Turkey -- a slightly different recipe Roasting and Grilling Discuss Turkey -- a slightly different recipe in the Brick Oven Cooking forums; We did Thanksgiving redux with a large turkey breast. I wanted to make a nice gravy, but didn't do stuffing. ...

[james]

We did Thanksgiving redux with a large turkey breast. I wanted to make a nice gravy, but didn't do stuffing. This is (of course) a modification from a standard oven recipe. I used a stainless steel pan, which would brown the veggies on the bottom to help make gravy.

Lay your turkey on a bed of onion, carrot and celery, skin side up. Add salt, pepper, herbs and olive oil to the bird, then 1/2 cup of water. Cover the turkey with foil. The foil and water let the turkey cook through without burning.

I added the turkey to a hot oven -- 650+ by a digital thermometer, and let it roast for about 1 hour 15 minutes. After about 1 hour, I removed the foil, and let the turkey brown. I took the turkey out of the oven and covered it to rest.

Then, I put the pan back in the oven to finishng browning the vegetables. After a couple minutes, I put the pan on a medium burner, with 4 Tbl flour and a little extra butter. I lightly browned the flour, then added chicken stock for gravy --- put the gravy through a strainer to remove the veggies, and the kids were thrilled. The best gravy ever. As they said, great gravy with a little turkey on the side.

I also did green beans and cauliflower in terracotta pans in the oven; adding 1/2" water in the pan for steam and covering the pan with foil.

It isn't the thrill of a whole turkey, but we enjoyed it. Check out the photos.

James