Gordon Ramsay’s Turkey with Gravy

I have suffered through many dry, bland turkey dinners with tasteless gravy. I’m sure you have, too. This turkey recipe from Gordon Ramsay will put an end to your suffering.

A couple of years ago, I came across the Gordon Ramsay Christmas special. He featured many recipes for the holidays, including this recipe for roast turkey. I think I wore out the DVR replaying it over and over again while trying to cook Thanksgiving dinner.

The results are spectacular! Here is the clip from the Ramsay special (includes the gravy recipe as well).

Important Tips

  • This recipe is really for turkeys that are not brined. There will be plenty of butter over and under the skin. Basting every 30 minutes is also key to a juicy bird. And you’ll save yourself from all that sodium (200mg versus 65mg per serving).
  • Worried about how long to cook your turkey? Check out Epicurious’s chart for roasting time and temperature.
  • You can prep the bird or just the butter mixture the night before to save time for the following day.
  • The bacon is used instead of aluminum foil to keep the skin from burning on top. The bacon fat will also keep it from drying out. Once the turkey is cooked, you can use the bacon for the gravy (see gravy recipe below).
  • You must let the turkey rest for as long as you cooked it! This will allow the juices to be reabsorbed into the bird. 20 minutes is not enough time. If you cooked it for 3 hours, let it rest for 3 hours. You can warm up the turkey with hot gravy or in the microwave just before serving (heat it covered or it will dry out).

Gordon Ramsay’s Turkey

Ingredients

  • 1 free-range turkey (ideally Norfolk Black or Bronze), about 5–5.5kg (11-12 lbs.)
  • Sea salt and freshly ground black pepper
  • 2 onions, peeled and halved
  • 1 lemon, halved
  • 1 bulb of garlic, halved horizontally
  • 6 bay leaves
  • Olive oil, to drizzle
  • 8 strips of smoked streaky bacon

Lemon, parsley and garlic butter:

  • 375g (1 lb.) butter, at room temperature
  • 1 tbsp olive oil
  • 2 small lemons, finely grated zest and juiced
  • 3 garlic cloves, peeled and crushed
  • Small bunch of flat leaf parsley, leaves only, chopped

Directions

  1. Preheat the oven to 220°C/Gas 7/425ºF. Meanwhile, prepare the herb butter. Put the butter into a large bowl and season with salt and pepper. Add the olive oil and mix well. Add the lemon zest and juice, crushed garlic and chopped parsley. Mix well to combine.
  2. Remove the giblets from the turkey cavity. Season the cavity well with salt and pepper, then stuff with the onions, lemon, garlic halves and 2 bay leaves.
  3. With your hands, loosen the skin on the breast from both ends of the bird so that you will be able to stuff the flavoured butter underneath it, making sure you keep the skin intact. Repeat with the skin on the legs – from the lower side of the breast feel your way under the skin and out towards the leg, loosening the gap.
  4. Stuff half the butter mix into the opened spaces under the skin. From the outside of the skin, gently massage the butter around the breasts so that the meat is evenly covered. Finally, insert the rest of the bay leaves under the skin of the breasts.
  5. Place the bird in a large roasting tray, breast side up. Spread the rest of the butter all over the skin. Season well with salt and pepper, then drizzle with a little olive oil. (If preparing a day ahead, cover the turkey with foil and refrigerate at this stage.)
  6. Roast the turkey in the hot oven for 10–15 minutes. Take the tray out of the oven, baste the bird with the pan juices and lay the bacon rashers over the breast to keep it moist. Baste again. Lower the setting to 180°C/Gas 4/350ºF and cook for about 2½ hours (calculating at 30 minutes per kg), basting occasionally.
  7. To test whether your turkey is cooked, insert a skewer into the thickest part of the leg and check that the juices are running clear, rather than pink. As oven temperatures and turkey shapes and sizes vary, it is crucial to check your turkey about 30 minutes before the calculated roasting time. If the juices are pink, roast for another 15 minutes and check again. Repeat as necessary until the turkey is cooked.
  8. Transfer the turkey to a warmed platter and remove the parson’s nose, wings and tips of the drumsticks; reserve these for the gravy. Leave the turkey to rest in a warm place for at least 45 minutes; make the gravy in the meantime. Remove the bay leaves from under the skin before carving. Serve the turkey with the piping hot gravy, stuffing and accompaniments.
gordon ramsay turkey skin browned

Turkey after the skin has been browned

gordon ramsay turkey covered with bacon

Use bacon to cover the top of the turkey to protect the skin. The bacon fat will help keep it from drying out.

gordon ramsay turkey cooked

The final result – a delicious turkey!


Gordon Ramsay’s Turkey Gravy with Cider and Walnuts

Ingredients

  • Bacon, onions, lemon and trimmings from the roast turkey with lemon, parsley and garlic
  • 3 rosemary sprigs
  • 3 tomatoes, chopped
  • 1 litre (35 ozs.) good-quality hard dry cider
  • 600ml (21 ozs.) good-quality chicken stock
  • 2 tbsp walnut pieces, toasted

Directions

  1. Once you’ve transferred the cooked turkey to a platter to rest, drain off most of the fat from the roasting tray and place on the hob.
  2. Roughly chop the bacon, add to the tray and fry for a few minutes. Chop the onions and lemon and add to the tray with 2 rosemary sprigs and the tomatoes. Cook for 1–2 minutes, then add the turkey wings, parson’s nose and drumstick tips and fry for a few more minutes.
  3. Pour in the cider and boil for a few minutes. Add the juices from the resting turkey and simmer to reduce the liquid by half. Pour in the stock, return to the boil, then reduce the heat slightly. Using a potato masher, crush the vegetables in the tray. Simmer for 15–20 minutes, stirring occasionally, until reduced again by a third. Take off the heat.
  4. Strain the gravy through a sieve into a saucepan, pressing down on the solids in the sieve with a ladle to extract as much of the flavourful juice as possible. Add a fresh sprig of rosemary to the pan, then turn off the heat and leave to infuse for a few minutes.
  5. Before serving, remove the rosemary, season to taste and reheat the gravy. Coarsely crush the walnut pieces using a pestle and mortar and then tip into a warmed gravy jug. Pour the piping hot gravy on top and serve at once.

Reviving the Personal Blog

For the past two months, I have been reevaluating myself and how I present myself, personally and professionally. My websites, blogs, and social media needed a little house cleaning.

One thing I realized was my personal site at amberhewitt.com was a mess. Oh, it looks fine, but it was duplicating my business site (graphicgoo.com). Why do twice the work? I only need one place for my portfolio. And my blog… my poor, neglected personal blog.

I started this blog back in 2010 on Posterous (R.I.P.). It was a fun way to share photos and thoughts quickly, even though I only had a meager following. I mirrored the content on my Squarespace site (amberhewitt.com) as well. In 2011, I moved amberhewitt.com to a self-hosted WordPress blog.

The writing was on the wall when it was announced that Posterous was acquired by Twitter. I exported my data with a sad heart, but thought, “Hey, I’ll just keep blogging on my personal site!”

Well… that’s where social media took over.

Why have a personal blog when no one reads it. Go to where the people are! I stopped blogging and started sharing.

For the last couple of years, I’ve Twittered, Facebooked, and Instagrammed to my friends and followers. I even Google Plussed for a while.

Someone made an analogy that describes social networks very well. Facebook is your neighborhood, Twitter is your local bar, and your blog is your home. (I guess Instagram is the cafe? “Look what I’m eating!”)

This made me realized I’m neglecting my home. My posts and photos are spread out on different networks and there is no centralized hub. I need one place people can go to and find everything related to me.

Having a blog at amberhewitt.com doesn’t make sense anymore. It should be a separate thing all by itself. I want a place to post about anything, whether it’s food, politics, or movies. I don’t want to confuse readers expecting to read about web design on my personal site. If I blog about web design, it will be on my business blog.

Another reason for the change is that I’ve been inspired by the recent trend of short-form blogging. Gina Trapini and Andy Baio are two examples of the revival of the personal blog. I want to write what I feel like and not be constrained by 140 characters (Twitter) nor a 5-page essay (Medium).

So, welcome to the new home of my old personal blog – Wasabi Lips. Why that name? Well… that’s a post for another day.

Halloween Fun

Halloween pumpkin

This Halloween I got the opportunity to stay a few days at a friend’s cabin…
in the woods…
with no internet…
no cell service…
and no TV/cable service.

I know what you’re thinking. It sounds like the beginning of a classic horror movie. The only tale I have to tell is one of fun and relaxation.

Myself and a few friends enjoyed a few days of relaxing and watching a ton of movies (including Elvira: Mistress of the Dark – it’s campy and perfect for Halloween). It was nice to escape the hustle and bustle of the city and catch up with old friends.

For a little Halloween fun, we carved some pumpkins. I made my usual cross-eyed face with his tongue sticking out. It’s a design my grandfather taught me when I was a kid. I always think of him when carving pumpkins.

Our ‘treat’ for Halloween night was a delicious lobster dinner made by three wonderful cooks. I set the table.

Our stay at the cabin was too short. This mini-vacation does make me think that we should do a Halloween holiday every year.

ChapCare Grand Opening


(Congresswoman Judy Chu, 32nd District. Photo by Amber Hewitt © 2012 / May 29, 2012)

I designed the four banners behind Congresswoman Judy Chu for ChapCare, a nonprofit community health center providing medical, dental and behavioral health services to children and adults.

This photo was taken at the grand opening of the CHAP/Fair Oaks Health Center on Fair Oaks Avenue in Pasadena, CA.