ROASTING a turkey at Christmas can be rather stressful in particular if you have a large family – usually the turkey won’t fit in the fridge and possibly not in the oven and it also takes a long time to cook.

A really simple solution to both of these is to remove the legs – this has the added bonus of not allowing the turkey to over cook – the legs can be roasted and removed once they are ready – the same applies for the double breast. It will also cut the cooking time by half.

Have a great Christmas.

PERFECT ROAST TURKEY WITH RUSTIC POTATOES

For the turkey

Ingredients
100g butter
4 sprigs sage, finely chopped
Sea salt and freshly milled pepper

Method

1. First remove the legs and thighbones, tie up the legs and reserve the thighbones.

2. Remove the under carriage and chop up. Add the remaining bone from the legs and use for the gravy.

3. Mix together the butter and sage and season well with sea salt and freshly milled pepper.

4. Loosen the skin from the breast by gently working your fingers over the meat and under the skin to make a pocket, repeat on the other side.

5. Using your fingers stuff the butter and sage mixture evenly under both breasts.

6. Roast in a moderate oven for approximately 12-15 minutes per pound plus a resting time of 30 minutes.

For the rustic potato fondants with rosemary

Ingredients (serves 6)

3 large Maris Piper potatoes
400ml water
1sprig of rosemary
2 cloves garlic
200g unsalted butter
Sea salt

Method

1. Peel the potatoes and cut into half, trim a little off the rounded side to give a flat bottom.

2. Place the potato into a heavy pan with the water, rosemary and garlic and a heaped teaspoon of sea salt.

3. Heat very rapidly to reduce the water by half. Turn the potato over and add the butter. Continue to reduce rapidly until the butter starts to colour.

4. When the fondant has enough colour turn the potato and colour the reverse side. Set aside until required.

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