This is a traditional bread stuffing with a twist— the flavours of savory olives and sweet dried apricots with fresh parsley. If you’d rather use a 3 lb chicken, just divide the recipe by three. You could use other dried fruit such as dates, cranberries, golden raisins or prunes. The cranberry sauce is unusual and delicious with the turkey and bread stuffing. Be sure to buy canned whole cranberry sauce not the jellied version.
RECIPE INSTRUCTIONS
1. To make stuffing: in a large nonstick saucepan, sprayed with vegetable spray, heat oil over medium-high heat; cook onions and peppers for 10 minutes or until softened. Remove from heat. Stir in bread, parsley, green onions, olives, dried apricots, stock, pine nuts, garlic, rosemary, salt and pepper. Transfer to food processor. Pulse on and off just until mixed. (You may need to do this in batches) Transfer to bowl. If mixture seems dry, add a little more stock. Cool.
2. Stuff bread mixture loosely into turkey; place remaining stuffing in a casserole dish. Place turkey on rack in a roasting pan. Add 2 cups chicken stock to pan.
3. Now soak a four-layer piece of cheesecloth or a j- cloth in a ¼ cup vegetable oil until no longer dry and cover the turkey with the cheesecloth. This will allow for even browning and no burn spots.
4. Place the turkey in a 325 F degree oven. Roast for 3 hours basting every 30 minutes with the pan juices which will accumulate.
5. Remove the cheesecloth and roast for another 45 – 60 minutes or until the meat thermometer registers 180 degrees and stuffing registers 165 degrees. Add remaining stuffing during last 20 minutes of cooking time.
6. Remove from the oven and remove stuffing to a serving bowl, cover with foil to keep warm. Cover turkey with foil and let rest 15-20 minutes before carving to allow juices to redistribute.
7. Sauce: In a saucepan, combine cranberry sauce, soy sauce, orange-juice concentrate, sesame oil, lemon juice, sugar, garlic, and ginger. Bring to a boil, stirring. Reduce heat and simmer for 4 minutes.
8. Discard any pan juices. Carve turkey and serve with stuffing and sauce.
INGREDIENTS
Bread Stuffing:
2 tbsp vegetable oil
3 cups chopped onions
3 cups chopped sweet red, green, or yellow pepper
12 cups Italian bread cut in 1” cubes
2 cups chopped fresh parsley
1 1/2 cup chopped green onions
1 cup sliced black olives
1 cup dried apricots
¾ cup chicken stock
1/3 cup toasted pine nuts
2 tbsp minced garlic
1 tbsp dried rosemary leaves
¾ tsp each: salt and freshly ground black pepper
Cranberry sauce:
3 cups canned whole cranberry sauce
½ cup low-sodium soy sauce
1/3 cup thawed orange-juice concentrate
3 tbsp sesame oil
3 tbsp fresh lemon juice
2 tbsp brown sugar
1 tbsp tsp minced garlic
1 tbsp minced fresh ginger
10 lb roasting turkey
2 cups chicken stock
NOTES
Nutritional Analysis per Serving
Calories 430
Protein 29 g
Fat 14 g
Saturated Fat 2.7 g
Carbohydrates 47 g
Cholesterol 72 mg
Sodium 696 mg
Fiber 3.9 g
Prep Time: 25 minutes
Cook Time: about 3 hours and 45 minutes
Serves: 18
