Roasted turkey is not a traditional Provencal dish, but it is catching on. An oven baked bird is easy enough to cook and this root vegetable side will keep them coming back for more. Citrus fruits in all their permutations play a huge part in the local cuisine, all the way from starters to deserts and enhance and counterbalance many other flavours.
I already use juicy oranges and lemons in poultry dishes, so it was only natural to give it a go with the big bird. To give it another dimension I used thyme, a herb that grows abundantly in every forest and garden in Provence and is delicious with so many dishes, but I think works particularly well with tangy citrus. Read the original Mirabeau Wine post here.
Roast Turkey with the flavours of Provence Roast turkey is easy to make, and the citrus gives this dish a "sun-drenched" flavour. The root vegetable side dish is easy to make and a definite crowd pleaser. Prepare a large baking tray for the bird.
Wash your bird and pat dry with kitchen paper. To prepare the orange and thyme butter, take 50 grams of softened butter and stir in some olive oil and sea salt to make a thick paste.
Add some chopped orange skin from one orange and take the thyme leaves the stems and add a good amount to make it really flavoursome. Take your turkey and make a horizontal incision at the rear end of the breasts just to cut through the skin. Then insert the butter under the skin and massage in as far as you can, all over the breasts and down the sides and baste the whole bird with the rest.
