Whole Roast Turkey with Couscous Stuffing
November 21st, 2012 in Main Dishes, Turkey by Julia Volhina
Total cooking time: 3h 20min
I am publishing this recipe earlier than usual schedule, just in case some of you find it interesting enough to cook for your Thanksgiving dinner.
It was my first attempt to prepare a whole roast turkey. And I must say it was a good one: turkey turned out very juicy, by the way I used cranberry sauce from last week post for this recipe.
If you are using turkey bigger than 11lbs, you may need to adjust cooking time and maybe use meat thermometer (which I never can figure out how to use myself) to make sure meat is properly cooked through.
Ingredients:
- 10-11lbs whole young turkey
- 1 cup of couscous
- 1 1/2 cup of hot water
- 1 apple
- 2/3 cup of cleaned roast pistachios, not salted
- Fresh parsley
- 1 1/3 cup of cranberry sauce
- 1/3 cup of honey
- 2 tablespoons of dry thyme (or fresh)
- Salt to taste
How to prepare, step-by-step:
-
Prepare ingredients:
Whole Roast Turkey with Couscous Stuffing Recipe: Step 1 -
Pour 1.5 cups of hot boiling water over couscous in mixing bowl and set aside to cool down:
Whole Roast Turkey with Couscous Stuffing Recipe: Step 2 -
Chop pistachios (in half or so), add them to couscous once it soaked most of the water (and cool down):
Whole Roast Turkey with Couscous Stuffing Recipe: Step 3 -
Peel apple and grate it on big slots of grater:
Whole Roast Turkey with Couscous Stuffing Recipe: Step 4 -
Add tryme:
Whole Roast Turkey with Couscous Stuffing Recipe: Step 5 -
And chopped fresh parsley:
Whole Roast Turkey with Couscous Stuffing Recipe: Step 6 -
Mix:
Whole Roast Turkey with Couscous Stuffing Recipe: Step 7 -
Add a cup of cranberry sauce:
Whole Roast Turkey with Couscous Stuffing Recipe: Step 8 -
And mix again, stuffing is ready:
Whole Roast Turkey with Couscous Stuffing Recipe: Step 9 -
Rinse turkey from inside and outside, pat it dry with paper towels; rub with salt from inside and outside; set turkey in oven bag (big enough to fit it in whole) in baking pan:
Whole Roast Turkey with Couscous Stuffing Recipe: Step 10 -
Use tablespoon to stuff turkey with couscous mix prepared earlier:
Whole Roast Turkey with Couscous Stuffing Recipe: Step 11 -
Tie oven bag, cut a hole on top and put pan to oven warmed up to 340F for 2.5h:
Whole Roast Turkey with Couscous Stuffing Recipe: Step 12 -
Mix remaining 1/3 cup of cranberry sauce and 1/3 cup of honey:
Whole Roast Turkey with Couscous Stuffing Recipe: Step 13 -
Take pan with turkey from oven, open the bag and pour cranberry sauce and honey mixture using spoon, leave bag unfolded and put pan back to the oven (on the same 340F) for 20 mins more:
Whole Roast Turkey with Couscous Stuffing Recipe: Step 14 -
Take pan out and let turkey cool down a bit:
Whole Roast Turkey with Couscous Stuffing Recipe: Step 15 -
Serve turkey warm with a side of stuffing; leftovers go great in sandwiches or salads:
Whole Roast Turkey with Couscous Stuffing
