Ingredients
1.75kg free-range turkey crown
a few sprigs of sage
a few sprigs of rosemary
50g unsalted butter
1 clementine
2 sticks of celery
2 carrots
1 onion
1 bulb of garlic
175ml dry white wine or apple juice (optional)
500ml quality chicken, turkey or veg stock
a few cloves
1 star anise
½ a cinnamon stick
olive oil
2 tablespoons cornflour
Method
- Remove the turkey from the fridge an hour before you want to cook it, to let it come up to room temperature.
- Finely chop the herbs, removing the tough stems, and mix with the butter and the clementine zest.
- Wash the celery and carrots – there’s no need to peel them, then roughly chop the celery and halve the carrots lengthways. Peel and cut the onion into wedges, slice the garlic bulb in half and place the veg in the base of the slow cooker* to create a trivet. Pour over the wine or apple juice (or 175ml of water) along with the stock. Add the cloves, star anise and cinnamon stick, then squeeze in the clementine juice.
- Carefully push the flavoured butter up under the skin of the turkey crown, then rub it all over with a pinch of sea salt and black pepper and 1 tablespoon of olive oil.
- Place the turkey on top of the veg skin side up, then cook on the highest setting for 4 hours, or until the turkey is cooked through.
- Remove the turkey from the slow cooker, and set aside to rest while you crack on with the gravy.
- Use a slotted spoon to remove the cooked veg to a serving platter.
- Strain the gravy left in the slow cooker through a sieve into a saucepan and bring to a gentle simmer. Mix the cornflour with 1 tablespoon of cold water, then stir it into the gravy until you reach your desired consistency – if you like a thicker gravy, make up and stir in a little more cornflour mix.
- For next-level crispy skin, preheat the grill to high, carefully remove the skin from the turkey and place on foil under the grill for 3 minutes to crisp up, turning halfway.
- Place the turkey on top of the cooked veg and break over the crispy skin. Serve with the gravy and seasonal greens.
*Tested in a 6.5-litre slow cooker. All slow cookers are different, so results may vary.
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