Roast Turkey with Cornbread Stuffing

Reader's Digest CanadaReader's Digest Canada

While no diet dish, this turkey won’t set you back too many saturated fat grams. If you want to trim fat even more, skip the pork sausage in the stuffing.

Number of servings : 16

Prep time: 1 hour

Cooking time: 5 hours, 15minutes + 10 minutes, standing time

Type of meal : | Main Courses | Main Courses

Special diet :

Ingredients

1 pound bulk pork sausage, crumbled
2 tablespoons unsalted butter or margarine
1½ cups chopped celery
1 cup chopped onion
1 recipe Cornbread Sticks, crumbled
3 cups chicken stock or low-sodium chicken broth
1½ cups unpeeled, cored, chopped apples
½ cup minced parsley
3 teaspoons dried thyme
1 teaspoon dried sage
3/4 teaspoon each salt and black pepper
2 cups chopped pecans, toasted (optional)
1 16-pound fresh or thawed frozen turkey
1/3 cup all-purpose flour
3 cups low-fat (1% milkfat) milk

 

Directions

  1. In a 12-inch nonstick skillet, brown the sausage over medium heat for 5 minutes and transfer to a large bowl. Melt the butter in the skillet, add the celery and onion, and sauté 5 minutes, or until tender. Transfer to the bowl; toss with the corn sticks, stock, apples, parsley, 2 teaspoons of the thyme, the sage, ½ teaspoon each of the salt and pepper, and the pecans if you wish.
  2. Preheat oven to 325°F. Stuff the body and neck cavities of the turkey, then truss. Insert a roasting thermometer in its thigh. Transfer the rest of the stuffing to a buttered baking dish, cover tightly with foil, and refrigerate.
  3. Roast the turkey on a rack in a large open roasting pan, basting often, for 4½ hours, or until a thermometer inserted in the thigh registers 180°F. Bake the extra stuffing, covered, during the last 30 minutes. Let the turkey stand for 10 minutes; carve it, discarding skin. Reserve the pan drippings.
  4. To prepare the gravy: In a 12-inch skillet, heat 1/4 cup of the drippings over moderate heat. Whisk in the flour, the remaining 1 teaspoon of the thyme, and the remaining 1/4 teaspoon each of the salt and pepper, and cook until bubbly. Whisk in the milk; cook, stirring, for 5 minutes, or until thickened.

 

Nutritional information:

Imported on 2011-01-20 20:26:46 — Original ID:3307