Heritage bird at my table

This post is way late and the last of little bits of turkey are being gobbled up as we speak. Oh boy was this turkey delicious. I bought it from A bar H Farm. It's a local co-op type set up, if you live in the Tucson area you should check them out! I get my eggs, chicken and lamb from them. Anyway back to Turkey. This year I finally ordered a pastured raised heritage bird. Oh goodness gracious was it tasty! This was also the first time I have ever done a 15 pound bird. Normally I do one 8 pound bird. Might as well be a chicken at that point.  I made extra sure it was well defrosted. I started defrosting it on the Sunday before Thanksgiving.

I dress my bird very simply. First I stuff it full of citrus fruits like organges and lemons then add in a few sprigs of fresh herbs. Under the skin of the breast and on top, I rub a mixture of melted butter and olive oil with chopped fresh rosemary, time and sage, garlic, salt and pepper.

Three hours later it came out looking like this! 15 pounds is a lot of meat. We have been eating it in different manifestations all well. The first thing was lots and lots of turkey stock.

Next was turkey minestrone. I think I died and went to heaven when I ate this soup. I used the freshly made turkey stock, white and dark meat, carrots, celery, tubetti pasta and fresh chard from my garden. After that it has been turkey sandwiches and baked pasta with turkey. I might make the last little bits into a casserole.

I should have bought two birds at the time but they are also sold out. Maybe TJ's will still have some turkeys left?