Nora’s Kitchen Recipes Keeping you Slim for Winter

Keeping you Slim for Winter

Roast turkey and stuffing balls

Push the boat out this Christmas with our sensational version of the season’s essential dish

Ingredients
• 4kg oven-ready turkey
• Small handful of finely chopped fresh parsley
• 4 tbsp dried mixed herbs
• 4 unwaxed lemons
• Low-calorie cooking spray
• 1 onion, halved
• 2 garlic bulbs, unpeeled
• A small handful of fresh sage leaves
• Bay leaves, to serve

For the stuffing balls:
• Small handful of chopped fresh sage
• Small handful of chopped fresh parsley
• 1 egg, beaten
• Finely grated zest of ½ unwaxed lemon
• 350g lean pork mince (5% fat or less)
• 6 lean bacon rashers, visible fat removed

Method
• First, make the stuffing mix. Put the chopped herbs, egg, lemon zest and pork in a bowl and season to taste. Using your fingers, mix the ingredients until well combined. Cover and chill for 3-4 hours (or overnight if time permits).

• Preheat your oven to 180°C/fan 160°C/gas 4.

• Calculate the cooking time of the turkey at 45 minutes per 1kg plus 20 minutes (so a 4kg bird would take 3 hours 20 minutes). Put the turkey in a non-stick roasting tin and sprinkle over the parsley and mixed herbs, plus the zest and juice of 2 lemons. Season and spray with low-calorie cooking spray. Halve the remaining lemons and stuff them into the turkey’s body cavity along with the onion, garlic and sage. Tie the legs together with the kitchen string. Stuff the neck cavity with half of the stuffing mix.
Cover with foil and roast in the oven, basting with the juices in the tin every hour or so. Increase the temperature to 200°C/fan 180°C/gas 6 and remove the foil for the final 30 minutes. Remove the turkey from the oven, cover with a ‘tent’ of foil and leave to rest for up to 2 hours.

• At the same time, make the stuffing balls. Divide the remaining stuffing mixture into 12 bite-size balls. Halve each bacon rasher lengthways and use each piece to wrap up a stuffing ball. Arrange them seam-side down in a non-stick roasting tin and roast for 35 minutes or until cooked through.Remove the skin and any visible fat from the turkey and put the bird on a serving platter. Garnish with the bay leaves and serve with the stuffing balls and all the trimmings!