The Christmas turkey recipe is a stuffed turkey, usually with chestnuts. This is a traditional yet easy Christmas recipe! To make it, buy a nice turkey from your butcher and ask him to gut it (if it hasn't already been done). Next, prepare the chestnut stuffing that you will use to garnish your turkey. For a 5-6 kg turkey, brown 300 g of sausage meat in a pan with a little olive oil or butter and 3 or 4 chopped shallots. Then add about 200 g of white bread previously soaked in bed, about 300 g of coarsely chopped natural chestnuts (canned or vacuum-packed), thyme, parsley and a small glass of cognac. Salt and pepper and knead this side with your hands before stuffing the turkey.
Once your Christmas turkey with chestnuts is ready and stuffed, it must be cooked. Count about 3 hours to 3 hours 30. Place the turkey stuffed with chestnuts in a dish, sprinkle it with a little oil and season it with salt, pepper and herbs (thyme, bay leaf, etc.). Bake in a cold oven at 120°C for 1 hour. After one hour of cooking, increase the oven temperature to 170°C/180°C (thermostat 5-6) and continue cooking for another hour. Raise the oven temperature again by a few degrees, to 210°C (thermostat 7) and cook for another 1 hour 30 minutes. Do not hesitate to baste the turkey with its juices during cooking, so that it is golden brown and does not dry out. Your Christmas turkey with chestnuts should be cooked to perfection and moist to perfection! You can serve it with potatoes, bundles of green beans with bacon, a good homemade mashed potato... Anything is possible!
