My turkey recipe

My turkey turned out fantastic this year, it was moist and I didn't even had to put it in the miccrowave to finish it off as ususally I had to do every year - infact, I think it was the best ever Christmas meal I've cooked - so I will write the recipe down here and, if nothing else, I have something to come back to next year ;-)). This is easy-peasy. I loosely followed Jamie Oliver's recipe. but didn't make my own stuffing.

I bought the turkey fresh on Christmas eve, weight 9lb. I had it in the fridge overnight (not freezer). Take the turkey out of the fridge about 2 hours before start. To calculate cooking time: 20 mins per 1lb of turkey (9lb turkey = 3 hours cooking time) + extra 20 mins allowing for stuffing's weight + an extra 20 mins on top of everything = 3 hours and 4o mins for a 9lb turkey.

1. Pre-heat the oven to 220 C. Also, prepare the stuffing (I have used ready-made stuff)

2. wash and dry the turkey

3. rub with lemon, then brush with olive oil and put on salt and pepper (I didn't have ground pepper in the house, so just put a few whole peppercorns on the top and in the cavity.

4. put the stuffing into the neck cavatiy (the round end). I sort of went in with my hand and separated the skin from the meat and put my stuffing in between the skin and the meat, sort of like another layer in between.

5. In the cavatiy, I put one cut apple and a few slices of lemon.

6. Put the turkey in the oven (breast side down - this makes the breast nice juicy, it really works, though the breast will be a little bit deflated), and cover the turkey loosely with a sheet of
tin foil (don't wrap the turkey, because the air still has to circulate).

7. For the 1st. hour, don't look into the oven at all. After that, baste every 20 mins with a bit of olive oil, salt and the juices which collect in the bottom of the tin.

6. After 3 hours, remove the tin foil from the top for the next 20 mins (to brown the bird on the bottom). You can now also remove the juice from the tin and use it to make your gravy)

7. For the last 20 mins, turn the turkey over so the breast is on top, no tinfoil, for the breast to roast.

Voila! I served this with roast potatoes, yorkshire puddings, honey roast carrots, brussel sprouts and parsnips.