Tacchino Arrosto - Roast Turkey

EATALY MAGAZINE (November 15, 2016)

As Italians, we may not have grown up celebrating Thanksgiving, but we do know a thing or two about feasting. Since we've been in America, we have loved discovering the traditions rooted in Il Giorno di Ringraziamento beyond food – but, since that's our specialty, the chefs at Eataly are offering up the recipe for the perfectly juicy roast turkey.

For the turkey:
Whole turkey,* room temperature
4 cups giblet broth (recipe below)
1 pound butter
½ cup sage & rosemary, chopped
Sea salt & freshly-ground black pepper, to taste

For the giblet broth:
2 cups white wine (preferably a deep, oaky chardonnay)
2 cups water
Turkey giblets & neck
Bay leaf

To prepare the giblet broth:
Simmer the wine, water, giblets, neck, and bay leaf in a small saucepan for 15 minutes. Discard the bay leaf and neck. Giblets can also be discarded or, if desired, finely chopped and added to the broth.

To roast the turkey:
Preheat the oven to 425-450°F.

Rub the turkey inside and out with salt and pepper. Loosen the skin around the breast with your fingers, and insert the butter, rosemary, and sage between the meat and the skin, as well as inside the bird's cavity.**

Set the turkey in a deep roasting pan. Use a wire rack to lift the bird off the bottom of the pan. Add the giblet broth to the pan, using a sheet of oiled parchment paper, tent the roasting pan. (Tip: the parchment paper is easily affixed to the pan with a strip of foil on each end.)

Roast the bird until the thigh temperature reaches 165°F. Remove the parchment paper for the last 30 minutes of cooking, and baste the bird with the broth to develop a crispy, golden skin. Let the bird rest for 10-15 minutes before carving, allowing the juices to settle, then serve with stuffing [2]!

* Pre-order your Thanksgiving turkey: Enjoy our all-natural, humanely-raised turkeys that we carefully sourced from local, family-run farms. We offer wholesome birds raised exclusively for us; every sustainable step taken by the farmers ensures that the finished product is of the utmost quality and fullest flavor. Check out your local Eataly (NYC Flatiron [3], NYC Downtown [4], or Chicago [5]), or order online [6]!

**Chef’s note on basting: Quick roasting at high temperatures means that the oven temperature must be maintained, and frequent basting defeats that purpose. By adding butter under the skin, the bird is self-basted. Wait to baste until you remove the parchment tent in the last 30 minutes of roasting. If there is not enough of the giblet broth left, add more water or wine to baste the bird.

Buon Giorno del Ringraziamento - Happy Thanksgiving!

This recipe was first published courtesy of Eataly Magazine [7].

Find the original recipe here [8].