Christmas spiced , rubbed turkey

Infuse your turkey with warm Christmas spices and herbed butter for tender, aromatic meat. A simple rub and butter prep transforms your centrepiece into a flavourful, delicious holiday dish.

At a glance

Ingredients

1 whole turkey, choose a size depending
on your requirements
1 orange, halved
3/4 bunch thyme (reserve the other ¼
for butter)
4 bay leaves, fresh or dried
olive oil, for drizzling

The spice rub

½ tsp ground cinnamon
½ tsp all spice
¼ tsp ground cloves
zest of 1 lemon
zest of 1 orange
½ tbs of sea salt fl akes
1 tbs of brown sugar
mix all together in a bowl and set aside

Herbed butter

100g unsalted butter, softened
¼ bunch of thyme, leaves picked
4 sprigs of oregano, leaves picked,
freshly chopped
¼ bunch of fl at leaf parsley fi nely
chopped
pinch of salt and pepper
mix all together and set aside.

Method

24 hours before cooking, sprinkle spice rub all over the turkey, then leave on the fridge loosely covered in cling wrap for the spice rub to permeate the skin.
On the day of cooking, take the turkey out 30 minutes before you plan to cook it and rub softened butter all over and under the skin, be careful not to tear the skin. Put the orange, thyme, and bay leaves in the turkey cavity and drizzle with olive oil.

Please Note: Follow the cooking directions from the turkey packaging or what has been recommended from your butcher as cooking times and temperatures will vary depending on the size of your turkey. Rub and butter can be made 3 days in advance, remove butter from the fridge a couple of hours before cooking to soften or microwave for 20-30 seconds.