Chicken Spice, Poultry Stuffing Mix, Liquid Chicken Stock, Lemon & Rosemary Seasoning, Ready to Serve Roast Chicken Gravy
You will need
1 small/medium turkey (3 – 3.5kg)
1 x 100 g Ina Paarman’s Poultry Stuffing Mix
½ cup (125 ml) boiling water
1 x 25 g Ina Paarman’s Liquid Chicken Stock
2 T (30 ml) olive oil
1 orange, zest and ½ cup of the juice
250 g pork sausages, meat removed from sausage casing
100 g pistachio nuts, shelled and roughly chopped
50 g cranberries, sultanas or Turkish apricots (cut into strips)
2 T (30 ml) fresh thyme leaves
Ina Paarman’s Lemon & Rosemary Seasoning or Chicken Spice
2 T (30 ml) butter, melted
2 T (30 ml) olive oil
streaky bacon (optional)
2 x 200 ml Ina Paarman’s Ready to Serve Roast Chicken Gravy
orange wedges
fresh thyme
Method
Do watch our one minute video.
Spatchcock the turkey by removing the back bone with sharp kitchen scissors or a cook’s knife.
Turn the turkey over with the cut side on the chopping board. Pull the drumsticks towards you and press down hard on the breast bone to “flatten” the turkey. The breast bone will crack when it breaks.
To prepare the stuffing, pour the Poultry Stuffing mixture into a medium mixing bowl and add boiling water, Chicken Stock, olive oil, orange zest and juice. Mix lightly and leave to stand for 5 minutes to hydrate.
Add the sausage meat, chopped pistachios, cranberries and fresh thyme. Mix until just blended.
Season the bony underside of the turkey with Lemon & Rosemary Seasoning. Using your hand gently loosen the skin of the turkey by separating the skin from the meat. Loosen all the way to the drumsticks. Stuff the turkey under the skin making sure that the complete turkey is evenly stuffed. Snip off the wing tips and secure the wings with a skewer. Cover the ends of the drumsticks with foil.
Season the skin side and brush with the butter/oil mixture.
Kettle Braai Cooking
Light the charcoal (50 – 60 briquettes) in your kettle braai and wait until it is ashed over. Place the charcoal evenly on both sides of the kettle braai and place a large drip pan in the centre – this will catch the drippings.
Keep the bottom vents about a quarter of the way open and start with the top vent halfway open. Control the temperature throughout the process by turning the top vent to being more open and to get the temperature higher or closing it to cool down.
Place the turkey directly on the middle of the braai grid and cover with the lid. Leave for 1 ½ hours. Check with a meat thermometer after 1 hour and 10 minutes. The optimal temperature is 75°C – 80°C. Test in the breast. If using the bacon, cover the breast with it for the final 20 minutes of cooking.
Allow the turkey to rest for 10 minutes on a wooden carving board before carving.
In a saucepan, pour all the meat juices from the drip tray and add the Roast Chicken Gravy. Warm through and serve with the turkey.
Oven Cooking
Adjust the oven rack to one slot below the middle and preheat the oven to 180°C.
Roast the flattie open for 1 ½ hours.
Remove from the oven. Cover the flattie with bacon if using.
Roast open for a further 20 – 30 minutes. Remove from the oven, lightly cover with foil. Rest for 10 minutes on a wooden carving board.
Add the Roast Chicken Gravy to the pan, put on the stove plate, bring to the boil and stir to dislodge pan browning. Pour gravy into a sauce boat.
Carve the bird for serving.
Garnish with orange wedges and fresh thyme.
