Mojo roast turkey is a welcome explosion of flavors. I don’t know if you noticed yet, but all of this year’s Thanksgiving dishes are very easy because we are all busy, right?
Here we go.
Ingredients
15 lb turkey, fresh or thawed in the fridge. (Don’t thaw outside the fridge!)
1 1/2 cups of orange juice
1 1.2 cups lime juice
6 tsp minced garlic
2 tsp dried oregano
1 tsp cumin
sea salt and white pepper, to taste
1 orange
1 lime
1 onion
chicken stock
Wondra flour
Method
Heat oven to 400F
Rise and pat dry turkey, removing giblets (you can use giblets for stock)
In a large bowl or pot big enough for the turkey, place turkey in it with half the mojo
Let the flavors blend in the fridge for at least 2 hours, occasionally spooning over the top.
Remove turkey (dont rinse) and place in roasting pan. Toss the mojo it was soaking in.
Tuck the wings under the bird, half the orange, lime and onion. Put in the cavity and tie the legs together with cooking string. Pour a little chicken stock in the bottom of the pan. Not too much, about 1/4 cup.
Roast for thirty minutes. Baste with remaining marinade and pour the rest in the bottom of the pan. Turn oven down to 325F (This temp. method has worked well for me for years.) Baste EVERY 15-20 minutes with the mojo mixture. Make sure you baste! Roast another 2 1/2 to 3 hours for a 15 lb. bird until the thermometer in the thickest part of the thigh (don’t hit the hot bone) reaches 165F. If it starts to get too brown, lightly cover with foil. Take out of oven and lightly cover with foil. Carryover cooking will keep it a cooking for a few minutes. After 30-40 minutes you can carve it. Make sure the breast is not pink and the thighs are cooked through. Free range birds may have some reddish bone marrow near the bone. But not much at all. Make sure your turkey is cooked and tender. Try a small piece and make sure it’s not chewy or underdone. If slightly overdone, put some mojo on it. Serve on a platter, sliced. If there are juices in the bottom of the pan or in the cavity, make sure they are not red. You can reduce the juices over the stove (without the turkey). Skim off fat, add a little white wine. When reduced and yummy, sprinkle a little Wondra over it and whisk until slightly thickened. Serve with turkey.
