The Noble Caledonia Christmas Turkey & Perfect Potatoes
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It’s a pleasure to once again be donating recipes to the Noble Caledonia Travel Post from the Sky Ships. As a chef, my passion is having the luxury of being able to work with raw ingredients to produce mouth-watering dishes every day. I will be publishing my favourite recipes and those that the guests most appreciate while on board and hope that you will enjoy re-creating them at home. I would usually be at sea on Christmas Day with an early start to ensure all is prepared for the traditional roast turkey with all the trimmings. Here are my recipes for a succulent turkey and crispy duck fat potatoes, the real highlight of Christmas Dinner for me! The perfect roast potatoes should be crispy on the outside and fluffy on the inside and these are just that. I would like to take this opportunity to wish you all a wonderful Christmas and New Year and I look forward to cooking for you on board again in 2023.
Darren Marchant Head Chef – the Sky Fleet |
The Noble Caledonia Christmas Turkey
Ingredients - Serves 8
• 5 kg free range turkey
• Salt and black pepper, freshly ground
• 2 white onions, peeled and halved
• 1 lemon
• 1 bulb of garlic, halved
• 3 bay leaves
• 12 rashes of Norfolk black treacle smoked streaky bacon or a good quality dry cured streaky bacon
• 1 good quality chicken stock cube
For the butter mixture
• 300g softened butter
• 1/2 bunch of curly parsley, save the stalks for the turkey cavity
• 1/2 bunch of flat leaf parsley, save the stalks for the turkey cavity
• 2 shallots, peeled and very finely chopped or minced
• 1 clove of minced garlic
• 1 tbsp olive oil
• 1 lemon, zested and juiced
• 1 small orange, juiced (or half the juice from a large orange)
For the Vegetable Trivet
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A selection of vegetables e.g. carrots, onions (or leeks), and celery to be used as a bed for the roast turkey.
Method
1. Preheat the oven to 220 °C.
2. Prepare the vegetables for the vegetable trivet for the turkey. This is just rough-cut vegetables including celery, carrots and onions (I prefer to use leeks instead of white onions though). These are placed on the bottom of the roasting tray.
3. Remove the turkey from the fridge and place it on the work surface. I usually place my turkey on some parchment paper with a clean damp jay cloth.
4. Prepare the butter mixture. Place the butter in a large mixing bowl with the rest of the ingredients and mix well to combine.
5. Remove the giblets from the turkey carcass and season the cavity with salt and pepper. Next, fill the cavity with the lemon, garlic, parsley stalks bay leaves and onion.
6. Wearing a pair of food safety gloves, proceed to loosen the skin from the flesh all over the turkey. Starting at the bottom of the turkey just use your fingers tips to release the skin. This takes time so be careful not to tear the skin.
7. Using 3/4 of the butter mix, gently start filling the butter under the skin and massaging it into all the crevices of the turkey. Once the butter is spread all over the turkey, place the sage leaves under the skin and remove your gloves.
8. Place the turkey into the roasting tray on top of the vegetables and discard the parchment paper and j cloth.
9. Add a chicken stock cube to the remaining butter and mix well. Smear this mixture onto the turkey and season well.
10. Place the turkey in the oven for at least 20 minutes and then remove and baste the breast. Layer the streaky bacon on top of the turkey and place it back in the oven reducing the temperature to around 175 °C. Cook for approximately 3 hours.
11. To check if the turkey is cooked remove it from the oven and skewer the thickest part of the leg. If the juices run clear the turkey is cooked. If there are remains of pink juices, place it back in the oven for a further 20 minutes. Keep checking until the turkey is properly cooked.
12. Remove the turkey from the roasting tray and place it on to a warm serving dish. Leave to rest for 40 minutes in a warm part of the kitchen before carving.
Darren’s Perfect Christmas Roast Potatoes
Ingredients - Serves 6
• 12 large Maris Piper potatoes (I prefer not to use the pre-washed ones)
• 8 tbsp of duck or goose fat
• 4 sprigs of rosemary
• 10 sage leaves
• 4 garlic cloves
• 2 banana shallots, halved with the skin left on
• 200g butter
Method
1. Peel the potatoes and cut them into quarters. Try to keep all the potatoes the same size as this will help with cooking.
2. Place the peeled potatoes into a large saucepan and wash with hot water removing the starch until the water in the saucepan runs clear.
3. Fill the saucepan with cold water and salt. Make sure the saucepan is big enough to hold enough water to help the potatoes move around.
4. Bring the saucepan to the boil and simmer until the potatoes start to crack and fall apart.
5. Drain the potatoes into a colander- I prefer to use a slotted spoon and carefully remove them.
6. Preheat the oven to 200 °C and place a deep-sided baking tray into the oven with the duck fat until hot.
7. Remove the baking tray from the oven and carefully place the potatoes into the oil gently coating them. Season the potatoes - I like using Maldon salt flakes.
8. Place the banana shallots into the tray with the sprigs of rosemary.
9. Place in the oven for about 20 to 25 minutes occasionally basting them. Remove the potatoes and add the butter, garlic and sage. Cook for a further 10 to 15 minutes until golden and crispy.
10. Remove the potatoes from the fat a place onto kitchen paper towel to absorb the oil. Finish off with chopped parsley and serve.