Alberta Mamas Turkey Dinner with Alberta Turkey + Giveaway

The Alberta Mamas planned for a fun-filled evening this past Monday with delicious food and of course it had to include some Alberta Turkey! Making a roast turkey isn’t just reserved for the holidays and special occasions, but rather for sharing those great moments with friends and family.

Alberta Mamas Turkey Dinner with Alberta Turkey

With 5 of us getting together, we each took a dish to prepare and bring for the feast. Of course, the real star was Turkey! Read on for the delicious recipe and more!

The Menu

• Roasted Turkey with sage, rosemary, thyme, garlic, star anise, coriander and allspice rub
• Herbed roasted fanned potatoes
• Roasted Beets with rosemary, balsamic reduction and goat cheese

• Pan seared brussel sprouts with genoa salami

• Tossed salad
• Bread

Preparing the Turkey

Picking the turkey:

There was going to be 5 of us at dinner and we are a huge fan of leftovers (hello easy dinner the next day) so we picked an 8lb turkey. We used the Whole Turkey Calculator (you can find it here) on the Alberta Turkey website and added a couple more pounds because we all wanted to take some delicious leftovers home.

Prepping the turkey:

Prepping takes time but it is not hard. We like to thaw the turkey ahead of time so that we can fully infuse flavors under the skin and in the cavities. You can thaw a turkey two ways (both  were found on the Alberta Turkey website):

• The fridge –  Place the turkey on the bottom shelf on a tray and still wrapped in packaging. This decreases the chance of contamination if the plastic packaging has holes in it. Allow 5 hours of thawing time per pound (10 hours/kg).
• The sink – Keep the turkey in its original wrapping and cover with cold water. A large tub or container also works if you don’t want to take up your whole sink for hours. If the turkey floats place a pan or something with edges full of cold water on top to hold the turkey down so it is fully submerged. Change the water at least every hour. Allow 1 hour of thawing time per pound (2 hours/kg).

Now the fun stuff:

Once the turkey is thawed you are ready to add in all the flavors that make your turkey stand out. We went with seasonings and herbs that were traditional with a bit of a spin on it. Sage, rosemary, thyme, and garlic are always a no-brainer for turkey but then we added star anise, allspice, and coriander to give it a slightly different, exotic flavor profile. The spice rub also made the gravy amazing as we used all the drippings from the turkey to make it. 

We placed the turkey in the roasting pan and rubbed butter (the real stuff) all over and in all the crevices. Then we sprinkled the spice mix over the turkey and rubbed it all in making sure the whole thing was evenly covered. Then we took the fresh herbs and garlic and put them in and around the turkey. Don’t forget to get under the skin! This really infused the turkey with flavor. We skipped the stuffing for this meal to keep it simple so we made sure to add some extra herbs and spices inside to really get all those flavors into the meat.

All the work is done now you wait:

If you are cooking a whole turkey you need to make sure it reaches an internal temperature of 170°F (77°C) in the thickest part of the thigh if it is unstuffed and 180°F (82°C) for
a stuffed turkey. For our unstuffed 8lb turkey that meant it went into the oven for 3 hours at 350°F.

Once the turkey reaches the internal temperature you need it’s time pull it out of the oven and let it rest for at least 30 minutes in a tinfoil tent. DO NOT SKIP THIS STEP! We know you are hungry and all your guests want to eat but having the turkey rest allows all the juices to redistribute back throughout the meat. If you cut into it right away you will lose all those juices to the cutting board leaving you with dry meat. So let it rest and re-absorb to get a tender, juicy turkey.

Recipes for leftovers

Of course with every Turkey dinner comes turkey leftovers! Over the next week, we’ll each be sharing our leftover recipes with you too! If you thought this Turkey dinner looked delicious, you’re going to love what’s next, but until then keep on reading because we’ve also got a giveaway for you!

Enter to win an Amazon Gift Card

We’ve partnered with Alberta Turkey to give you a chance to win a $75 Amazon Gift Card! Enter via the widget below!

Giveaway is open to Alberta residents only

a Rafflecopter giveaway

We’ve created this delicious blog post in partnership with Alberta Turkey and Alberta Mamas. All recipes, opinions and everything else is our own!