Citrus Roasted Turkey

Happy New Year everyone!  Last blog post of the year.  I made this really yummy turkey for my Holiday Party.  It came out nice and moist, and got positive reviews by my friends.  

 

Citrus Turkey

• 1 (12-pound) turkey, with giblets
• 1 stick = 1/2 cup butter softened at room temperature – leave it out the day prior
• 2 lemons, zested
• 1 sprig rosemary
• 4 basil leaves
• 1 teaspoon of dried Italian seasoning
• ½ teaspoon of dried tarragon
• 1 – 2 tablespoons coarse salt
• Freshly ground black pepper
• 1 – 3 oranges, halved

·         Take the turkey out of the refrigerator and leave it to come to room temperature, about 30 minutes prior to preparing and cooking. Preheat the oven to 450 degrees F.

·         Remove the rosemary from the sprig, and dice.  Also finely chop the basil.  Zest the lemons if you have not done so already.

·         In a mixing bowl, add the 1/2 cup softened butter, lemon zest, fresh chopped herbs, and dried seasoning. Halve the lemons and squeeze the juice of 1 lemon half into the butter. Stir to combine. Season with salt and crushed pepper.

·         Prepare the turkey: Remove the inner packet of giblets from the cavity and set aside.

·         This is horrifying but had to be done.  Run your fingers and hand underneath the skin of the breast and separate the skin and the flesh. From the skin under the breast,   also go to the sides of the bird to the legs/ dark meat, and separate the skin and meat there as well with your fingers. 

·         Using your fingers, scoop up some of the lemon-chive butter and push the butter under the skin, rubbing the meat and spreading the herbed butter. Do the same thing on the legs. Continue until all the butter is as even distributed as possible.  Pat the outside of the bird and squish the butter with fingers and hand to distribute. If there are any leftovers, take the rest of the butter and rub it all over the outside of the bird. Sprinkle the bird with salt and pepper.

·         Stuff the cavity with Citrus:  Squeeze the other lemon on the inside of the turkey cavity. Also give the orange a squeeze into the cavity as you stuff it. Insert as much of the citrus as you can. Give each piece a little squeeze as you insert them to get the juices distributed, plus the juices steam and help cook the turkey from the inside. 

·         Tuck the wings under the turkey.  If the turkey legs are not already tied together, go ahead and do that as well with twine. 

·         Cover up most of the bird – not the cavity – with aluminum foil

·         Place the turkey in the 450 degree preheated oven and cook for 1 hour. (most people say to only do this for 20-30 minutes, but I did an hour and it turned out fine).

·         Turn down the heat to 350 degrees F and roast for about another 2 hours, until a meat thermometer inserted into the thickest part of the thigh registers 175 to 180 degrees F.  I started measuring the temperature after the inserted turkey thermometer popped out of the turkey.  The general rule is to cook a turkey about 15 minutes per pound. My bird did take longer because I basted a few times and my turkey was still cold when it went in… total cook time for my 11.5 pound bird was 4 hours.

·         Remove the foil from the bird during the last hour and a half of cooking

·         Remove the bird from the pan onto a carving board or platter and cover with foil to keep warm. Allow it to rest for 15 minutes before carving.