Spring Roast Turkey Dinner with New Potatoes, Peas and Beet Salad

On Friday, I got an email from my church asing if anyone in the congregation would be willing to host 2 girls from the travelling choir that was preforming Sunday night. We would be reponsible for feeding them dinner, so I immediately was excited to come up with a fun menu for them. Sunday morning, I ran my first ever Half Marathon in Disney World. I knew I'd be tired, but would want a big, delicious, healthy dinner. I decided to make a roast turkey, since it doesn't take that much preparation, is so delicious, and would be nice for the girls in college to have!

I tend to automatically run though typical Thanksgiving-like side dishes when I make roast turkey, but I wanted to keep it spring-y and fresh. I emailed my friend Katie, who I love to bounce ideas off for menu planning. We went back and forth, and I finalized the menu Friday night with some of her suggestions mixed in with some of my ideas.

Luckily my Publix had defrosted whole turkeys, so I threw it in a brine before we left for Orlando Saturday morning, and it was ready to go when we got home Sunday afternoon! This entire meal was healthy, fresh, and would even be a great Easter dinner!

Lemon Herb Roasted Turkey with Gravy

Roasted Onion and Lemon New Potatoes

Garlic Peas and Marsala Mushrooms

Roasted Beet Salad with Oranges and Goat Cheese

For the turkey, I used a variation of my favorite brine to give the turkey a cirtus flavor rather than apple. Using a brine not only makes the juciest breast meat, but it creates deep, rich pan drippings for an extremely flavorful pan gravy. The flavor of the lemon and herbs really penetrated into the breast meat due to slathering it under the skin.

Lemon-Herb Roast Turkey

Turkey Brine:

4 c. orange juice

1 c. kosher salt
1 c. brown sugar
10 bay leaves
20 allspice berries
1 head of garlic, smashed
2 lemons, halved
8 c. cold water


Place a turkey oven baking bag inside a pot (or and large bag, I like these best), whisk the juice, salt and brown sugar. Add the remaining ingredients, drop in the turkey (which should be washed and trimmed first) and completely submerge in the brine. Refrigerate for at least 1 day (I did mine for 30 hours).
Remove the turkey from the brine. Rinse and pat dry. Place in a roasting pan.

Roast Turkey:
1 small onion, chunked
1 head of garlic cloves, smashed
1/2 stick of butter, softened
Salt and pepper
1/4 cup oregano leaves
1/2 cup flat leaf parsley
Zest of 2 lemons
2 cups chicken stock

Add the onion, garlic, oregano, parsley and zest to a food processor, pulse until finely minced.
Add to a bowl, mix in the butter.
Use a knife to loosen the skin of the turkey from the breast, scoop the butter out of the bowl and press between the skin and the breast meat (use about half).
Slather the remaining herb butter over the turkey, season with additional salt and pepper.
Pour the chicken stock into the bottom of the roasting pan.

Preheat the oven to 425 degrees, roast turkey for 20 minutes.
Lower heat to 325, roast for about 3 hours (for a 14 lb. turkey, times vary).
Baste every 20 minutes, cover with tin foil if turkey begins to brown too much on top (I did this after 1 hour).
Remove from the oven and let turkey rest for 20 minutes.
Pour drippings into a gravy seperator.

Gravy:
2 c. pan drippings
1/4 cup corn starch
1/2 cup water
2-4 c. chicken stock
Juice of 2 lemons
Salt and Pepper

Pour drippings (less fat on top) into a pot. Heat over medium-high.
Add cornstarch and water to a small dish, whisk to dissolve, pour into pan with drippings, bring to a simmer and cook for 5 minutes.
Add in chicken stock to reach desired viscosity.
Just before serving, add lemon juice.
Season with salt and pepper, taste for seasonings.

Katie suggested roasting new potatoes with the turkey, and it sounded like a great idea. They take little preparation, and are a crowd pleaser. I had originally planned to just make a turkey breast, but they were the same price as a whole turkey. If I had just made a breast, I would have used the potatoes as a base and roasted the turkey breast on them, giving them even more flavor.

Roasted Onion and Lemon New Potatoes

3 lbs. new potatoes, quartered

1 tbsp. butter

1 tbsp. EVOO

1 yellow onion, diced

2 garlic cloves, minced

Salt and pepper

1 lemon, zested

1 tsp. dried oregano

Butter the bottom of a baking dish.

Place potatoes in dish, sprinkle with onions, garlic, salt, pepper, and oregano.

Drizzle with EVOO, cover with aluminum foil.

Roast at 400 for 30 minutes, remove foil, add lemon zest, toss, and cook uncovered for another 10-15 minutes, or until tender and slightly caramelized.

These are delicious on their own, but even better with the pan gravy!

I had originally planned to make this dish with fresh scallions at the end and maybe mint, but I forgot the scallions, and had a pack of mushrooms that needed to be used. Though there was no bright citrus flavor like the other dishes, these peas were delicious. Very earthy and the marsala (a last second decision!) added a great depth of flavor.

Garlic Peas with Marsala Mushrooms

1 tbsp. butter

4 garlic cloves, minced

8 oz. button mushrooms, sliced

Salt and pepper

1/4 cup dry Marsala

4 cups frozen peas, thawed

Heat a skillet over medium-low heat.

Melt butter, add garlic and mushrooms.

Stir and sweat liquid from mushrooms, cook for about 10 minutes.

Season with salt and pepper, add marsala and cook until wine is almost evaporated.

Add peas, toss until just heated through, serve.

For my final dish, I decided to take a risk. I absolutely love beets, and after making them for Symon Sundays and seeing this salad on Tasha's blog, I just had to include them. This dish was so beautiful in color, full of flavor, and the girls both tried beets for the first time (and loved them!) I love cooking with an ingredient and having someone try it for the first time, or again to see if they might change their opinion!

Roasted Beet and Orange Salad

adapted from Tasha

4 medium red beets, trimmed

1/4 cup fresh herbs, minced (I used oregano, parsley, basil and tarragon)

2 tbsp. honey

1 lemon, juiced

1/4 cup EVOO

Salt and pepper

3 navel oranges

1/4 cup goat cheese crumbles

Wash beets, trim off base and tips.

Add to a small roasting pan, fill with water half way up beets.

Roast at 400 degrees for 40-60 minutes, until tender.

While beets roast, whisk herbs, honey, lemon juice, EVOO, salt and pepper in a large bowl.

Peel oranges and slice into disks, add to dressing, refrigerate.

Cool beets, peel with a pairing knife, and slice into disks.

Arrange warm beets with chilled oranges on a platter, pour remaining dressing over, top with goat cheese.

And now because I'm just so darn proud of myself, here are some photos from the Half Marathon :)

This is my friend Crissy, whom I met through blogging. She travelled from Connecticut to run the race, and convinced me to run the race with her.