Easy Thanksgiving Turkey

Sure, cooking a turkey for Thanksgiving seems like a big project, but the hard part is in preparing all the side dishes. Cooking the bird is pretty simple.

Here's an easy recipe I use, that's been cobbled together from various advice over the years, including my mother.

EASY TURKEY
Turkey, whatever size you wish
1 stick butter, softened
Fresh sage leaves, lightly shredded
Salt
Pepper
Chicken or turkey stock, at least four cups
White wine
Herbs - sage, rosemary, thyme (choose what you like, but sage works best with poultry)
1 onion, peeled and sliced

For the gravy:
Chicken or turkey stock
White wine
Sage
Salt
Pepper
Brown sugar
Corn starch or flour

Clean out the bird (remove the bag with the gizzards and other innards. I like to save that for stuffing - see my article on easy stuffing).

Rinse the bird inside and out and put it on a huge tray. Sprinkle salt and pepper on both sides of the bird, then grab a hunk of butter and start massaging the bird, so the whole turkey is buttered. It's going to be messy, so be forewarned. Peel back the skin a bit and get a bit of the salt and pepper mix, along with the butter inside, under the skin. Start rubbing and inserting bits of sage leaf all over as well, underneath the skin, stuff a few leaves inside the bird's cavity as well, along with more butter and salt and pepper.

If you want to put stuffing in the bird, go ahead at this point. If you're not, I'd advise stuffing it with an onion, so the onion's flavor can radiate throughout the bird.

In a covered baking pan large enough to accommodate the bird, put a couple cups of chicken or turkey stock in the pan, along with a few slices of onion and some sage leaves (rosemary and thyme are a nice addition as well) and at least a half cup of white wine. Put the bird on a little roasting rack/platform in the pan, cover and bake at the recommended temperature for the suggested time for the bird's weight on the turkey's package.

Every hour or so baste the bird with the wine/stock/herb mixture. The last half hour, take the lid off the pot and let the turkey roast and get the skin a little crispy. Give it a good basting before the final half hour of roasting.

For gravy: Once done, remove the turkey, take the juices/basting mixture from the pan and put those in a pot. Start simmering, add some salt and pepper, a splash more wine and maybe a half to whole cup of stock. A pinch of brown sugar (no more than a tablespoon, however) is a good addition. As it heats up, take a quarter cup of flour or corn starch, add water to it so it's a watery paste. Set aside. Once the stock is simmering, but not quite boiling, begin to add the flour/corn starch mixture, a tablespoon at a time. Stir it in and mix it into the gravy, and keep doing so until the thickness is just how you want it (you might need to make more paste, depending on how much stock/juice you had). Taste the mixture as you go, to make sure it tastes right. Add a bit more salt and pepper if needed, or a bit more sugar.

Serve and enjoy!