Like most people this year, we did a small Thanksgiving at home - my husband and I, and we ended up inviting one additional family member. We were a little conflicted about the safety of even that one addition, but we planned to eat outside if at all possible, and wear masks in the house. It ended up being a gorgeous, mild day - so eating outside was perfect!
Even if it was just the two of us, I figured I'd cook a whole turkey dinner - kind of had a craving for it, and thought it would be nice to have leftovers. I've cooked a whole Thanksgiving meal before, but it's been awhile. So I decided to document the recipes and timing of everything in case I have to reference this in the future. Timing everything is the trickiest part, but this worked out well. This is a relatively simple meal with a couple shortcuts like a packaged stuffing mix, making a gravy "base" while the turkey cooks, and canned cranberry sauce. I like homemade cranberry sauce and it's not hard to make, but I also like the jellied canned stuff. But that's one of two things I would have done differently: I bought Lidl brand jellied cranberry sauce, and it was semi-liquid! No satisfying "plop" of the canned shape with nice slices. I'll stick with Ocean Spray brand next time. The other thing was that I added some lemon slices to the bottom of the Dutch oven along with onion slices to rest the turkey breast on. I think it made the juices a little too acidic for the gravy, so I didn't end up using all of it.
So here's the menu, shopping list and timing/steps of everything - plus a bonus turkey stock recipe!
Menu:
- Herb-butter roasted turkey breast
- Apple-herb stuffing
- Mashed potatoes (skins on for more fiber and less work!)
- Roasted brussels sprouts with bacon (optional!)
- Bourbon-cider gravy
- Cranberry sauce (canned)
- Store-bought pie
Grocery List:
- Bone-in turkey breast (this was a little over 5 lbs)
- Pepperidge Farm cubed herb stuffing mix
- Yukon Gold potatoes
- Onions
- Celery
- 1 apple
- 1 lemon
- Brussels Sprouts (~2 lbs)
- Fresh sage
- Thyme
- Bacon
- Chicken broth
- Butter
- Sour Cream
- Milk
- Cranberry sauce (beware the off-brand!)
- Apple cider
- Bourbon (optional)
- Pie of your choosing
If turkey breast is frozen, make sure it's thawing in the fridge by Tuesday!
Day Before:
- Prep Brussels Sprouts: wash, trim & halve. Coat with olive oil, salt, pepper & garlic powder. Roast on baking sheets at 425 until just browned (about 15 mins). I already had cooked bacon, but cook 3 strips of bacon if you want.
- Prep stuffing: chop 1 onion, 3 ribs of celery, 1 apple (peeled) and a few leaves of fresh sage. Melt 1/2 stick butter in a large casserole. Saute onion & celery until just tender. Add apple & sage, saute about a minute. Add 2 cups of chicken broth & bring to a boil. Turn off heat and add stuffing mix. Taste - it probably won't need salt. Leave to cool, then refrigerate.
- Prep herb butter: soften 1/2 stick butter. Add some finely chopped sage, some dried thyme, and the zest of 1 lemon.
Day Of:
- About 4 hours before dinnertime, take turkey and the herb butter out of the fridge. Unwrap, pat dry with paper towels, and trim off any bits (I cut out part of the backbone with kitchen shears and saved it for stock). Rub kosher salt under and over the skin. Put back in the fridge for a bit.
- Wash potatoes, cut in half if they're large, and place in a pot with water. Set aside.
- About 2 1/2 hours before dinnertime, preheat oven - I variously saw recommendations to cook turkey breast at either 325 or 350, so I split the difference and did 335.
- Rub softened herb butter under and over skin of turkey breast. Peel and thickly slice one onion, and lay on the bottom of Dutch oven. Place turkey on top, breast side up. Put in the oven. You want to cook it til it reaches 165 temp, and it's around 15 minutes per pound or so. I ended up cooking mine a bit over 2 hours but it probably didn't need that long - some parts were testing about 150, but I think I could have taken it out earlier.
- Take stuffing out of the fridge to come up to room temp before baking.
- Make gravy base - melt 3 tbl butter in a saucepan over low heat. Add 3 tbl flour. Whisk for a couple minutes, until bubbly and starting to brown. Add 2 cups chicken stock. Bring to a boil, then lower heat and cook until thickened and reduced a bit, whisking frequently. Cover pot and set aside.
- Boil potatoes (add salt when boiling). Bake stuffing at 350 (it fits in my convection toaster oven, which is handy!). Takes about 30 minutes and then you can hold it on warm. Chop 3 slices of cooked bacon, add to brussels sprouts, and spread on foil lined baking sheet.
- Drain & mash potatoes - add about 1/4 cup sour cream, a couple tablespoons of butter, and enough milk to make it creamy. Add salt & pepper to taste. Cover and keep warm over low heat.
- When turkey reaches 165, remove to a plate along with onions. Put the Dutch oven on the stove over medium heat until juices are bubbly. Add a splash each of bourbon & apple cider, and reduce until browned & starting to thicken. Add this to gravy & reheat.
- When the turkey comes out, put brussels sprouts in to reheat.
- Slice turkey and plate up everything!
Turkey Stock:
- After all meat is removed, break carcass into a couple pieces. Heat oven to 425.
- Roast saved turkey backbone for 15 minutes, then add turkey carcass pieces. Roast about 30 minutes more, until browned.
- Heat a large stockpot over medium heat. Add a bit of olive oil and saute 1 onion (unpeeled, quartered), 3 carrots (chopped in large pieces), a few celery ribs + leaves and 1 head garlic (unpeeled, halved). Saute a few minutes, until starting to brown. Add a splash of water & scrape up browned bits. Then add plenty of water to cover, plus a couple bay leaves and a few peppercorns. Add browned turkey parts, bring to a boil, then reduce heat and simmer, partially covered, for 2 hours.
- Strain out solids, add a couple teaspoons of salt, then cool & refrigerate. Skim off any fat.
- Use for soup and/or freeze.
