Slow Cooked Turkey With Herbed Stuffing Food

SLOW-COOKED TURKEY WITH HERBED STUFFING

Steps:

• Place turkey in a 5- or 6-qt. slow cooker. Whisk 1/4 cup gravy, condensed soup and seasonings. Cover and refrigerate remaining gravy. Stir apple, celery, onion and, if desired, mushrooms into gravy mixture. Stir in stuffing cubes; spoon over turkey. Cook, covered, on low until a thermometer reads 170° and meat is tender, 3-4 hours., Remove turkey from slow cooker; tent with foil. Let stand 10 minutes before slicing. Warm remaining gravy. Serve with turkey and stuffing.

SLOW-COOKED HERBED TURKEY

Steps:

• In a blender, combine the first 15 ingredients; cover and process until blended. Pour half the marinade into a bowl; cover and refrigerate. Place turkey breasts in a large, shallow bowl; add remaining marinade. Turn to coat. Cover and refrigerate overnight, turning occasionally. , Drain turkey, discarding marinade. Transfer turkey breasts to a 5-qt. slow cooker. Add reserved marinade; cover and cook on high until a thermometer reads 165°, 4-5 hours. Let stand for 10 minutes before slicing.

SLOW COOKER TURKEY AND STUFFING

Steps:

• Spray 3 1/2-4 quart slow cooker with nonstick cooking spray. Place onion and celery in slow cooker. Top with turkey breast half. Pour 1 jar of gravy and sherry over top. Top with dry stuffing.
• Cover; cook on low setting for 6 to 7 hours.
• About 15 minutes before serving, remove turkey from slow cooker; place on cutting board. Stir stuffing and cooking juices until mixed. Cover; let stand 10 minutes. Heat remaining jar of gravy in small saucepan. Cut turkey into slices. Serve turkey and stuffing with gravy.

SLOW-COOKER SAUSAGE STUFFING

Steps:

• Lightly grease the bottom and sides of a 6-quart slow cooker with butter.
• Toss the stale French bread, butter, onions, carrots, celery, thyme and 1 teaspoon each salt and pepper in the slow cooker. Pour the chicken broth over the bread mixture and toss to coat. Use your hands to tear teaspoon-size pieces of the Italian sausage and put them directly on top of the bread mixture. The sausage should cover most of the stuffing.
• Cover the slow cooker and cook on low until the sausage is cooked through and the vegetables are tender, about 4 hours. Remove the lid and gently stir the sausage into the stuffing. Season to taste with additional salt and pepper. Transfer to a shallow serving dish and garnish with the chopped parsley. Serve hot.

MAKE-AHEAD TURKEY BREAST WITH HERB STUFFING (COOKING LIGHT)

Steps:

• To prepare stock, combine first 10 ingredients in a large stockpot. Bring to a boil; add turkey breast. Return to a boil; reduce heat, and simmer for 1 1/2 hours or until turkey breast reaches 170° (use an instant-read thermometer).
• Carefully remove the turkey breast from stock. Cover the turkey breast, and refrigerate. Strain stock through a colander into a large bowl; discard solids, and return stock to pot. Reduce heat, and continue to simmer stock until reduced to 2 quarts (about 1 1/2 hours). Cover and chill stock for 8 hours. Skim solidified fat from surface of stock, if necessary.
• Preheat oven to 250°.
• To prepare turkey, rub poached turkey breast with oil. Sprinkle with 1/2 teaspoon thyme, 1/4 teaspoon salt, 1/4 teaspoon garlic powder, and 1/4 teaspoon pepper. Wrap the turkey in heavy-duty plastic wrap and foil. (Double-wrapping in plastic and foil helps retain moisture when reheating.) Bake at 250° for 2 hours or until thoroughly heated.
• To prepare the stuffing, melt 1/4 cup butter in a large Dutch oven over medium-high heat. Add the diced onion and diced celery; sauté 3 minutes. Stir in bread cubes and the next 7 ingredients (bread cubes through 1/4 teaspoon pepper). Stir in 2 1/2 cups turkey stock. Place in a 13 x 9-inch baking dish. Bake simultaneously with turkey at 250° for 1 hour and 55 minutes.
• While the turkey and stuffing cook, prepare gravy. Melt 1/4 cup butter in a large saucepan over medium heat. Stir in flour; reduce heat, and cook 15 minutes or until lightly browned. Gradually add reserved 5 1/2 cups turkey stock, stirring with a whisk until blended. Bring to a boil; reduce heat, and simmer until reduced to 3 cups (about 2 hours).
• Uncover turkey; remove turkey breast halves from bone. Slice turkey, and serve with stuffing and gravy.

SLOW COOKER STUFFING

Steps:

• Melt butter or margarine in a skillet over medium heat. Cook onion, celery, mushroom, and parsley in butter, stirring frequently.
• Spoon cooked vegetables over bread cubes in a very large mixing bowl. Season with poultry seasoning, sage, thyme, marjoram, and salt and pepper. Pour in enough broth to moisten, and mix in eggs. Transfer mixture to slow cooker, and cover.
• Cook on High for 45 minutes, then reduce heat to Low, and cook for 4 to 8 hours.

SLOW COOKER TURKEY AND STUFFING

Steps:

• Spray the inside of slow cooker with non-stick cooking spray and place turkey breast in the bottom of the crock pot. In a large separate bowl, mix together remaining ingredients. Spread over turkey breast in slow cooker. Cover and cook on low for 4-6 hours.

SLOW-COOKER TURKEY BREAST WITH STUFFING

Steps:

• Combine stuffing mixes, onions and water in slow cooker sprayed with cooking spray; top with turkey, skin side up.
• Mix remaining ingredients; pour over turkey. Cover with lid.
• Cook on LOW 4 to 4-1/2 hours (or on HIGH 2 to 2-1/2 hours) or until turkey is done (165ºF).

HERBED SLOW COOKER TURKEY BREAST

Steps:

• Place turkey breast into a slow cooker. Combine butter, whipped cream cheese spread, soy sauce, parsley, basil, sage, thyme, black pepper, and garlic powder in a small bowl until smooth. Brush herb mixture over the turkey breast. Cover slow cooker.
• Cook until turkey is tender, 4 to 6 hours on High or 8 to 10 hours on Low.

CLASSIC ROAST TURKEY WITH HERBED STUFFING AND OLD-FASHIONED GRAVY

Steps:

• Place oven rack in lowest position and preheat oven to 325°F. Butter 8-inch square baking dish or 2-quart casserole. Lightly brush roasting rack with vegetable oil and place in roasting pan.
• Remove plastic or paper packet of giblets from turkey (usually in small cavity). Remove from packaging and rinse; reserve gizzard and heart; discard floppy, dark purple liver. Remove neck from large cavity. Remove from packaging, rinse, and reserve. Using tweezers or needlenose pliers, remove any feathers and quills still attached to skin (kosher turkeys tend to require this more than others). Pull off and reserve any visible pale yellow knobs of fat from either side of tail (not found on all birds).
• Rinse turkey inside and out with cold water and pat dry. Loosely fill small (neck) cavity with stuffing. Fold neck skin under body and fasten with metal skewer. Loosely fill large body cavity with stuffing. Transfer remaining stuffing to buttered dish and drizzle with 1/4 cup stock. Cover with aluminum foil and refrigerate until ready to bake.
• Transfer turkey, breast-side up, to rack in roasting pan. Tuck wing tips under breast and tie drumsticks loosely together with kitchen string. Rub turkey all over with softened butter and sprinkle with 1 teaspoon salt and 1/2 teaspoon pepper. Tightly cover breast area with foil, leaving wings, thighs, and drumsticks exposed.
• Transfer gizzard, heart, neck, and reserved turkey fat to roasting pan around rack. Pour 2 cups stock into pan.
• Roast turkey 45 minutes. Baste with pan juices (lift up foil to reach breast area) and continue roasting, basting every 45 minutes, 1 1/2 hours more (2 1/4 hours total). Baste again and, if pan juices have evaporated into glaze, add 1 cup stock to pan. Roast another 45 minutes (3 hours total). Remove foil from breast area, baste, and add stock if necessary, until instant-read thermometer inserted into fleshy part of thigh (close to but not touching bone) registers 180°F, about 1 hour more (4 hours total).
• Insert instant-read thermometer into center of stuffing in body cavity. If thermometer does not read 165°F, transfer stuffing to microwave-safe baking dish and microwave on high until 165°F, about 3 minutes for 10 degrees. Cover and keep warm. Using turkey holders (or by inserting large metal serving spoon into body cavity), transfer turkey to large serving platter. Let stand 30 minutes before carving.
• Meanwhile, bake extra stuffing and make gravy: Raise oven temperature to 350°F. Remove giblets and neck from roasting pan and discard. Pour pan juices into measuring cup or gravy separator. Let stand until fat rises to top, 1 to 2 minutes, then skim off and reserve fat or, if using separator, carefully pour juices into measuring cup, reserving fat left in separator.
• Transfer foil-covered dish of extra stuffing to oven and bake 10 minutes. Meanwhile, add enough remaining stock to pan juices to total 4 cups. Measure turkey fat, adding melted butter if necessary to total 6 tablespoons. Straddle roasting pan across 2 burners on moderate heat and add fat. Whisk in flour, scraping up browned bits on bottom of pan, then cook, whisking constantly, 1 minute. Whisk in pan juice-stock mixture and bring to a boil, whisking often. Reduce heat to moderately low and simmer, whisking occasionally, until gravy thickens, about 5 minutes. Whisk in remaining 3/4 teaspoon salt and 1/2 teaspoon pepper and keep warm. (Gravy can be kept warm over very low heat, covered, up to 20 minutes. If it thickens, thin with additional stock before serving. If skin forms on top, whisk well to dissolve.)
• When extra stuffing has baked 10 minutes, remove foil and bake, uncovered, until heated through, about 10 minutes. Pour gravy through fine-mesh sieve into large bowl, then transfer to gravy boat. Carve turkey and serve gravy and stuffing alongside.
• Test-Kitchen Tips:
• •To combat dryness, most frozen turkeys and some fresh are injected with a saline solution. This is not a good thing, though: Injected birds generally lack flavor and can have a mushy texture. For this reason, we recommend buying a fresh turkey and checking the label to be sure there aren't any additives. (Look for the words "all natural.") Don't be too concerned, though, with the many other terms that can be applied to turkeys, such as free-range, organic, or heritage. All can be excellent.
• •When buying a fresh bird, be sure to purchase it no more than two days before Thanksgiving. If you must get a frozen bird, defrost it in the refrigerator in a pan to catch drips, allowing a full 24 hours for each 5 pounds.
• •Warm, moist stuffing is an optimal environment for bacteria such as salmonella or E. coli to multiply, so it's important to follow safe procedures. Be sure to make the stuffing at the last minute so it can go into the bird warm. This helps it move above the "danger zone" (the optimal temperature range for bacteria growth) more quickly during roasting. When you remove the turkey from the oven, be sure to check the temperature in the middle of the stuffing to make sure it's 165°F, the temperature at which bacteria will be killed. If it's not 165°F, scoop it out of the cavity and microwave it as directed in the recipe.
• •More stuffing tips: Be sure not to overpack the cavities, as the stuffing will expand during cooking. Loosely fill the turkey, then spread the extra in a casserole dish (no more than 2 inches deep) and bake it after the turkey comes out (be sure to refrigerate it until then to impede bacteria growth). Drizzle the portion in the casserole dish with extra stock to make up for the juices it won't get from the turkey. If you want the stuffing that's cooked inside the turkey to be extra-moist (as opposed to having a crisp crust where it's exposed), cover the exposed portion with a small piece of aluminum foil.
• •Opinions vary on whether or not to stuff the bird-some people think it can cause uneven cooking. If you prefer not to stuff your bird, fill the cavities with a chopped vegetable and herb mixture that will impart its flavor to the meat and pan juices: Chop 1 onion, 1 celery rib with leaves, 1 carrot, and 3 tablespoons fresh parsley. Mix this with 1 teaspoon each dried rosemary, sage, and thyme. Sprinkle the cavities with salt and freshly ground black pepper and place the mixture inside. An unstuffed bird will take about 15 minutes to a half hour less to cook than a stuffed bird. When the turkey is cooked, tilt it to allow any juices that have collected in the cavity to drain into the pan. Do not serve the vegetable mixture, as it may not have cooked to a safe temperature.
• •This recipe can easily be scaled up to serve more people. Estimate about 1 to 1 1/2 pounds per person. Cooking times (for a stuffed bird, cooked at 325°F to an internal temperature of 180°F) will be as follows: 8 to 12 pounds: 3 to 3 1/2 hours 12 to 14 pounds: 3 1/2 to 4 hours 14 to 18 pounds: 4 to 4 1/4 hours 18 to 20 pounds: 4 1/4 to 4 3/4 hours 20 to 24 pounds: 4 3/4 to 5 1/4 hours
• •Some experts prefer to cook their turkeys to an internal temperature of 170°F (rather than 180°F, as in this recipe). If you don't mind having the meat slightly pink, this is perfectly safe and makes it more moist. However, Rick Rodgers, who created this recipe, believes that the dark meat in particular does not achieve its optimum flavor and texture until it reaches 180°F. If you choose to stuff your turkey and cook it to only 170°F, its stuffing will almost definitely not reach the safe temperature of 165°F. When you remove the turkey from the oven, be sure to check the temperature in the center of the stuffing, and if necessary remove it and microwave it as directed in the recipe.
• •Letting the turkey stand for half an hour after it comes out of the oven is an essential part of the roasting process. When meat roasts, its juices move to the outer edge of the flesh. Letting it rest gives the juices time to redistribute, making for a moister turkey. An added bonus: The resting time provides an excellent window of opportunity to make the gravy and reheat the side dishes. There's no need to cover the bird-it'll stay warm enough, and covering it would only soften the crispy skin.