Serves 8, 30 minutes prep, 3.5 hours cooking

Turkey is the traditional choice to serve for Christmas dinner and with our recipe you can take the stress out of preparing the meal and offer your guests a tasty twist on the classic roast.

Ingredients

• 5kg Turkey, remove the giblets but keep them to one side
• 3 Onions, cut into thick slices with the skin kept on
• 250g Stuffing of your choice – why not try our delicious Cranberry Sausage Stuffing
• 50g softened Butter
• 300ml Dry White Wine
• 1tsp dried Green or Black Peppercorns, crushed or coarsely ground
• 1½ coarsely ground Sea Salt
• A large handful of fresh Bay and Thyme Leaves plus 1tbsp finely chopped Thyme Leaves

Method

1. Preheat your oven to 190˚C.
2. Wash and dry the turkey under cold running water and make sure you remove any feathers that have been missed by the butcher. Gently lift up the skin that covers the neck opening by pushing your hand underneath the skin slowly so you don’t break through with your nails. Next, push the stuffing up and under the skin either using your hand of a tablespoon then secure it tightly using a skewer or 2 cocktail sticks to make sure none comes out during the cooking process. Top Tip: Weigh the stuffed turkey so you can calculate the cooking time. Allow 40 minutes per kg or 20 minutes per lb. Put a few pieces of onion and a few of the fresh herbs into the cavity, then tie the legs together with string.
3. In a large roasting tin, put the rest of the onions in a single layer in the bottom followed by a good bed of the fresh thyme and bay leaves. Add the neck and all of the other giblets, except for the liver, to the tin, before sitting the turkey on top. Next, coat the breast all over with butter and pour the wine into the tin before covering with two layers of foil. Roast the turkey according to your timings calculated using out top tip above. Top Tip: During cooking, keep checking the tin and if it looks a little dry simply add a splash of water.
4. While the bird cooks, mix the salt, crushed green peppercorns and finely chopped thyme leaves in a bowl and melt the rest of the butter in a separate bowl.
5. Thirty minutes before the end of cooking, remove the foil from the tin. Next, brush the turkey with the melted butter then pour over and press in the salt, pepper and thyme mix. Roast the bird for the remaining cooking time, uncovered, until beautifully golden brown. Top Tip: To be reassured that the turkey is ready, pierce thigh through its thickest part with a skewer; if the bird is cooked through the juices should run clear. If they are not, give it 15 minutes more and test again. 
6. Once cooked, remove the turkey from the tin and leave to rest without covering (this will keep skin crisp). The turkey will stay hot for up to an hour, so there's no need to panic.
7. Serve the delicious turkey with our fantastic Delicious Gravy and all of your traditional trimmings and side dishes.