Thanksgiving Turkey and Gravy

Thanksgiving is a time to come together with friends and family. Here on the farm there are not a lot of opportunities to do that, so we cherish them when they do come along. To make these recipes, we took a day and made up a whole Thanksgiving spread, recorded the process so that we can help you have a great holiday, and invited several of our closest friends to help us enjoy it. We made six dishes total, but right now we’ll just talk about the turkey and gravy.

We used a 22lb turkey and this comfortably fed eight adults with plenty of leftovers. We stuffed it with large chunks of yellow onion, carrots, and celery, then rubbed it with an herb, garlic, and oil mixture we harvested fresh from our greenhouse. These fresh herbs can’t be beat, and the oil in the mixture helped make the skin extra crispy and delicious. Once the turkey was rubbed down, we put it in the oven preheated to 350 degrees and left it alone until the meat measured 170 degrees, this took between three and four hours. This was a super easy process, but the result was a Thanksgiving turkey that will steal the show.

The next step was making the gravy. This recipe gets you a very moist turkey, but the flavor the gravy adds is critical. The first step was to collect the pan drippings after the turkey finished, and let the fat separate out, you want the part that settles to the bottom, not the fat on top. In a saucepan, we melted butter, and added the flour, whisking as we went, until the mixture was a thick liquid. Next we poured the separated pan drippings into the saucepan and whisked them together. We added chicken stock to stretch it farther, then let it simmer until it thickened up a little bit. This was pretty much it. Easy.

These recipes are a simple and easy way to impress all your guests at the table. I’ve given you a summary here, but Sarah goes into more detail on the recipe and cooking tips in the videos, so be sure to give them a watch and share both the videos and recipes with everyone!

Turkey Recipe



18-24lb Turkey

2 Large Carrots

¾ Yellow Onion

6 Stalks Celery

5 Cloves Minced Garlic

2/3 Cup Olive Oil

3 Tbs Minced Thyme

3 ½ Tbs Minced Rosemary

3 ½ Tbs Minced Sage     ·
  1. Preheat the oven to 350°.
  2. Cut the onion and carrots into large chunks. Cut the tops and base off of the celery, and cut each stalk in three.
  3. In a bowl mix together the minced, thyme, sage, rosemary and garlic with the olive oil.
  4. Stuff the carrot, onion and celery into the turkey cavity. Tie the legs together to hold everything in the turkey.
  5. Work your hands under the skin of the turkey and gently separate it from the meat.
  6. Rub about half of the herb and oil mix under the skin, work it into the drumsticks and wings as well as the body of the turkey. Rub the remaining mix all over the outside of the turkey.
  7. Put the turkey on top of a rack in a roasting pan and bake until the internal temp is 170°. It soul take anywhere from 3 ½ - 4 ½ hours. Stick a temperature probe into the meatiest part of the breast when checking temperature.

Gravy Recipe



Turkey pan Drippings

½ qt chicken stock

4 Tbs Flour

4 Tbs Butter

¼ tsp Pepper

·
  1. Pour the turkey pan drippings into a bowl and let all the fat rise to the top, then skim it off.
  2. Make a rue by heating the butter in a pan over medium low heat until the butter is just melted. Whisk in the flour slowly so that there are no lumps. Keep whisking together for about 30 seconds until the flour is fully incorporated.
  3. Once the rue is done pour in the pan drippings, and whisk together. Pour in the chicken stock, and keep whisking until the gravy is at the desired thickness.

1 comment

Ursula Chamberlain

Just got my first delivery. Produce is so fresh and tasty. I’ll definitely will order again

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