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Roast Turkey with Herbs

By: The South Beach Diet Online

"A glistening roast turkey, while making a striking centerpiece of most holiday tables, often becomes horribly dry after hours in the oven. The secret to a juicy turkey is to invest some time soaking your bird in a saltwater solution known as brine. For this recipe, all you need to brine your own is a clean garbage bag, two gallons of water, and two cups of kosher salt. Place the turkey and the brining solution in the garbage bag. Then place the bag in a roasting pan and leave it in the refrigerator to soak overnight. If you intend to buy a bigger or smaller bird, figure on 1 1/2 pounds per person."

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Original Recipe Yield 10 servings

Ingredients

1 (12 pound) turkey, brined overnight
1 dried ancho pepper
1 celery stalk
3 large, fresh sage leaves
2 bay leaves
2 sprigs fresh thyme
3 large shallots
1 teaspoon cumin seeds, whole
2 tablespoons dried sage
1 tablespoon ground cumin
2 tablespoons ground pepper
2 tablespoons dried thyme
2 tablespoons kosher salt
1/2 cup extra-virgin olive oil

Directions

Preheat oven to 425 degrees F. Remove turkey from brine and pat dry inside and out. Tie together celery, fresh sage, thyme sprigs, and bay leaf into a bundle and place inside body cavity along with ancho pepper and shallots. Mix ground cumin, pepper, dried thyme, dried sage, and salt with olive oil.
Carefully loosen turkey's skin without tearing from the breast and legs, and massage oil and spice mixture all over and under the skin. Tie the end of the drumsticks together over the body opening and tuck the wingtips underneath. Place on roasting rack in large roasting pan and roast in oven for 30 minutes.
Reduce oven temperature to 350 degrees F and continue to roast for another 2 to 2 1/2 hours, basting every 30 minutes until an instant-read thermometer stuck into the thickest part of the thigh registers 170 degrees F. Remove from oven and let turkey rest on serving platter while you continue with making the gravy. Discard the contents of the turkey cavity except for the shallots. Pour off all the liquid and solids from the roasting pan into a saucepan to make gravy.