Champagne Thanksgiving Turkey

Thanksgiving is so near and although we are not big meat eaters (almost fully vegetarian) we wanted to share our all time favorite Turkey recipe with you. I was never a big fan of Turkey on Thanksgiving as I always found it to be a very boring meat and somehow it was always very dry until I tried out this very special method.

First of all, cooking Turkey with Champagne already sounds quite “wow” so if you’re hosting and let your guests know about this extra touch they will definitely be very curious. Secondly, the holy rule when roasting Turkey is LIQUIDS! I have learned that you really really need to keep your Turkey moist if you want the outcome to be nice and juice and not dry like a shoe sole so this Champagne + Chicken Broth mixture was really perfect for me.

As you will see from the recipe, you really don’t need much besides the Turkey, a few herbs and the Champagne and the actual preparation is very simple. The most important part is that you keep the Turkey in the aluminum while cooking for the first 2.5 hours in order to keep the liquids close to the bird.

Prep Time: 20 Minutes

Cook Time: 3 Hours

Ingredients for Turkey:

• Turkey - 1 (around 2/3Kg) - the turkey should already be cleaned

• Champagne - 1 Bottle (75 cl)

• Carrot - 1

• Onion - 1

• Celery - 2 stalks

• Orange - 1

• Lemon - 1

• Chicken Broth - 420 ml

• Rosemary - a bunch

• Sage - a bunch

• Thyme - a bunch

• Dry Parsley - a bunch

• Salt & Pepper

Preparation:

1. Start by cutting the onion, celery and carrots and slice the orange into wedges.

2. Pre-heat the oven to 180°C.

3. Take out a baking pan or if you have it a turkey roaster even better. We worked with a baking pan and placed a baking grid on top.

4. Mix together all the herbs (parsley, rosemary, sage, thyme, pepper and salt in a bowl and mix together with the zest of one lemon.

5. Heat your chicken bullion and get it ready.

6. Rub the entire Turkey with the mixture and also drizzle some inside the cavity. Once you are done add the celery, orange, onion and carrot into the cavity.

7. Place the Turkey on a large layer of aluminum foil (should be large enough to cover the entire bird). Pour the chicken bullion along with the Champagne on top of the Turkey and into the cavity. Wrap the turkey and the liquids in the aluminum foil. Close the foil but make sure it is not actually touching the top part of the turkey.

8. Cook the Turkey like this for 2.5 Hours then remove it from the oven, take it out of the aluminum and bake it on the baking grid or baking pan for another 45 minutes. We like to drizzle the remaining juices from the aluminum foil on top of the turkey before the last 45 minutes.

9. After the 45 minutes have passed remove the turkey from the oven, cover it in aluminum foil and let it rest 10 minutes before serving it.