It’s tradition for Thanksgiving Dinner to star a plump, large, beautiful turkey. Paired with stuffing, mashed potatoes, seasonal vegetables, cranberry sauce — and of course gravy — and you have a true Thanksgiving Dinner. It seems that each year we each go on a quest to prepare the turkey of all turkeys. The ultimate goal: a moist, succulent bird that melts in your mouth with each bite. At Glutenfreeda.com, each year our chef’s go on their own personal quests for creating new and exciting turkey recipes with either traditional or non-traditional flavors — but all equally delicious. This year we’d like to highlight four delicious turkey recipes developed by our Glutenfreeda chefs.

Roast Turkey with Tarragon & Apple Brandy

Tarragon offers this bird a very unique and aromatic character. The flavor of this turkey is further complimented by basting with an apple jelly glaze throughout the roasting process. Finish this amazing turkey with an apple brandy gravy for an unforgettable turkey.

Ingredients:

• One 10 ounce jar apple jelly
• 2-1/4 sticks unsalted butter
• 1/3 cup frozen apple juice, thawed
• 4 Tablespoons fresh tarragon, chopped
• 12 ounces mushrooms, quartered
• 1 onion, chopped
• 1 carrot, chopped
• One 22 pound turkey
• 10 cups gf chicken broth
• 1/4 cup gf flour
• 3 cups gf chicken broth
• 8 slices gf bacon, cut into 1/2" pieces
• 2 Tablespoons fresh tarragon, chopped
• 1/4 cup gf apple brandy

Directions:

In a small saucepan stir in jelly, 1/2 cup butter, apple juice and 2 tablespoons tarragon over medium heat until all is melted. Remove from heat.

Set oven rack to lowest position and preheat to 375 degrees F. Place a small rack inside a roasting pan.

In a large heavy skillet melt 1/4 cup butter over medium-high heat. Add mushrooms, onion and carrot; sauté until brown, about 10 minutes.

Place vegetables along with turkey neck around rack in roasting pan. Place washed and dried turkey on rack in pan.

In a small saucepan, melt 6 tablespoons butter with 2 tablespoons tarragon. Loosen skin on breasts from neck end and spoon about 3 tablespoons tarragon butter under skin. Brush remaining butter mixture over outside of turkey. Season with salt and pepper. Tuck wings under turkey.

Roast for 45 minutes. Reduce heat to
350 degrees F and add 1 cup broth to pan. Cover loosely with foil and roast until turkey registers 180 degrees F with a meat thermometer. Add additional broth and baste with pan juices every half hour. Baste with 1/3 cup jelly glaze during last 2 hours of roasting. Turkey should take approximately 5 hours, unstuffed.

Transfer turkey to a platter; cover with foil and let rest for 30 minutes.

Reserve pan juices.
Mix 1/2 cup glaze and flour in a bowl. Pour pan juices into a measuring cup; spoon off fat. Add enough broth to make 6 cups.

Sauté bacon in a heavy skillet until crisp. Pour off fat and add broth mixture and bring to a boil. Whisk in glaze flour mixture, tarragon and apple brandy. Simmer until thickened and season with salt and pepper. Serve.

Roast Turkey with Prosciutto Hazelnut Butter

This recipe takes the Italian, dry-cured ham, Prosciutto, and combines it with ground hazelnuts, butter and green onions. This "butter" is then inserted under the skin to infuse moisture and amazing flavor into the bird as it cooks. Upon completion the bird is served with an herb gravy for a delightful finish.

Ingredients
For prosciutto hazelnut butter:

• 3 sticks unsalted butter, at room temperature
• 6 Tablespoons finely chopped hazelnuts
• 1-1/2 Tablespoons red wine vinegar
• 1 Tablespoon chopped fresh thyme
• 2 teaspoons crushed black peppercorns
• 1 garlic clove, minced
• 3/4 teaspoon salt
• 9 ounces prosciutto, chopped
• 3 green onions, chopped

For gravy:

• Turkey neck, heart and gizzard
• 3 shallots, chopped
• 1 bay leaf
• 1 cup dry white wine
• 1 sprig fresh thyme
• 1 sprig fresh tarragon
• 1/2 teaspoon chopped fresh rosemary
• 4 cups gf chicken broth

For turkey:

• One 16-18 pound turkey
• 1 onion, quartered
• 3 garlic cloves, halved
• 5 thyme sprigs
• 2 tarragon sprigs
• 1 Tablespoon crushed black peppercorns.
• 5 cups gf chicken broth
• 1/4 cup gf flour

Directions:

For prosciutto hazelnut butter:
Place all ingredients in a large bowl and stir until blended.

For Turkey:
Preheat oven to 325 degrees F. and set an oven rack to the lowest position. Rinse the turkey and trim off excess fat. Pat dry. Slide your hand between the skin and breast and legs to loosen the skin. Measure out 1/2 cup of the prosciutto hazelnut butter and set aside. Spread the remaining butter under the skin and all over the outside of the turkey. Sprinkle the turkey inside and out with salt and pepper and place on the rack of a roasting pan. Place onion, garlic, thyme, tarragon and peppercorns inside the cavity. Tuck the wings under the body and tie the legs loosely together. Roast turkey uncovered for 1-1/2 hours. Tent with foil and add 2 cups of broth to the roasting pan and continue to roast for about 2 more hours or until the internal temperature reaches 175 degrees F. Baste the turkey with the pan drippings occasionally.

For gravy:
Melt 1/4 cup prosciutto hazelnut butter in a large pot over medium-high heat. Add the neck, heart and gizzard, shallots and bay leaf. Sauté until brown all over, about 20 minutes. Add the wine, thyme, tarragon and rosemary and bring to a boil. Boil until liquid has reduced to a glaze. Add 4 cups broth and bring again to a boil. Reduce heat to low, cover and simmer for an hour. Discard bay leaf, thyme and tarragon sprigs. Set aside.
When turkey is done, transfer to a platter and tent with foil to keep warm; let sit for 30 minutes.
Strain the fat off of the pan juices and add enough of the gravy base to make 5 cups. Melt the remaining 1/4 cup prosciutto hazelnut butter in a large pot over medium-high heat. Add flour and whisk for 1 minute. Add gravy juice mixture whisking constantly. Cook until gravy has thickened. Season to taste with salt and pepper.

Roast Turkey with Sage

There are some herbs that go exceptionally well with poultry — sage happens to be one of them. This turkey is not only incredibly flavorful but extremely beautiful. The sage leaves are inserted under the skin in a decorative pattern which not only imparts the flavor of sage to the bird but also makes an amazing presentation once cooked. To add even more flavor to this succulent bird we’ve added an injection of butter, wine, garlic and herbs. This turkey is phenomenal.

Ingredients:

• 20-24 pound turkey (free range if you can find one)
• 1 bunch fresh sage leaves, whole
• 4 large garlic cloves, minced
• 1 tablespoon fresh rosemary, minced
• 2 tablespoon fresh oregano, minced
• 1 teaspoon dried sage, crumbled not powdered
• 1 teaspoon dried thyme
• 1/2 teaspoon chili powder
• 1/2 teaspoon ground cumin
• 1 teaspoon salt
• 1 teaspoon ground black pepper
• olive oil in spray bottle, not aerosol, non-alcohol
• 1/2 cup gf chicken broth
• 1/2 cup dry white wine
• 1 cup unsalted butter, melted
• 1 cup dry white wine

* 6 hours prior to preparation inject turkey with the following liquid:

• 1 teaspoon onion powder
• 1 teaspoon garlic powder
• 1 teaspoon salt
• 8 ounces dry white wine
• 6 ounces grapefruit juice
  

Directions:

Mix dry ingredients together, add liquids and stir till even consistency. Inject into breasts, thighs, legs and wings.

Preheat oven to 325 degrees F.

Wash, drain and pat turkey dry, inside and out. With your hands, loosen skin on breast from cavity end and neck end. Leave skin attached at breast bone. Take individual sage leaves and place in a decorative pattern under skin on both sides of breast, placing leaves rib-side down.

In a small bowl mix garlic, herbs, spices, salt and pepper. Gently rub 2/3 of the mixture on inside and outside of bird.

Generously spray roasting pan and rack with olive oil. Add 1/2 cup broth and 1/2 cup wine to pan, place turkey on rack.

Mix remaining garlic mixture with melted butter and 1 cup wine. Roast for 20-25 minutes then baste with butter mixture. Baste every 25 minutes using pan juices as well as butter mixture. Roast 4 to 4-1/2 hours or until a thermometer inserted into thickest part of thigh reads
180-185 degrees F.

Transfer turkey to a platter, tent with foil for 15-20 minutes to allow juices to settle and to finish cooking.

Use pan dripping to make gravy.

Grill Roasted Turkey — For Charcoal Grill

This amazing turkey is grill-roasted over charcoal coals. The key is to slowly cook the bird over indirect heat. By turning the bird periodically, basting often with apple juice and smoking the bird with wood chips you will end up with a turkey that will be raved about for years.

Ingredients:

• 2 cups kosher or 1 cup table salt
• 1 turkey (12 to 14 pounds), giblets and tail removed, rinsed thoroughly, and wings tucked
• 6 wood chunks (each about 3 inches long) or 3 cups wood chips
• 2 tablespoons unsalted butter, melted

Directions:

Dissolve salt in 2 gallons water in large (at least 16-quart) stockpot or clean bucket. Add turkey and refrigerate, or set in a very cool spot (between 32 and 40 degrees), 12 hours or overnight.

Toward the end of the brining time, soak wood chunks or chips in bowl with cold water to cover for 1 hour and drain. If using chips, place half the soaked chips on 18-inch square of heavy-duty aluminum foil and seal to make a packet. Use fork to tear about 6 holes in foil to allow smoke to escape.

Fill 1 large chimney generously with charcoal (about 70 briquettes) and ignite; burn until briquettes are completely covered with light gray ash.

Meanwhile, spray V-rack with gf cooking spray. Remove turkey from brine and rinse inside and out under cold running water to remove all traces of salt. Pat turkey dry with paper towels; brush both sides with melted butter. Set turkey, breast-side down, in V-rack.

Empty coals into grill and pile onto one side. Place 3 soaked wood chunks or 1 wood chip packet on top of coals. Position grill rack over coals and place V-rack with turkey over cool part of grill; open grill lid vent halfway and cover, positioning vent over turkey. Cover and grill-roast 1 hour.

Remove lid from grill. Using thick potholders, transfer V-rack with turkey to rimmed cookie sheet or roasting pan. Remove grill rack and add 3 remaining soaked wood chunks or 12 new briquettes and remaining wood chip packet on top of coals; replace grill rack. With wad of paper towels in each hand, flip turkey breast-side up in rack. Return V-rack with turkey to cool side of grill so that leg and wing that were facing coals are now facing away. Cover and grill-roast 45 minutes.

Using thick potholder, carefully turn V-rack with turkey (breast remains up) so that leg and wing that were facing coals are now facing away. Insert instant-read thermometer into each thigh to check temperature and gauge how much longer turkey must cook. Cover and continue grill-roasting until thermometer inserted into thigh registers 175 to 180ºF, 15 to 45 minutes more. During the last 30-40 minutes baste turkey with apple juice or apple cider. Remove turkey from grill, cover loosely with foil and let rest 20 to 30 minutes; carve and serve.

One final word about turkeys:

We prefer organic natural, free-range turkeys and order them from our butcher. They are more expensive, but as your turkey will be the star of your meal, we feel it is well worth it. If you can’t get an organic, free-range turkey, be sure the turkey you select has no added solutions or flavorings, as these may contain gluten.

We hope you have a fabulous "Turkey Day"!

-Glutenfreeda