A festive feast made easy by Bord Bia
Bord Bia is taking the hassle out of planning the perfect festive feast with its Christmas Recipe Booklet. It’s packed with mouth-watering recipes, serving suggestions, a guide to buying ingredients with the Bord Bia Quality Mark and money saving ideas. There are also top tips from professional chefs including foolproof tips for a tasty turkey, handy hints for honey glazed ham, a guide to good gravy, and how to prepare the perfect roast potatoes. The free booklet is available to download on www.bordbia.ie
Roast turkey with thyme and onion stuffing
This traditional recipe is hard to beat.
Ingredients
Seven kg turkey, oven ready; salt, black pepper and a little flour; two tablespoons of softened butter; eight slices of streaky bacon.
Stuffing: 450g bread, broken into pieces; six tablespoons of fresh parsley, chopped; two tablespoons of fresh thyme, chopped; one medium onion, cut into quarters; salt and black pepper; 100 to 150g butter, softened.
To make the stuffing: place the bread, parsley, thyme and onion in a food processor. Process until you have fine breadcrumbs and the onion is finely chopped. Remove to a bowl, season and mix in the butter.
To stuff the turkey: loosen the skin at the neck end with your hands. Pack the stuffing in, pushing it up between the flesh and the skin, but not too tightly, because it will expand during cooking. Tuck the neck flap under the bird’s back and secure with a cocktails stick. Any remaining stuffing can be cooked in a covered baking dish with the turkey. Weigh the turkey, and calculate the cooking time. Allow 15 to 20 minutes per pound (allow 10 to 15 minutes per pound for turkeys weighing over 16lbs ). Place the turkey, breast side up, in an oiled roasting tin.
To cook
Set the oven at gas mark 7, 220°C (450°F ). Season the turkey with salt and pepper and dust with a little flour. Rub all over with the butter, then lay the bacon slices on the breast, overlapping each other. Cover the bacon with a piece of buttered greaseproof paper. This will keep the bacon in place. Wrap the turkey loosely in foil and roast in the preset oven. After the first 3/4 hour reduce the heat to gas mark 3, 170°C (325°F ). Baste a couple of times during roasting. For the last half hour remove the tin foil.
To check if the turkey is cooked pierce the thickest part of the leg — the juices should run clear. When the turkey is cooked remove from the oven, transfer to a large plate, reserve the cooking juices in the tin to make the gravy. Cover the turkey loosely with foil and allow to rest for half an hour in a warm place while you finish the ham and roast potatoes.
For quality assurance and peace of mind always look for the Bord Bia Quality Mark when buying your turkey
Honey glazed ham
Delicious any time of the year but especially good as part of Christmas dinner. Any leftovers can be used in sandwiches, salads, or omelettes.
Ingredients
One whole ham; one to two carrots, chopped; one to two sticks of celery, chopped; one onion, halved; one tablespoon of peppercorns; one bay leaf; two teaspoons of mustard; three tablespoons of clear honey; ring of one orange, coarsely grated; and one tablespoon of brown sugar.
To cook
Place the ham, vegetables, peppercorns, and bay leaf in a large saucepan. Cover with cold water. Place a lid on the pan, bring to the boil then reduce the heat and simmer for approximately three hours (keep ham stock for sauce and soup ).
When the ham is cooked the skin will peel off easily. Remove the joint from the saucepan and place on a roasting tin. Using a sharp knife remove all skin and score the fat into diamonds. Spread it with the mustard, honey, orange rind, and sugar. When you have removed the turkey from the oven bake the ham at gas mark 6, 200°C (400°F ) for about 30 minutes until golden brown.
