Turkey with mushroom and walnut stuffing - how to cook a turkey

I was seriously proud of myself when I presented a golden-cooked turkey at Thanksgiving dinner this time last week.

It was my first turkey and definitely not my last.

It wasn't without fear, a little jumping around squirming and the odd harsh word as I burnt my hand on the oven for the nth time while basting but it was worth it.

My first challenge was finding a turkey.

It seems that aren't that readily available in Brisbane in early November.

I found some enormous frozen ones at Coles which were a bit too big and then after a bit more searching found a 4.5kg baby at my my local butcher.

They even kindly offered the defrost it for me so I could pick it up at the last minute and wouldn't need any fridge space.

The baste was oil-based which made the turkey skin nice and crispy.

It was meant to have rosemary in it but this is all I have in the garden.

It smells just like it but I don't know what it's called. If anyone knows I'd love to find out.

Place all the baste ingredients in a small saucepan (don't use a wooden spoon like I did!!) and heat until the lemon starts to curl at the sides.

Here's what it looks like when it's ready. Set it aside to cool slightly.

Now it's time to prepare the turkey.

I used a disposable baking dish for easy clean up but had to turn the sides up so it would fit in the oven.

Chop up two onions and use them to prop up the turkey in the dish.

Gloves were a must for me sticking my hands in something.

Plus I'm allergic to raw chicken (strange I know) so figured turkey would give me the same reaction.

Tuck the wing tips under the bird.

Stuff the stuffing into the middle cavity but don't pack it to tightly.

It needs to have room to breath.

Make a hole in the neck cavity.

I had to cut through the neck skin, of which there was a lot of.

I got a bit squirmish doing that and did a few little dances around the kitchen.

You know the dance you do when you step on something foul or think you have a spider on you?

Push some stuffing into the neck cavity.

Cover it up with skin. Yep it's pretty gross looking.

Pull the skin over the bottom cavity as much as you can.

My turkey's skin was quite torn which made it difficult but I did my best.

Tie up the legs with kitchen twine or pretty pink oven ties like I used.

Brush the baste over the whole turkey.

Here it is ready to go!

Put the turkey in the pre-heated 1805C oven and bake it for 30-45 minutes or until it is golden then reduce the temperature to 150C and cook for another 3 hours.

While the turkey was cooking it was time to set the scene.

I lined the table with a piece of brown paper, fanned out the napkins and tied them with twine and a little piece of the rosemary-like herb, made a matching garland of brown paper and printed out some free printables from Craftily Ever After.

The turkey needs to be basted every half an hour.

Be very careful when you do this!

Use a thermometer to make sure it is cooked by inserting it into the thickest part of the thigh. It's done when it is at least 170C .

Take it out of the oven, cover it in foil and leave it to rest for 30 minutes.

Will's other job - turkey carving. We'll have to put real carving knife and fork on the wedding registry.

The poor turkey didn't look too good but it sure did taste good.

The breast fell away from the bird it was so tasty.

What about you? Have you cooked  a whole turkey before?

Recipe

Turkey with mushroom and walnut stuffing - how to cook a turkey

Print Pin Rate SaveSaved!

Servings: 8 -10

Author: Recipe from [url href="http://www.marthastewart.com/331734/roast-turkey-with-rosemary-and-lemon"]Martha Stewart[/url]

1x2x3x

Ingredients

• 1 whole turkey mine was 4.5kg/10 lbs, thawed if frozen, neck and giblets removed, and rinsed and patted dry
• ¾ cup extra-virgin olive oil
• 2 tablespoon fresh rosemary leaves minced
• 1 garlic clove minced
• 7 wide strips lemon zest from 1 large lemon
• Coarse salt and ground pepper
• 4 cups mushroom and walnut stuffing
• 2 onions onion cut into 8 wedges

Instructions

• Put the onions in the bottom of a baking dish and sit the turkey on top breast side up. Leave it to sit at room temperature for 30 minutes.
• Pre-heat the oven to 185C(365F) fan-forced after 20 minutes.
• Place the oil, lemon peel, garlic and rosemary in a small saucepan and heat until the lemon starts to curl at the edges.
• Tuck the wing tips under the turkey.
• Fill the bottom cavity loosely with stuffing then stuff the neck cavity and cover them both with skin.
• Tie the legs together with kitchen twine.
• Baste the bird.
• Bake it for 30-45 minutes or until golden, basting after 30 minutes and then reduce the temperature to 150C(302F) and bake for another 3 hours, basting every 30 minutes.
• Take the turkey out of the oven and cover it with foil then leave it to rest for 30 minutes.
• Carve it and serve it up.

Have you made this recipe? I'd love to hear what you think. Tag me on Instagram @clairekcreations