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Roast turkey with wild mushrooms

Time1 hour 10 minutes
YieldsServes 8 to 10
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I’ve long been planning a dream Christmas brunch. Our family of adventurous eaters has roots in five countries -- England, France, Russia, Canada and the United States -- and the ideal menu would have to please them all. Add to that the trick of preparing most of the meal in advance so dinner can be on the table by noon on the festive day.

This is a family story, so let me introduce the group that’s been celebrating the holidays together for 36 years now: Our son, Simon, who works in Moscow, is the cork puller and heavy lifter of turkeys from the oven. Emma, our daughter, busy director of a large nonprofit here in Los Angeles, extends her talent for organization to the kitchen -- she makes the pastry dough and arranges things on plates. My husband, Mark, chooses the wines and organizes constant liquid refreshment.

Our menu starts in Russia with blini, the little yeast-raised pancakes. For a more earthy flavor, I make the batter with stone-ground whole-wheat flour, which makes a more elastic batter than white flour. The blini rise half an inch high, and with their light texture and nutty flavor, make the perfect background for a topping of tapenade spread made of green olives.

Blini are pleasingly adaptable. Small ones make cocktail hors d’oeuvres to nibble before going to the table; larger ones act as appetizers to the main course. Even better, they reheat well, so they can be made a day in advance without suffering.

We’d represent the U.S. with a grand turkey, roasted with lemon juice, olive oil, chile, nutmeg and a touch of garlic. This marinade adds zip and toasts the skin to an elegant chestnut brown when used for basting. However, the most dominant flavoring for the turkey is fresh rosemary, the herb that most says Southern California to me. Our garden is full of it, growing more or less wild and releasing intense fragrance with a brush of my hand.

I like to start the turkey with the breast downward to keep it moist. When the time comes, Simon hefts it from the oven, but two people are needed to turn the big, sizzling bird; I hold the roasting pan in place on the counter, Emma seizes the legs and over it goes, tail over nose.

The sauce that results at the end of roasting is dark from the turkey juices and rich with onions and chicken broth, laced with white wine -- let’s call it a French-style gravy.

This gravy serves a double purpose. Because it’s an early meal, I want to roast the turkey a day ahead, but traditional roast turkey is never at its best if you try to reheat it. I’m delighted to have found a solution: I let the cooked bird cool and refrigerate it overnight. At the same time I make and store the gravy. To reheat the turkey, I brush it with the golden gravy, wrap it tightly in foil and heat it thoroughly in the oven. The gravy not only keeps the meat moist, it adds flavor and color.

As an accompaniment to the turkey, I cannot resist generous handfuls of wild mushrooms, a memory of our property in France where a dozen varieties grow in the woods. Mushroom hunting is a local sport, and all of us knew secret corners where the best ones grew.

Any mushrooms are delicious with turkey, and a mixture is best of all, with oyster mushrooms for lightness, shiitake for depth of flavor and golden chanterelles for color. For economy, to make the more costly varieties go further, you can replace at least half with button mushrooms.

To go with the bird, we’d probably opt for hedgehog potatoes, a little culinary joke for our granddaughter. I put little boiling potatoes (egg-sized is ideal) in a tablespoon and cut them in vertical one-fourth-inch slices, a neat trick that ensures they stay joined at the base. When roasted with some fat -- olive oil, butter or turkey drippings from the roasting pan -- they become deliciously crispy and fan out to a hedgehog shape.

The Christmas pie would be an English mincemeat, but with a difference. The filling features fresh grapes and chopped apples as well as the customary raisins, candied citrus peel, warm spices and a liberal splash of whiskey from Mark’s stash of booze. This is a double-crust pie, the dough made with heavy cream for richness, and we’d have a tub of ice cream on the side especially for little girls.

By my count we’ve covered at least five countries: blini from Russia, tapenade from France, turkey and potatoes from America, mincemeat pie from England and wild mushrooms from just about anywhere.

And let’s not forget our traditional family ceremony of slicing the Christmas cake beside the tree. The oldest and the youngest in the house grasp a hefty chef’s knife and cut a wedge, at the same time making a wish for the coming year.

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Turkey

1

Wipe the turkey inside and out with a damp paper towel. Place the turkey on a tray and rub the skin thoroughly with the cut lemon.

2

In a small bowl, mix together half of the olive oil along with the garlic, chili pepper, salt, black pepper and nutmeg. Rub the marinade evenly inside and outside the bird, reserving any that remains. Put the bunch of rosemary in the cavity and truss the bird. Cover it loosely with foil and leave for 1 hour at room temperature.

3

Heat the oven to 375 degrees.

4

In a large roasting pan, toss the onions with the remaining olive oil and set the turkey on the onions, breast-side-down. Baste the turkey with remaining marinade. Roast it, basting often, for about 1 hour until the back (upper side) of the bird is well-browned. With a large spoon and fork (and maybe the help of another person), turn the turkey breast-side-up. Baste the turkey from time to time and roast until meat starts to shrink from the drumstick bones and the juices run clear, 45 minutes to an hour. A meat thermometer inserted in the thigh should read 160 degrees. If the turkey colors too quickly, tent it loosely with foil. If the onions start to scorch toward the end of roasting, add a cup of chicken broth to the pan. While the turkey roasts, prepare the mushrooms.

Mushrooms

1

Pick over the mushrooms, trimming tough ends and brushing them to remove any dirt (do not wash them). In a large frying pan, melt the butter over medium heat, then add the mushrooms with 1 teaspoon salt and one-eighth teaspoon pepper. Saute the mushrooms over medium heat, stirring often, about 5 minutes. Sprinkle the garlic and shallots over them and cook until the mushrooms are tender and any liquid they produce has evaporated, another 5 to 10 minutes. Taste and adjust seasoning if desired. The mushrooms can be cooked a day ahead; let them cool, then wrap and refrigerate them. To reheat, place the mushrooms back in the pan over medium heat for 4 to 5 minutes until warmed through, stirring frequently. Stir in the chopped parsley just before serving.

Pan sauce and assembly

1

When the turkey is done, transfer the bird to a tray to catch any juices and cover the bird loosely with foil. Drain any excess fat from the pan, leaving the juices.

2

Make the gravy: If the onions and pan juices are not browned, brown them on the stove top over high heat 5 to 10 minutes if necessary. Add the wine to the hot pan, stirring to dissolve any flavorful bits that stick to the bottom of the pan and boil until reduced by about half, about 8 to 10 minutes.

3

Meanwhile, boil the chicken broth in a small pan until reduced by half. Add the broth to pan juices and taste: If the flavors are too bland, continue to boil a few more minutes to concentrate the flavors.

4

In a small bowl, crush the butter with a fork and work in flour to make a paste. Add any juices from the cooked turkey to the simmering pan juices. Whisk in pieces of the butter, working over the heat so the butter melts and distributing the flour to thicken the gravy evenly. Add butter until the gravy is thickened to the consistency you like. Simmer it 1 to 2 minutes, taste and adjust seasoning. Strain the gravy into a saucepan for reheating and cover. (The turkey and gravy can be cooked a day ahead up to this point; cool them to room temperature, wrap and store in the refrigerator.)

5

About 1 1/2 hours before serving, heat oven to 375 degrees and prepare to wrap the turkey in foil. Arrange 2 long strips of foil lengthwise, overlapping slightly, and 1 long strip crosswise across the middle two (make sure each strip is large enough to wrap around the turkey). Unwrap the turkey and place it in the center of the foil. Brush the breast and legs with gravy and wrap very tightly. Set the package in a roasting pan or tray to catch drips and reheat in oven about 1 hour until turkey is steaming and a skewer inserted between the thigh and the body is hot to the touch when withdrawn after 30 seconds. Transfer the turkey to a large, warm platter, cover loosely with foil and keep in a warm place.

6

While the turkey is reheating, warm the remaining gravy in the saucepan over medium heat, stirring occasionally.

7

In a medium fry pan, reheat the mushrooms over medium heat until warmed, about 5 minutes, stirring frequently.

8

Adjust the seasoning for the gravy and pour it into bowls for serving.

9

Discard the trussing and rosemary from the turkey. Garnish the platter with the mushrooms. Carry the turkey in triumph to the table.