Recipe: Turkey with Apricot and Almond Stuffing

Ingredients:

• 6 rashers of bacon, rind removed, cut into 5mm strips
• 4 medium brown onions, chopped
• 200g dried apricots, chopped
• 2 tbsp fresh thyme leaves
• loaf three-day-old bread, crusts removed
• 2/3 cup slivered almonds, toasted
• 100g butter, melted
• 5 kg turkey
• 1 cup chicken stock
• mixed fresh herbs or watercress, to serve

• 2 tbsp white wine vinegar
• 1 tbsp brown sugar
• 2 cups chicken stock
• 2 cups apricot nectar
• 1/4 cup cornflour

Method:

• Preheat oven to 180 degrees C (160 degrees C fan-forced).
• Make apricot and almond stuffing:
  • Cook the bacon in a large frying pan over medium heat, stirring, until golden brown. Add the onion; cook, stirring, until it is soft but not coloured. Add 1/2 cup water, apricots and thyme; cook, stirring, until the water evaporates. Transfer to a large bowl; cool slightly.
  • Process the bread to a very coarse crumb.
  • Add the breadcrumbs to the onion mixture with nuts; season well with salt and freshly ground black pepper. Add enough of the melted butter to bring the stuffing together. Sit stuffing aside.
• Rinse the cavity of the turkey inside and out; pat dry with paper towel.
• Place the turkey into a large baking dish. Place some of the stuffing in the neck cavity; pull the skin down and secure with a skewer or toothpick. Loosely fill the main cavity with stuffing; tie legs together and tuck wings under body. Brush with a little melted butter.
• Roast turkey, uncovered, for 4 hours or until cooked when tested.
• As juices collect in the baking dish, spoon or brush them over the breast. Pour out excess juices and reserve if they are not browning towards the end of cooking time; the pan juices need to have some colour for a good sauce. If parts of the turkey start to colour too quickly, cover them with greased foil.
• Transfer the turkey to a large platter; cover with foil, and allow to rest for at least 20 minutes. Reserve the baking dish and pan juices for sauce.
• Meanwhile, pile the extra stuffing into a shallow ovenproof dish. Drizzle the stuffing with any remaining butter and a little of the reserved turkey pan juices. Bake stuffing on separate shelf with turkey for 30-40 minutes or until crunchy and golden.
• Make apricot sauce:
  • Place the baking dish with 1/2 cup of the turkey pan juices on the stove over a low heat.
  • Add the cornflour and use a wooden spoon to stir through the juices, scraping up the baked-on brown bits.
  • Start adding the apricot nectar, 1/4 cup at a time, allowing the sauce to boil and thicken between additions. Add the stock in the same way.
  • Stir in the sugar and vinegar; simmer, uncovered, for about 10 minutes or until the sauce has reduced to a syrupy consistency.
  • Taste and add salt and ground white pepper, if needed.
• Serve turkey with herbs, stuffing and apricot sauce.