A traditional Christmas recipe

There are some traditional dishes that will always be associated with special occasions and cannot be improved: roast turkey (pavo asado) with stuffing (con relleno) at Christmas is one of them. A meal to satisfy the hungriest person!

No Christmas in Britain is complete without a traditional roast turkey, accompanied by mountains of roast potatoes. But be prepared to wake up early on Christmas Day, because you will need all morning to cook it. And the bigger it is, the longer it takes to cook. The secret to a great Christmas meal, apart from a good quality turkey, is delicious stuffing, a large variety of vegetables and lots of tasty (sabroso) gravy.(salsa hecha con el jugo de la misma carne)

      

Ingredients for 10 people

For the turkey

10 lb turkey

10 rashers (lonchas) of bacon

butter

mixed herbs

salt and pepper

For the fruity stuffing (relleno afrutado)

turkey liver (hígado)

1 medium onion, chopped (cortar en pequeños trozos)

1 clove of garlic (un diente de ajo)

10 slices (rebanada) of bread, without crusts (crosta) soaked (puesta en remojo) with milk

½ c. dried apricots (albaricoques secos) chopped

½ c. dates,(dátiles) chopped

½ c. flaked almonds (almendras en láminas)

1 glass sweet wine

tsp coriander powder (cilantro en polvo)

salt and pepper

Note on British measures:

lb = 1 pound = 453g

tsp = 1 teaspoon(22) = 5ml

c = 1 cup = 240ml

Instructions for the stuffing

 Finely chop the onion and garlic and cut the liver into small pieces. Fry the onion, and when it begins to turn golden, add the garlic. After a minute, add the liver, salt, pepper and coriander. When the liver changes colour, pour (vierte)  in the wine, simmer (hierve a fuego lento) for a minute and remove (retira) from the heat.(fuego) Mix with the rest of the ingredients and stuffthe turkey.

Instructions for the turkey

Preheat the oven to 375ºF/190ºC. Rub (frota) the turkey with salt, pepper, herbs and butter and place breast (la pechuga) side down (hacia abajo) on a baking tray (bandeja para horno). Cover loosely (sin apretar) with aluminium foil and transfer to the oven – it will need 18 minutes for every pound. Baste(rocia con su jugo durante la cocción) frequently to stop the skin (piel) burning. Remove the foil an hour before the turkey is cooked. Half an hour before it is done, place the bacon over the turkey. You can test if it is cooked with a sharp knife – the juices have to be clear.

Watch this video to see other different ways for stuffing the Christmas turkey.