comfort food

The temperatures have crept down this last week. Today we had – 15ºC (5ºF) degrees. This is a temperature that we usually don’t have until January and February. It is definitely not common for November and December.



Cold days call for good wintery flavourful food. Today we made a typical Catalan Turkey recipe. It is usually made for Christmas but I’m flexible, it is the first of December and almost Christmas.

There are plenty of ways to make this. We used a big chicken instead of Turkey and added sweet potatoes as garnish.




Ingredients
One big chicken
100g prunes, chopped
100g dried peaches, chopped
200g grounded pork meat
100g bacon, diced
100g onion, chopped
50-100g pine nuts
Breadcrumbs from one slice of bread
1/2 cup of white wine or brandy
½ cup water
¼ teaspoon cinnamon
Olive oil
Salt
White pepper

Preparation:
Preheat the oven to 150 ºC (300ºF)

Wash and dry the chicken/turkey.

Mix prunes, peaches, grounded pork meat, bacon, onion and pine nuts, and bread crumbs with some salt and pepper. Stuff the chicken with the mixture.

Sew the skin around the opening together, and truss the turkey (I used some left over wool thread that I put in water first) so that the stuffing don’t sieve out during the cooking.

Slice the sweet potatoes. Put in the bottom of your roasting tin. Put the chicken/turkey in the roasting tin as well (on or beside the potatoes you choose).

Season the whole chicken/turkey with the salt and pepper. Add olive oil, water and brandy into the roasting tin, and put the tin into the oven.

Roast for 90 minutes on 150 ºC. Baste the turkey by pouring the cooking juices over it every now and then. This cooking time is for a big free range chicken (and not a turkey)

After the 90 minutes, turn up the heat to 200 ºC (392 ºF) and let roast for another 30 minutes.

Let the bird rest at least 20 minutes before carving so that it can redistribute the juices.

Enjoy!