Homemade gravy for turkey dinner
Homemade gravy for turkey dinner
Ingredients
Perfect portions
Use our portion calculator for a quick and simple way to check how much food to serve with this meal.
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Firstly, roast your turkey on a trivet of roughly cut veg – celery, carrots and onions - which will give you a flavourful base for your gravy. You can also add some herbs towards the end of the roasting time if you like. Rosemary, thyme and sage all work well.
While you’re preparing the veg for your Christmas dinner, keep the peelings. Yes, really! Add about a pint of water to a saucepan and bring it to the boil, adding peelings from your carrots, parsnips and onions along the way. Vegetable and herb skins, ends, whatever you’ve got – it all adds flavour!
When your turkey is cooked, leave it to rest and finish the gravy.
Add the stock cube to your pan of water, and put your turkey pan on the hob. Using a potato masher, start to break up the veg left in the pan. It should be very dark and caramelised – don’t worry if it looks burnt!
Add the flour to the pan, then pour in your liquid stock and keep mashing until it’s all well mixed and thickened up.
Pass the gravy back into the pan through a sieve to catch all the bits of veg, then season to taste, and keep warm until you need to use it. Add in any juices that gather from the turkey for even more flavour!
Remember to freeze any gravy you don’t use up this time to save it going to waste. You can use it as a tasty base for other recipes such as soups, stews and risottos. Simply defrost in the fridge and use within 24 hours, or in microwave on ‘defrost’ directly before use.
Make the most of your leftovers
Perfect portions
Use our portion calculator for a quick and simple way to check how much food to serve with this meal.
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Keep your fridge at 5°C or below
Did you know that adjusting the temperature of your fridge could help to preserve your food for three days longer than usual? A big win to help keep your food fresher for longer. Our fridge temperature tool can help you learn how to change the temperature on your specific fridge brand.