Easy Roasted Turkey

Today is Sunday, last night my fiancé came home with a frozen turkey. A gift from his company. It takes 3 days to defrost in the refrigerator. Since we are not home Christmas night, he has to work Christmas Eve and I don't have any room in my freezer we will make this in three days. I have only cooked this recipe once and I think it came out good. I will be home on Tuesday and we do not have anywhere to go so timing is perfect. Wednesday night before I go to be I will start the brining that way around 1:30pm I can start cooking the turkey. I will probably whip up some mashed potatoes to go with and crack open a can of cranberry sauce too. It's a good size turkey so I am sure there will be leftovers which is good because we have dance on Thursday and I'll whip up a quick casserole or some sandwiches.

This is the recipe I plan to use:

Easy Roasted Turkey

Serves 10 to 12

While you can prepare this turkey recipe without the brining step, I highly recommend you give it a try as this process produces wonderfully succulent meat. 

Ingredients

1 (14- to 15- pound) turkey 
1/2-1 cup Salt 
1 teaspoon dried thyme 
2 carrots, roughly chopped 
2 stalks celery, roughly chopped 
2 yellow onions, roughly chopped 
2 cups gluten-free chicken broth 
1/2 cup white wine 
4 tablespoons (1/2 stick) butter, melted 
Pepper to taste

Method

Brine the turkey overnight (at least 12 hours) by submerging it completely in a salt water solution made from a ratio of 1/2 cup salt to one gallon water. (Alternately, you may brine the turkey for 4 hours using a ratio of 1 cup salt to one gallon water). Rinse the turkey well and pat it dry. 

Preheat oven to 350°F. 

Mix thyme, carrots, celery and onions together in a small bowl. Stuff turkey cavity with the vegetable mixture and scatter any remaining vegetables around the bottom of a roasting pan. Pour broth and wine over vegetables in pan. 

Arrange a rack over the vegetables in the pan and arrange the turkey on top of it, breast side down. (You may use either a flat rack or a V-rack). Brush half of the melted butter all over the turkey, then season with pepper. Reserve remaining butter for later use. 

Roast turkey for two hours, breast side down, basting once. Remove from oven and turn turkey breast side up, being careful not to pierce the skin. Brush turkey with the remaining butter and season again with pepper. 

Return turkey to oven and continue roasting until a thermometer inserted in the thickest part of the thigh reaches 165°F, about 2 hours more. 

Set turkey aside to let rest for 30 minutes, then carve and serve, drizzled with the pan drippings.