Grilled Turkey

It has to be said there is something fulfilling and manly about cooking a turkey and, by butchering up your self it will also save a few quid. To often these days we buy by convenience and pay for it with our back pocket. Now I know your thinking a barbecue is not about how much or how long, but buying the full bird is inevitably going to save a few quid. Maybe to some it seems blasphemous to segment the turkey before cooking, if that is true for you then forgive me saying this recipe may be the recipe for you.

Remove neck and giblets; reserve for boiling for the making of the gravy. Give the bird a good rinsing under the tap inside and out. Chop the turkey into cutlets with a rectangular chopping knife. To do this firstly chop in half then quarter the bird, remove the wings and try and keep the skin intact with each individual segment.

Ingredients
Serves 4
The marinade
30 mils of olive oil
2 whole lemons grated for the lemon zest
2 squeezed lemons
2 cloves garlic, finely chopped

1 turkey
teaspoon of sea salt
teaspoon crushed coriander seeds
teaspoon freshly ground black pepper

Place the turkey segments Into a shallow baking dish large enough to hold the cutlets in a single layer, whisk together the oil, lemon zest and juice, garlic and coriander seeds. Add the cutlets and turn to coat. Wrap cling film around this dish or just Cover with a clean tea towel and marinate in the refrigerator for 1 - 2 hours.

Stuffing is scrumptious with turkey and is a healthy way of filling up the stomach. However remember to prepare it separately, and cook it in a covered foil pan beside the turkey on the grill, also with indirect heat. The stuffing needs to reach an internal temperature of 74°C to be done. You can find the temperature accurately if you possess a temperature probing device.

When ready to cook the cutlets, prepare the grill of choice. whether your using a gas grill, charcoal grill or a camp fire you want to be sure the temperature is consistent and preheated to grill the turkey satisfactorily. If using a charcoal grill, get the charcoal burning after 1 hour of marination if you use a few fire-lighters be sure to allow all the white cubes to have completely burned away before starting the cooking process, you may have to apply more charcoal pieces again allow these pieces to burn before applying the grub, the smoke can give a nasty pungent taste to your turkey, so don't get muddled, barbecuing is an art which gets better over time. So if you have guests be sure to impress. Keep your hands clean and wear an apron, a chefs cap never goes a miss but failing that - your favourite baseball cap will suffice.

Remove the cutlets from the marinade and season with salt and pepper and paprika. Meanwhile save some of the marinade for the stuffing. Apply this to your paxo stuffing of choice or if your really clever dried bread crumbs from your favourite bread lots of dried sage and pre-cooked onion is great. You could even apply dried ground almonds to this mixture be sure to balance all of these extra consistencies otherwise you'll find your stuffing just falls apart on the bar-be.

Grill the cutlets, about 3 minutes on each side twice, until golden brown and just cooked through depending on the cut and size of the piece of turkey however remember if you leave to long the skin sticks to the griddle and you'll end up with scruffy portions and it will take days to clean your griddle. Transfer the cutlets to a platter and let rest for 5 minutes.

Alternatively you could dice the breast up, put on skewers along with slices of onion, green, red and yellow peppers brush with oil and hey presto Turkey kebabs, yummy.