How to prepare the perfect Christmas turkey with the help of Central England Co-operative

Posted by nathan lloyd | Published: 13/12/2016

The task of roasting the Christmas Turkey is often the biggest stress for any home cook tackling the festive feast.

So, Central England Co-operative has come up with a nice and easy recipe to follow to ensure people don’t spend the whole of the festive season in the kitchen.

This quick guide will help you feed between six to eight people with only 45 minutes preparation time and three hours cooking time.

Method:

Before you begin:

Make sure to remove any giblets and the neck, which you can use to make turkey stock for the gravy.
For added flavour, fill the cavity – the parson’s nose end – with onion, fresh lemon, celery, garlic and whole peppercorns. Finish by tying the legs with string.
To give the skin extra colour and crispiness, mix the dried herbs with the melted butter and brush thoroughly all over the turkey.
Now season the turkey with a generous topping of freshly milled pepper.
For even more flavour, wrap the legs with smoked streaky bacon.
It is best to cook a turkey raised off the tray. This will allow the juices to run free for the gravy and ensure that there is an even heat all-round the turkey. If you don’t have an inner tray, you can do this by placing it on a bed of sliced onion and carrots.

Ready to roast:

Cook for three hours at gas mark 6/200ºC/180ºC fan. As a rule, cook for 30 minutes per kilo plus an extra hour, basting as required.
Cover the turkey in tin foil for the first two hours of cooking to prevent it from becoming dry. Remove the tin foil for the final stages of cooking and baste some of the juices over the bird. Repeat this three or four times at 15 minute intervals.
Let the turkey rest for 20 minutes before carving, covered with tin foil to maintain the heat.

Leek and Chestnut stuffing:

Finely chop one onion, a leek and two garlic cloves in a food processor.
Slowly pan fry four rashers of streaky bacon in a little butter and add the leek mixture to the pan for a couple of minutes. Remove from the heat. Add a generous handful of breadcrumbs, one packet of chopped chestnuts, the juice and zest of one lemon and some chopped parsley. Mix together and keep in fridge until needed.
Press into an ovenproof serving dish or roll into stuffing balls. Put stuffing in the oven 30 minutes before the final turkey cooking time.

Central England Co-operative shopping list for turkey and leak and chestnut stuffing:

The Co-Operative British free range turkey (4–5kg/9–11lb)
One tablespoon dried thyme
One tablespoon dried rosemary
100g butter, melted
Six rashers The co-operative smoked streaky bacon
Ground black pepper (freshly milled)

One onion
Two fresh lemons
Two stalks celery
Five garlic cloves
One tablespoon of whole peppercorns

Or if you want you can pick up some of our Co-operative Irresistible cranberry and apple stuffing for just £1.49.

People can find more fun festive recipes by visiting http://www.centralengland.coop/food-and-drink/recipes

Notes to editors

Video: Please find below an embed code for a video recipe for our leek and chestnut stuffing.
<iframe width="560" height="315" src="https://www.youtube.com/embed/Qp6sVNe0oPc" frameborder="0" allowfullscreen></iframe>

About Central England Co-operative
Central England Co-operative is one of the largest independent retail co-operative societies in the UK. It is a modern, forward-looking organisation employing over 8,000 staff, with projected gross sales of £958million for 2016/17. The Society recently celebrated being named Leading Co-operative of the Year 2016 by Co-operatives UK. The Society’s principal areas of activity are food, funeral services, and property. Central England Co-operative has more than 430 trading outlets across 16 counties including; West Midlands, Warwickshire, Worcestershire, Staffordshire, Derbyshire, Leicestershire, Rutland, Nottinghamshire, Northamptonshire, Lincolnshire, West Yorkshire, South Yorkshire, Suffolk, Norfolk, Bedfordshire and Cambridgeshire.  The Society has an ambitious food store development programme for 2015/16.
Central England Co-operative is proud of its reputation for ethical business practices and corporate responsibility.  It is a member of Business in the Community, the membership organisation that stands for responsible business, and has also won many business awards for excellence.  The Society supports a number of charities including Newlife Foundation for Disabled Children and invests a percentage of its trading profit into local communities.
For more information visit http://www.centralengland.coop follo,w Central England Co-operative on Twitter: @mycoopfood, and on Facebook: facebook.com/centralenglandcooperative
Rob Smyth / Jo Baldock at Central England Co-operative on 01543 414140
Email – publicrelations@centralengland.coop