Thanksgiving is traditionally a time to gather with friends and family, celebrate being together with delicious meals and being thankful for all that we have. This year our gatherings will be a lot smaller, but there is still so much to be thankful for. In Grey County, one thing we are thankful for is local food, especially during fall harvest. Eating local has many benefits:
- It helps the local economy by supporting local farmers and producers.
- It's good for the environment and has less of a carbon footprint.
- It may have a higher nutrient value, as food that is grown and harvested locally is often given more time to ripen.
- Many people think it tastes better, and we completely agree!
Watch Chef Tim Johnston from The Sweetwater Restaurant at Cobble Beach show us how to prepare this amazing home cooked meal, using local ingredients, just in time for Thanksgiving. Thank you to Sideroad Farm, Harvest Moon Farm and Grandma Lambe's for providing us with the ingredients. You can find the full recipe below the video.
Roast Turkey Dinner
For the brine:
1 - 8lb turkey use local for best flavour
4 litres of water
1 cup kosher salt
3 bay leaves
3 pods star anise
1 bunch sage
1 bunch thyme
1 orange cut into quarters
- Add water to a large soup pot and bring to a boil
- Add all ingredients and stir to incorporate
- Turn heat off and let sit to cool
- Place turkey in a large plastic container
- Pour cooled brine over top, cover and refrigerate for 24hours
For the roux:
3 oz butter
3 oz flour
- Heat pan to medium heat
- Add butter and melt completely
- Add flour and incorporate
- Reduce heat and continue to cook while stirring occasionally until you reach a dark brown roux with a nutty aroma
- Set aside to cool
For the turkey:
¼ lb cubed butter
¾ tbsp chopped thyme
1 tbsp chopped sage
1 gala apple
½ Spanish onion
- Pre heat oven to 425 degrees
- Remove turkey from the brine – discard brine
- Release skin from the meat of the turkey
- Stuff cubed butter under the skin
- Season the turkey generously with kosher salt, cracked pepper and chopped herbs
- Stuff the apple and onion inside the turkey
- Roast turkey at 425 degrees for 20 minutes to get a nice golden colour
- Reduce heat down to 325 degrees
- If desired at this point you can add your choice of root vegetables to roast with your turkey, to ensure that they cook at the same time as your turkey cut your vegetables fairly large, season them with salt, pepper and toss with a vegetable oil of your choice
- Place turkey back in the oven and cook for 45 minutes or until the internal temperature at the thickest point reaches 165 degrees
- When turkey is cooked remove from pan and let rest for 10-15 minutes
- Use this time to make your gravy
For the gravy:
Drippings from the pan
1 tbsp smooth Dijon mustard
1 cup apple cider
1 tbsp maple syrup
2 cups water
- Add drippings to a sauce pan
- Add remaining ingredients and bring up to a simmer (do not boil)
- Add cold roux and whisk to incorporate
- Now bring to a boil and reduce back to a simmer and continue to cook for 10-15 minutes to cook out the flour taste
While you are making your turkey dinner, why not spice things up with a fall cocktail? Watch Cobble Beach's Food Supervisor, Nadia, mix up a tasty apple cider margarita. You can find the recipe below the video.
Apple Cider Margarita
Ingredients:
Grandma Lambe's apple cider
Tequila
Lemon juice
Sugar, salt and cinnamon rimmer
Garnish with Grandma Lambe's apple slice and cinnamon stick
Directions:
- serve in a rocks glass
- rim glass with cinnamon rimmer
- add ice
- 1.5 oz tequila
- dash of lemon juice
- top with Apple Cider
- garnish with apple slice and a cinnamon stick
