HERB ROASTED TURKEY WITH GRAVY

The Gravy

• Reserved turkey neck, gizzard and heart
• Approximately 6 cups low-sodium chicken or turkey broth (I prefer to make my own. See notes below.)
• 1 whole onion, peeled
• 1 whole carrot, peeled
• 1 stalk celery, peeled
• 4 large cloves garlic, peeled
• 1 bay leaf
• 1 tablespoon chopped fresh thyme, or 1 teaspoon dried
• 1 tablespoon chopped fresh sage, or 1 teaspoon rubbed
• 1/2 cup dry red wine
• 1/3 cup all-purpose flour
• Cold water to make a paste

To prepare the turkey: Preheat oven to 325° F. Pat the outside of the turkey with paper towels to dry. Place the thyme sprig, sage leaves and garlic cloves in the cavity. (If fresh thyme and sage are unavailable sprinkle with dried.) Loosen the skin over the breast by inserting fingers and gently moving back and forth until skin is loose all over. Mix together the butter, chopped thyme and sage. Using hand, spread some of the butter mixture under the skin. Spread additional butter all over the outside of the turkey. Sprinkle with salt and pepper. Place on rack of shallow roasting pan. Pour the cup of wine over all. Roast, basting about every 20 minutes with broth until there are sufficient pan juices, for about 3-1/2 hours or until a thermometer inserted in thigh registers 170° F. Tent loosely with foil if turkey gets too brown. Remove from pan; cover with foil and let rest at least 20 minutes before carving.

To prepare the gravy: While roasting the turkey, simmer the neck, gizzard, heart, vegetables, garlic and herbs in broth in large pot, covered, until turkey parts are very tender, about one hour. Strain the broth. When turkey is done, place roasting pan on burner over medium-high heat. Add the 1/2 cup wine to pan and deglaze, getting up all the browned bits. Add the remaining broth. Bring to a simmer. Mix the flour and water into a paste. Gradually add to the broth, stirring or whisking to prevent lumping and stopping occasionally to allow to thicken. Continue until desired thickness, but not too thick.

Notes: I prefer to make my own chicken broth. This can be done several days before use and refrigerated or several weeks before and frozen. Brown chicken parts or whole chicken in large pot. Add enough water and/or chicken broth to cover. Add 1 medium onion, 1 medium carrot, 1 stalk celery, 4 large cloves garlic, 1 bay leaf, salt and pepper. Bring to a boil, reduce heat to medium-low, cover and simmer until chicken is very tender, about 1 hour. Remove the chicken and vegetables from the broth and strain. Cool; skim fat off top. Use for gravy, adding water or additional broth as needed. Alternately, make your own Turkey Stock. If you use homemade seasoned stock, you can omit the vegetables, garlic and bay leaf when cooking the turkey parts.

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