Fortunately for us, London is very accommodating to Americans and our gluttonous holiday. Sainsbury had a plethora of various sized birds and I managed to find the largest one in the frozen section. At 9 kilos (approximately 20 lbs) it was sure to feed my par-tay of 16.
I went with @jamie_oliver and modified his Best Roast Turkey for X-mas recipe. I was slightly concerned with timing, so I created the stuffing without minced pork and breadcrumbs and instead of cooking the stuffing on the stove, I stuffed it raw in between the skin and breast of my big bird Henrietta (yeah we named her). When cooking whole poultry, I always get a bit nervous that I'm going to give myself a serious bout of salmonella poisoning. So, I found Home Cooking on About.com and Help with Cooking really useful
for tips.
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| Henrietta Before |
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| And after, nicely browned and very juicy. |
We had one vegetarian in our mix and I wanted to make something really special. So I went with Ottolenghi's Surprise Tatin which includes a puff pastry base, hard goat cheese, caramelized onions, roasted tomatoes, and sugar glazed potatoes. Always a winner.
