Peach and Apricot Glazed Turkey with Roasted Onion Gravy


Peach and Apricot Glazed Turkey with Roasted Onion Gravy

Although I have been trying all kinds of turkey recipes trough out the years, this is the best I have tried so far! This year’s turkey not only was delicious, but it looked GREAT! I have always admired the magazine pictures where the turkey had this amazingly looking skin, but I had never managed to actually bake it to look that way. This recipe did the miracle though! It is just top notch! I found the original recipe on Chef2Chef but I made some modifications to it.

For the glaze:

1 cup peach nectar ( you can make this at home from a can of peaches)
1 cup apricot preserve
2 tbsp. powdered ginger

1 tbsp. honey

For the herb butter:

1 cup unsalted butter ( room temperature)
3 tbsp. dry oregano
3 tbsp. chopped fresh sage or 1 tablespoon; dried rubbed sage
1 1/2 tsp. salt
1 tsp. ground black pepper
3 tbsp. paprika
1 tsp.ground cloves
For the gravy :
1 cup thinly sliced onions

1 turkey (21- to 22-pound)
1 cup turkey broth
1 tsp. chopped fresh thyme or 1/2 teaspoon; dried
1/2 tsp. chopped fresh sage or 1/4 teaspoon; dried
1 can low-salt chicken broth; (14 -1/2-ounce)

Preparation:

For the Glaze:
Combine all ingredients in a heavy small saucepan and bring to a boil. Reduce heat to medium-low and simmer until thickened and reduced to 1-1/4 cups, about 15-20 minutes.

For Herb Butter:
Blend all ingredients in small bowl. Set aside.

For Onion Mixture:
Melt butter in heavy large skillet over medium heat. Add onions and saute until very soft and light brown, about 20 minutes. Then add 1 cup of turkey broth.

NOTE: Glaze, herb butter and onion mixture can be prepared 1 day ahead. Cover separately and chill. Bring herb butter to room temperature before continuing.


For the Turkey:
If the turkey is frozen, keep in the refrigerator 3 days before you are going to bake it, 12 hours before the actual baking marinate or brine.
Wash the turkey, prepare 1 turkey bag ( fill with one tbsp. flour in the bag). Position rack in lowest third of oven and preheat the oven to 400 F. Pat the turkey dry with paper towels. Season turkey cavity with salt and pepper. Place the turkey in the bag. Slide hand under the skin of the turkey breast to loosen. Spread half of herb butter over breasts under the skin.Place remaining herb butter in small saucepan. Stir over low heat until melted. Brush butter over outside of turkey. Tie legs together to hold shape of turkey.Reduce oven temperature to 350F Roast turkey in the bag for 1h and 30 minutes. Then open the bag, add the onion mixture and bake for another 30 minutes or until the meat thermometer registers at least 170F.

Bring the glaze to a simmer. Take the turkey out, remove the bag from the pan and brush with glaze on top. Repeat couple of times. Before you finish the glaze, take 1 tbsp. paprika and sprinkle all over the turkey on top of the glaze. Bake for 10 min, then take the turkey out and brush with glaze again. Continue to roast turkey uncovered, until a meat thermometer inserted into thickest part of thigh registers 180 F., or until juices run clear when thickest part of thigh is pierced with skewer.

Brush occasionally with glaze and add more broth to pan if liquid evaporates.

Place turkey on platter, tent with foil. Let stand 30 minutes to rest. Reserve mixture in pan for gravy.

For Gravy: Pour contents of roasting pan into strainer set over large bowl. Spoon fat from pan juices in bowl. Transfer onion mixture in strainer to blender.

Add 1 cup pan juices to blender and purée until smooth, adding more pan juices and chicken broth if necessary to thin sauce to desired consistency.

Transfer the sauce to heavy large saucepan and bring to boil. Cook until color deepens, skimming off any foam, about 5 minutes. Season with salt and pepper.

Serve turkey with gravy.

In the next couple of days I am going to post also the desert, the bread and the salad I made for Thanksgiving.