the thigh, increase the oven temperature to 350 ̊ and return the turkey to the oven. Continue roasting, basting the turkey every 30 minutes, until the thermometer reads 165 ̊ to 168 ̊, 2 to 2 1/2 more hours. Remove from the oven and cover loosely with clean foil. Let rest for 30 minutes before carving. Save the drippings for gravy.