Italian-style turkey with saffron butter
A turkey crown is just the breast. Here it's taken off the bone with the skin attaching the two breasts together. It's easy to stuff and cook, and even easier to carve.
- by
Alison Pickel
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A turkey crown is just the breast. Here it's taken off the bone with the skin attaching the two breasts together. It's easy to stuff and cook, and even easier to carve.
Ingredients
24 pancetta slices, chopped
1 tbsp olive oil
2 garlic cloves, crushed
approx. 3- 4 kg boned turkey crown
8 Italian sausages, skinned
100 g parmesan or grana padano, grated
handful basil leaves chopped
200 g ciabatta chunk, chopped and soaked in 6 tbsp milk
75 g butter
large pinch saffron
Method
- Heat the oven to 190C/fan. Cook the pancetta in a little olive oil then add the garlic and cook for a minute. Leave to cool.
- Put the turkey skin-side down on a board. Mix the cooled pancetta mix, sausage meat, parmesan, basil and soaked bread and season really well. Spoon it into the middle of the turkey then bring up the skin on both sides to enclose the stuffing, wrapping it up completely and tucking the ends in.
- Slip pieces of kitchen string underneath and tie them at intervals to secure the joint. Weigh the stuffed joint and calculate the cooking time at 20 minutes per 500g.
- Heat the butter and saffron together in a small pan for a couple of minutes and season with salt. Put the turkey in a roasting tin neat side up and brush the saffron butter all over the skin. Roast for the calculated time, brushing it with butter a couple of times more. Cover the turkey with foil if it’s browning too much in the last half-hour. Rest under loose foil for 20 minutes before carving.
