Spiced roast turkey with pork, cardamom and cashew stuffing

Spiced roast turkey with pork, cardamom and cashew stuffing
  • Serves icon Serves 8
  • Time icon Takes 25 minutes to make, 2¼- 2½ hours to cook, plus marinating

Revamp your traditional stuffed Christmas turkey with this exotically spiced nut stuffing and homemade gravy.

Or, go for Scandi flavours for your Christmas turkey with this juniper and rye stuffed turkey.

Nutrition: per serving

Calories
673kcals
Fat
40.2g (14.2g saturated)
Protein
62.8g
Carbohydrates
10.6g (3.9g sugars)
Fibre
1.7g
Salt
3.3g
Calories
673kcals
Fat
40.2g (14.2g saturated)
Protein
62.8g
Carbohydrates
10.6g (3.9g sugars)
Fibre
1.7g
Salt
3.3g

Ingredients

  • 5kg free-range oven-ready turkey (any giblets removed)
  • Juice from 3 lemons (about 150ml)
  • 1 tbsp salt
  • 2 tbsp mild paprika
  • 100g softened butter

For the stuffing

  • 300g unsalted cashews
  • 1 tbsp ground cinnamon
  • 2 tsp ground cardamom seeds
  • 1 tsp freshly grated nutmeg
  • 1 tsp salt
  • 200g natural yogurt
  • 300g free-range pork mince

For the gravy

  • 1 tbsp plain flour
  • 750ml-1 litre chicken stock

Method

  1. Put the turkey in a roasting tin. Mix the lemon juice, salt and paprika together and rub all over the bird. Set aside to marinate at room temperature for 2 hours.
  2. For the stuffing, put the cashews in a food processor with 4 tbsp hot water. Blend to a coarse paste. Add the spices (see tips), salt and yogurt, then blend to combine. Divide the mixture evenly between two bowls and mix one batch with the pork mince.
  3. To stuff the turkey, turn it so the breast and neck flap are facing you. Loosen the skin around the neck flap that covers the breasts and gently work your hands between the skin and the flesh to loosen the skin, being careful not to make any holes. Gently push the plain nut stuffing (without the pork) under the skin, massaging it away from you towards the neck so that it completely covers both breasts. Spoon the pork and nut stuffing into the cavity of the bird. Rub the softened butter all over the turkey and spoon over some of the marinade juices.
  4. Preheat the oven to its highest setting. Weigh the stuffed bird and calculate the cooking time (see Know-how). Cover loosely with foil, put it in the oven and lower the temperature to 180°C/fan160°C/gas 4. Roast the turkey, removing the foil for the final 45 minutes and basting occasionally with the juices to get a crisp skin.
  5. Check the turkey is cooked through by piercing the deepest part of the thigh with a skewer and checking the juices run clear. If you have a meat thermometer, plunge it into the thickest part of the thigh or breast and make sure it reads 70–72°C.
  6. Remove the turkey from the oven, transfer to a platter and leave to rest in a warm place (see Know-how), loosely covered in foil, while you finish the rest of the dishes.
  7. To make the gravy, pour off most of the fat from the roasting tin, leaving behind the juices. Put over a medium heat and whisk in the flour. Cook for 1-2 minutes, then gradually whisk in the stock, scraping up the browned bits from the bottom of the tin. Bring to a boil and bubble over a gentle heat for 15 minutes, or until reduced to a good gravy consistency (if you like a thinner gravy, just add more stock). Add any juices that have collected in the turkey platter and simmer for 1-2 minutes more. Taste and season, then pour through a sieve into a warm gravy jug.
  8. Spoon the stuffing from the bird and serve alongside the turkey. Drizzle with hot gravy.

delicious. tips

  1. Toast the spices in a dry pan before adding them to the nut mix to add even more flavour to the stuffing.

  2. You can make and freeze the stuffing. Defrost completely, then reheat.

  3. When calculating the cooking time, it’s important to add the weight of the stuffing to the bird – a 4.5kg bird with 800g stuffing should be cooked as a 5.3kg bird. Cook for 20 minutes per kg, plus 30 minutes, then rest out of the oven for at least 30 minutes before carving to ensure a moist, juicy bird.

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