Lunch: Roasted Sage Turkey with Vegetable Gravy Recipe

Ingredients

1 turkey (14 to 16 pounds)
1 tablespoon kosher salt
1 teaspoon ground sage
1/2 teaspoon garlic powder
1 large onion, chopped
3 celery ribs, chopped
3 medium carrots, chopped
1-1/4 cups water, divided
3 tablespoons canola oil
1/2 teaspoon freshly ground pepper
3/4 cup white wine
3 fresh sage sprigs
4 fresh thyme sprigs

Instructions

Remove giblets and neck from turkey. Reserve turkey neck; refrigerate, covered, overnight. Place turkey in a 15x10-in. baking pan, breast side up. Secure skin to underside of neck cavity with toothpicks. Mix salt, sage and garlic powder. Tuck wings under turkey; tie drumsticks together. Pat turkey dry. Rub outside of turkey with salt mixture. Refrigerate turkey, loosely covered, overnight.
Preheat oven to 475 °. Place onion, celery, carrots and reserved neck in bottom of a broiler pan; add 1/2 cup water. Place broiler pan rack over top; transfer turkey to rack. Rub outside of turkey with oil; sprinkle with pepper. Pour wine and remaining water into turkey cavity; add sage and thyme sprigs.
Place turkey in oven, legs facing toward back of oven. Roast, uncovered, 40 minutes.
Reduce oven setting to 350 °. Cover breast tightly with a double thickness of foil. Roast 1-1/2 to 2 hours longer or until a thermometer inserted in thickest part of thigh reads 170 °-175 °. (Thermometer should not touch bone or fat.)
Remove turkey from oven. Let stand, uncovered, 20 minutes before carving. Using a turkey baster, remove liquid from turkey cavity to a large measuring cup. Line a strainer or colander with cheesecloth; place over measuring cup. With a slotted spoon, remove vegetables from bottom of broiler pan, reserving 1-1/4 cups. Discard turkey neck. Strain cooking liquid into measuring cup. Skim fat, reserving 1/4 cup fat. Add enough broth to the cooking liquid to measure 2 cups.
In a large saucepan, mix flour and reserved fat until smooth; gradually whisk in broth mixture. Bring to a boil over medium-high heat, stirring constantly; cook and stir 1-2 minutes or until thickened. Add half of the reserved vegetables. Puree gravy using an immersion blender; or, cool gravy slightly and puree in a blender. Stir in sage, pepper and remaining vegetables; heat through. Serve with turkey.