Roast Turkey Crown with Chestnut, Pear & Bacon Stuffing
For smaller gatherings, a turkey crown is easier and quicker to cook than a whole bird. Latticed bacon keeps the breast moist during cooking. Use your autumn preserves to jazz up the turkey gravy and add sparkle to your Brussels sprouts.
Ingredients
Shallots 6 small, quartered
Turkey crown approx. 2kg (4½lb) free-range
Plain flour 3 tbsp
Instructions
Make the stuffing in advance, cover and chill for up to 48 hours, or bake and freeze (see tips).
Place the shallots, pears, bacon, parsley, thyme and rosemary in a food processor or blender and blitz briefly until finely chopped but not mushy.
Melt the butter in a saucepan, add the shallot and pear mixture and cook for 4–5 minutes to soften slightly. Add the breadcrumbs and chestnuts and mix thoroughly. Season with salt and pepper, then mix in just enough beaten egg to bind the ingredients together.
Spoon into lightly greased muffin tins, or into a shallow ovenproof dish, or roll into 20–24 balls to cook alongside the turkey or on a shallow baking tray. Bake for 25–35 minutes or until crisp and hot right through.
For the turkey, preheat the oven to 200ºC/180ºfan/Gas 6.
Mix the thyme with the softened butter, lemon zest and juice. Starting from the narrow end of the turkey crown, work your fingers under the skin of the breast to open up a pocket on each side of the breastbone, being careful not to tear the skin. Divide the flavoured butter between the two pockets, spreading it evenly under the skin.
Tuck the lemon halves in around the neck cavity.
Sit the turkey crown in a small roasting tin and season with freshly ground black pepper. Put the bacon on a board and use the flat side of a knife to stretch the rashers a little. Lay the rashers across the breast to create a lattice (or overlap), covering the whole crown.
Roast for about 1.–2 hours: check every 30 minutes, baste occasionally and cover with foil if the bacon is crisping too quickly. To test that the turkey is cooked through, pierce the thickest part with a skewer: the juices should run clear with no traces of pink.
Transfer the turkey crown to a serving platter, cover loosely with foil and set aside to rest for 30 minutes.
To make the gravy, pour the juices from the roasting tin into a jug and leave to settle. Skim all but 4 tablespoons of the fat from the top, then tip the remaining juices into a saucepan and place over a medium heat until just simmering.
Whisk in the flour until the mixture is smooth, then pour in the port or wine and stock and whisk again until smooth. Simmer until the gravy starts to thicken, then add the soy sauce and elderberry jelly. Bring the gravy to a steady boil, adding any additional turkey juices released while the meat was resting. Season to taste then pour into a warmed jug ready to serve with the turkey.
