Recipe - New England Roast Turkey With Chestnuts And Fruit

CHESTNUTS AND FRUIT
2 cup Fresh or canned chestnuts;
(about 36)
6 Quince or 3 tart apples
1 small Lemon
One fourth pound Butter
1 cup Apple cider
1 cup Hard apple cider or apple
cider
1 cup Fresh chicken or turkey
stock
3 tablespoon Applejack or Calvados
Salt
Pepper
12 pound Turkey
One fourth pound Butter
Salt
Pepper

PREPARATION: If using fresh chestnuts, heat oven to 400øF. With a small,
sharp knife, cut a slit in each fresh chestnut, spread in a shallow baking
pan, and roast for 15 to 20 minutes. Peel off both outer and inner skins
while still warm. If they cool and become difficult to peel, reheat.

Peel and core quince and cut into 1inch chunks. Squeeze 1 tablespoon lemon
juice over quince and toss.

Melt 4 tablespoons of the butter in a large frying pan. Add chestnuts and
quince and saut‚ over low heat until soft, about 5 minutes. Add the ciders
and stock, bring to a simmer, and reduce liquid to about One half cup, about 20
minutes. Add applejack or Calvados and season to taste with salt and
pepper. Stir in remaining 4 tablespoons of butter.

Chestnut and fruit mixture can be made a day ahead.

COOKING AND SERVING: Heat oven to 425øF. Rub the turkey with the butter and
sprinkle generously with salt and pepper. Put turkey on a rack in a
roasting pan and roast in preheated oven for 15 minutes. Reduce heat 325øF
and cook turkey, basting often, until internal temperature reaches 140øF,
about 3 One half to 4 hours. (Allow approximately 20 minutes a pound for
roasting.)

Gently reheat chestnut and fruit mixture. Carve turkey and serve with
chestnuts and fruit on the side.

NOTES : An updated classic. Here's traditional roast turkey with a
variation= on oldfashioned Yankee trimmings. Quince resembles an apple,
although it= is a bit tarter and requires long, slow cooking to mellow its
flavor. Tart= apples are an acceptable substitute if quince are
unavailable. As part of the New England holiday menu, Bruce Frankel and
David Kantrowitz= also suggest a course of New England Farmstead Cheeses
such as Hubbardston= blue cheese, Capri goat cheese, and goat Camembert.
Recipe by: Cook's Magazine November 1987

Posted to TNT Prodigy's Recipe Exchange Newsletter by Bob & Carole
Walberg walbergr@mb.sympatico.ca on Nov 13, 1997