Why do we need an excuse to eat turkey? We can have a whole roasted turkey whenever we want! No, I'm not practicing hedonism. I'm just stating a fact — a delicious, crispy fact. We're so used to having turkey as a celebratory holiday meal that we forget it's also a regular everyday food.
Aside from the obvious pleasure of roast turkey, there are many practical reasons to serve it outside the holidays — it's delicious, it's cheaper than chicken (I picked up a 22-pound turkey in the frozen section yesterday for $0.98/lb.), and it provides you with a few days of creative leftovers: turkey noodle soup, turkey salad, turkey stir-fry, pasta with turkey and pesto, turkey Caesar salads. Do I even have to mention turkey sandwiches?
You've read this far, but you're still skeptical. If memory serves you right, turkey dinners take a long time to make. So how can that be easy? Well, yes, turkey does take some time to roast. But preparing a good bird is easy, and you won't have to baby-sit it throughout the cooking process when you use my method. Here's how:
Thanks to advances in modern technology, there's now something called a plastic roasting bag. Hold on to your pants if this is new to you, because the roasting bag is the greatest addition to the turkey dinner since corn on the cobb.
Roasting bags are made of a special plastic that won't burn or melt in your oven. You simply season your bird, stick it in the bag, tie it up and roast. The bag holds in all the heat and moisture, making for a really juicy and tender turkey. The best part is, even if you over-cook it, the meat will still be juicy because the moisture doesn't escape from the bag. No basting. No turning. Crispy skin. Great results. You can find these bags at most grocery stores, and they come with instructions and suggested cooking times on the back of the box.
Thaw your turkey, rub it all over with a bunch of cornstarch and adobo seasoning (or your favorite all-purpose spice), stuff it with a couple of peeled onions and garlic cloves, stick it in the bag, tie it up, put it in a roasting pan and cook it in the oven. The instructions on the box tell you to cut slits into the bag, but I find it better to leave it intact and just let it puff up. My 22-pound turkey took 4 hours to roast to perfection. During that time I was able to surf the Net, clean up the house and get an oil change. No baby-sitting required.
I used the last hour before the turkey was done to make a batch of garlic mashed potatoes, chicken liver, pumpernickel and onion stuffing, gravy, and corn. But if you're feeling lazy, just toss a couple of foil-wrapped potatoes next to the turkey to bake with it during the last hour and 20 minutes, and whip together a quick green salad.
All that turkey sure made me sleepy. But I won't have to do much cooking for the next few days. Bring on the turkey sandwiches.
This article appears in Nov 17-23, 2011.
