Friendsgiving and a Roasted Spatchcock Turkey

On Sunday we hosted a little Friendsgiving feast at our home. We had over some of our favorites: Ilona, Boris, and their furry friend, Misha! We love to entertain but haven’t really had the opportunity to have people over since Nathan was born. We had a turkey chilling in our freezer since April so I thought this would be a good time to use it and made a roasted spatchcock turkey! Every year my mother (wet) brines her turkey and it is AMAZING. I decided, instead of making her turkey recipe (since we will be eating her FAMOUS turkey in just a few short days), to do something a little different.

I decided to spatchcock the turkey! Spatchcocking is when you take the backbone out of the bird and bake it flat. I had done it to a chicken a couple times. See HERE. A spatchcock turkey couldn’t be that hard right?! WRONG! It was not easy. We went through TWO pair of chicken shears! I even had to enlist E for some help. See the ridiculous photos he took of me below.

Once we got the backbone out, E put together a spice rub (smoked paprika, sea salt, garlic powder, and dried rosemary) while I rubbed the turkey in EVOO. Once fully rubbed, I sprinkled the spices all over the outside of the turkey. We allowed the turkey to sit in the fridge overnight with the spices. This is called dry brining. The next morning we took the turkey out of the fridge and allowed it to come to room temperature. Then I layered some diced yellow onion, red onion, green apple, dried blueberries and sweet potatoes under the turkey and roasted it!

I read a spatchcock turkey allowed for the bird to cook faster. That was indeed the case. This 15 pound bird was fully cooked in under an hour and a half (at 450 degrees Fahrenheit). Talk about record time!

The spatchcock turkey was DELICIOUS! Every piece, whether white or dark meat, was moist and juicy. I don’t know why everyone doesn’t cook their turkey this way! It is so much easier!

Happy Thanksgiving everyone! I am signing off until Friday…and boy do I have a treat for you then!!!

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