Happy Thanksgiving!
A perfect recipe to make the most of this holiday?
Turkey, of course, and of course cooked with one of our fabulous red teas.
For best flavour and moist, juicy meat, brine the turkey for 36-48 hours. Kosher salt is preferred in most brine recipes because of its pure flavour and because it dissolves quickly.
Ingredients
- 5 lemons, halved
- 30g Darjeeling Organic Red (Black) Tea
- 11 sprigs of rosemary
- 2 cups of coarse kosher salt
- 1 1/2 cups of brown sugar
- 1/2 cup fresh lemon juice
- 12 cups of ice cubes
- 2 turkey oven bags
- 1 Medium turkey
- 1 celery stalk, cut
- 1 medium onion, chopped
- 1/4 cup olive oil
- Tea and lemon gravy
How to prepare the turkey
Bring water to the boil in a large saucepan. Remove from heat.
Peel 3 lemons (only the yellow part). Add the peel, tea bags and 6 sprigs of rosemary to the water. After 20 minutes, remove the tea bags.
Add salt and sugar; stir to dissolve. Finally add lemon juice and let cool. Add ice to reduce the temperature.
Place the turkey inside the bags and place it on a baking tray. Pour the brine over the turkey. Leave to rest for 36/48 hours.
Remove the turkey from the bags and discard the brine. Stuff the turkey with the lemons, 5 sprigs of rosemary, celery and onion. Tie the legs together. Massage the turkey with oil.
Place the oven at 180° for about 4 hours. Check the cooking time according to the size of the turkey.
Transfer the turkey to the platter. Allow to rest 30 minutes before carving, serve with Gravy.
Tea and lemon gravy
Ingredients
- 8 cups of chicken broth
- 2 stalks of celery, roughly chopped
- 2 carrots, peeled, roughly chopped
- 1 medium onion, chopped
- 1 sprig of fresh rosemary
- 1 lemon
- 5g Darjeeling Organic Red (Black) Tea
- 5 spoon of butter
- 5 spoon of flour
- 1/2 cup whipping cream
- 1 tablespoon of finely grated lemon peel
How to prepare gravy
Mix the first 6 ingredients in a large pot. Add lemon rinds to broth. Bring mixture to a boil; reduce heat and simmer until the insides are tender, about 45 minutes.
Strain the broth. Chop up the innards and set aside. Bring the stock back to the boil and add the red tea.
Cover for about 10 minutes. Discard the tea leaves.
Melt the butter in a saucepan and add the flour. Cook until light brown, stirring frequently, add the stock and cream.
Bring to the boil; reduce heat to medium and simmer until slightly thickened and smooth, stirring frequently, about 8 minutes.
Season with salt and pepper.
And to finish off the meal, dessert is a must… always American, of course! Discover the recipe for Cheesecake with Blueberries and Green Tea!
