French Boned Turkey with Pâté Stuffing

STUFFING
- ½ cup diced (½-inch) pitted dried plums (prunes)
- ½ cup Madeira or tawny port
- 2 tablespoons unsalted butter
- ½ cup finely chopped shallots
- 1 pound ground pork
- 1 pound ground turkey or ground veal
- ¾ cup fresh bread crumbs, made from day-old crusty bread
- ¼ cup coarsely chopped shelled pistachios
- ¼ cup chopped fresh parsley
- 1 large egg plus 1 large egg yolk
- 2 teaspoons salt
- 1 teaspoon dried thyme
- ½ teaspoon freshly ground black pepper
- One 11-pound fresh turkey, neck and giblets reserved for another use, fat from tail area discarded
- 2 tablespoons unsalted butter, melted
- Salt and freshly ground black pepper
- About 2 quarts Homemade Turkey Stock 101
- A sharp, thin-bladed boning knife
- Kitchen twine
- A sturdy, large (mattress or sailing) needle
Instructions:
The turkey can be boned up to 1 day ahead, covered, and refrigerated.
- To make the stuffing, place the prunes and Madeira in a small bowl, and let stand for 1 hour. (Or cover with plastic wrap and microwave on High for 1 minute, carefully uncover, and let stand for 10 minutes.)
- In a medium skillet, melt the butter over medium-low heat. Add the shallots and cook, stirring often, until softened, 1 to 2 minutes. Transfer to a large bowl and cool slightly. Add the ground pork, ground turkey, dried plums and Madeira, bread crumbs, pistachios, parsley, egg, egg yolk, salt, thyme, and pepper. Mix well. Cover and refrigerate until ready to use.
- To bone the turkey, use a heavy cleaver or large knife to chop off the first two joints of each wing (the tip and the center bone), and reserve for the stock. Place the turkey, breast side down, on the work surface. Using the boning knife, make an incision down the backbone. Keeping the point of the knife pointed toward the bones, make short slashes down one side of the rib cage until you reach the ridge of the breastbone. Repeat the procedure on the other side. Cut the carcass away from the turkey at the breastbone (be careful, it’s close to the skin). To remove the thick silver tendon running down each breast, make a cut to reveal the wide end of the tendon and hold it. Pulling the tendon, scrape it with the knife to release it from the flesh.
- Bend the thigh back to reveal the ball joint, and sever the ball joint. Holding the ball joint, scrape along the thighbone to reach the drumstick joint. Sever the drumstick joint and remove the thighbone, leaving the drumstick bone intact. Repeat with the other thigh. Remove the spatulashaped collarbone. Leave the wing joints intact. (The turkey can be boned up to 1 day ahead, covered tightly, and refrigerated.)
- Position a rack in the center of the oven and preheat the oven to 350°F.
- Place the boned turkey, skin side down, on the work surface. Form the stuffing into a loaf shape and place down the center of the turkey. Bring both sides of the boned turkey up to enclose the stuffing. Using kitchen twine and a mattress needle, sew up the turkey. Tie the turkey crosswise in several places to form it into an elongated shape.
- Place the turkey on a long roasting rack (or use two overlapped wire cake racks) in a roasting pan. Brush with the melted butter and season with ½ teaspoon salt and ¼ teaspoon pepper. Pour 2 cups of the broth into the pan.
- Roast, basting occasionally with the pan juices, until a meat thermometer inserted in the thickest part of the turkey reads 175°F, about 3 hours. If the drippings evaporate and threaten to burn, moisten then with 2 cups additional stock. (With a boned turkey, the dark-meat area will not look undercooked at this temperature, as it does with bone-in turkey.) Transfer the turkey to an oval serving platter, and tent with aluminum foil to keep warm. Let the turkey stand for 20 minutes before slicing.
- Pour the pan drippings into a separator cup. Let stand 5 minutes, then pour off and reserve the drippings and discard the fat. Place the roasting pan on two burners over high heat. Pour the drippings into the pan. Pour in 1 quart of stock. Bring to a boil, scraping up the browned bits in the pan with a wooden spoon. Boil until syrupy and reduced to ¾ cup, about 12 minutes. Season to taste with salt and pepper. Pour the sauce into a warmed sauceboat.
-  Remove the strings. Carve the turkey crosswise into thick slices. Serve, drizzling a bit of sauce over each portion.
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