Greek cuisine at Christmas

Składniki

Ingredients:

• 1 turkey, around 3 kg in weight
• 1 whole turkey liver
• 1 coarsely chopped white onion
• 1 coarsely chopped piece of leak
• 1 coarsely chopped carrot
• 2 sticks of coarsely chopped celery
• 1 cinnamon stick
• 2 bay leaves
• 5-6 cloves
• The juice and zest of 1 orange
• Salt and pepper
• 100g butter
• ½ glass cognac
• 1 glass Mawrodafni wine (sweet, red Greek wine)

For the stuffing:

• 1kg minced veal meat
• 2 finely chopped onions
• 100g butter
• 100g pine nuts
• The juice of 1 orange
• ½ glass cognac
• 1 glass Mawrodafni wine
• 50g dark raisins
• 6 dried apricots, cubed
• 1 teaspoon tomato concentrate
• 200g long-grain rice
• 1kg peeled chestnuts
• ½ teaspoon cinnamon and chopped cloves

Sposób przygotowania

Preparation:
1. Clean the turkey liver and cut into cubes. Clean the turkey thoroughly.
2. Put the water, onions, leak, carrot, celery, bay leaves, cinnamon stick, cloves, orange zest and salt into a large pan and cook for 10 minutes. Add the turkey and cook for a further 45 minutes.
3. Meanwhile prepare the stuffing. Heat half the butter in a pan and cook together the onion, liver and minced meat, stirring all the time.
4. Add the pine nuts and the rice and cook for a little while longer. Douse with ½ glass of cognac and Mawrodafni. Add the tomato concentrate, one glass of stock from the turkey and cook for a further 5 minutes.
5. Remove the stuffing from the heat, add salt, pepper, a little cinnamon and chopped cloves, raisins, apricots and half the chestnuts, mix thoroughly and taste to see if the seasoning is correct.
6. Remove the turkey, drain it and stuff it with as much stuffing as possible. Sew it up and place it on a baking tray. Add a little stock and some chestnuts to the remaining stuffing, mix and place in a separate baking tray to go in the oven.
7. Butter the turkey, add salt and pepper and roast for 2.5 hours at a temperature of 1800C. As soon as the turkey begins to brown, douse it with cognac, Mawrodafni, orange juice and stock. Regularly baste the meat with the juices.
8. When cooked, strain the juices from the baking tray to remove any fat.
9. Serve the turkey with the sauce and the remaining stuffing in a side dish.

The Chef’s tip; use the remaining turkey stock as a delicious base for soups and sauces.