Turkey Fiesta

stuffed and roasted turkey

October 16th, 2011

Having been to La Boqueria to buy food for a large Sunday fiesta on the terraza, a lot of prep needed to be done on Saturday evening to get the food ready. Oli did most of the cooking – I chopped some things and helped where needed, but the whole Sunday fiesta was Oli’s inspiration.

removing the turkey backbone

The turkey was tunnel-boned, which means the body stays whole and all the bones are removed. The main bones of the body, the breast and backbones are slowly cut out first.

removing the turkey leg bone

Eventually even the bones from the legs are removed from the inside out.

stock

All the bones and offcuts went into the stock pot.

sliced turkey

When the turkey was completely boneless, it was stuffed with a large duck and rabbit, a little stuffing and some butternut squash. You can see the contrast in the lighter turkey meat and dark duck and rabbit above. By removing all the bones, the bird can be carved as a single piece, when cooked.

terraza

It was a beautiful day and still above 25º C in mid October.

scallops with clonakilty black pudding

The first course consisted of a gazpacho sorbet with pea and mint purée, a slice of Clonakilty black pudding and one of those beautiful scallops from La Boqueria.

sweetcorn jelly

To go with the roast turkey, we had sweetcorn jelly,

beetroot and raspberry jelly

beetroot and raspberry jelly,

butternut squash purée

butternut squash purée (made with cream and a dusting of pimenton)

salad

and a salad of sliced peppers, radishes, spinach, orange segments and a little mint.

rioja

The food was washed down with large quantities of ChitÓn Rioja.

baked figs

To finish off the afternoon, Oli baked some figs in lavender infused olive oil and a few rosemary stalks (served with cream).

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