Unforgettable Baked Apple Turkey and Stuffing, Trimmed with Fried Apples & Sweet Potatoes and Apple Cider Asparagus

Make this Thanksgiving unforgettable! Use these no-fail thanksgiving menu ideas and your friends and family will still be talking about your dinner next year.

Learn how to make an unforgettable baked apple turkey and stuff it with a fantastic baked apple stuffing. Trim your unforgettable turkey with an incredible fried apples and sweet potato dish, and delicious apple cider asparagus.

Unforgettable Baked Apple Turkey

Ingredients:
Fresh or Thawed 15 pound turkey
Baked Apple Stuffing from following recipe
¼. Adjust bake time, up or down, by fifteen minutes per pound.

Prepare initial seasoning by mixing ¼ cup butter, 2 tablespoons extra virgin olive oil, 1 teaspoon salt and 1 teaspoon pepper. Preheat the oven at 350 degrees.

Always rinse any poultry prior to seasoning. Place the bird, breast side up, into a roasting pan. Brush bird with seasoning mixture. Loosely stuff the cavity of the turkey with the Baked Apple Stuffing from the following recipe. Any extra stuffing may be baked in a small pan at 350 degrees, for thirty minutes.

If desired, add 1/2 cup of water to the bottom of the roasting pan to avoid incidental sticking. Cover the roasting pan with a vented lid or aluminum foil. Bake at 350 degrees.

Baste turkey with pan drippings every thirty minutes, including self-basting turkeys.

After four hours of baking, remove ½ to 1 cup of the pan drippings and place into a small saucepan. Remove the roaster’s lid or foil, and place the turkey back into the oven, uncovered for thirty minutes. Begin making the final seasoning.

Add ¼ cup of apple jelly or jam to the saucepan with the hot pan drippings. To this mixture, add 1 teaspoon salt, 1 teaspoon pepper, a dash of nutmeg and a dash of cinnamon. Mix until the jelly has dissolved completely. You may place the mixture over low heat, to aid in this process, removing from heat once the jelly has completely dissolved.

Prior to using the final seasoning mixture, use a meat thermometer to ensure the turkey has fully cooked. The temperature taken in the thigh should read 180 degrees. If the temperature is correct, continue to the final basting. If the temperature is below 180 degrees, replace the lid or aluminum foil and continuing baking, checking the temperature every thirty minutes. Continue to baste the turkey with it’s pan drippings if it requires additional cooking time.

Once the turkey has registered a temperature of 180 degrees, baste the turkey with the final seasoning mixture and return to the oven, uncovered, for fifteen minutes.

Allow the juices to settle by letting the bird sit for fifteen minutes before carving.

Baked Apple Stuffing

Ingredients:
2 cups chopped apples
½ cup chopped onion
2 tablespoons parsley
1 teaspoon salt
1 teaspoon pepper
one dash nutmeg
one dash cinnamon
6 cups of dried breadcrumbs
½.

Chop apples into small chucks, enough to make approximately two cups. Chop ½ cup of onions and then add the onions and apples to the breadcrumb mixture. Mix well.

While stirring, add a few tablespoons of apple cider at a time, until the entire mixture is moist.

Use to stuff the Unforgettable Baked Apple Turkey, or bake in a baking pan at 350 degrees for thirty minutes.

Unforgettable Gravy

Ingredients:
2 cups pan drippings
¼ cup butter
one dash salt
one dash pepper
¼ cup all-purpose flour

Prior to using the final basting mixture on the Unforgettable Baked Apple Turkey, remove approximately 2 cups of the pan drippings. Flavors concentrate in the pan drippings, so it is important to retrieve them before basting the turkey with anything sweet.

Put aside ½ cup of the pan drippings, put the rest into a small saucepan. Place the saucepan on low-medium heat. Add ¼ cup butter and a dash of salt and of pepper.

To the ½ cup of pan drippings that were place aside, add ¼ cup all-purpose flour. Mix into a paste.

Once the drippings in the saucepan have reached a simmer, add approximately half of the paste. Using a wire whisk, mix the ingredients until well blended. Add the remaining paste to the mixture, again whisking until well blended.
Continue stirring until the mixture begins to thicken. Remove from heat, and allow the mixture to thicken for two additional minutes before serving.

Fried Apples and Sweet Potatoes

Ingredients:
2 medium sweet potatoes
4 medium apples (granny smith give best results)
½ cup butter
¼ cup brown sugar

Peel apples and sweet potatoes. Cut both into slices. Sweet potatoes should be halved lengthwise prior to slicing.

In a large skillet, melt ½ cup of butter, then add sweet potatoes. Cook sweet potatoes for twenty minutes, stirring often.

After twenty minutes of cooking time, add the apples to the potatoes. Continue to cook until both are tender, stirring often. Use a fork to test for tenderness. If a fork can penetrate the potato, it is tender.

Once the apples and potatoes are tender, add ¼ cup brown sugar to the skillet and stir continuously for five minutes. Remove from heat and sit aside for five additional minutes to allow time for the sugar to candy.

Apple Cider Asparagus

Ingredients:
1 pound fresh asparagus
3 cups apple cider
1 cup finely chopped apples
¼ cup finely chopped onion
2 tablespoons fresh parsley
two dashes salt
one dash pepper

Mix 1 cup finely chopped apples with ¼ cup finely chopped onion. To this mixture add a dash of salt and pepper and 2 tablespoons fresh parsley. Set this garnish aside.

In a large skillet, bring 2 cups of apple cider to a boil. Add the fresh asparagus to the boiling apple cider and cook for five minutes.

Immediately remove the asparagus from the skillet and place into a pan with 1 cup of chilled apple cider for only 30-45 seconds.

After placing the cooked asparagus onto a serving dish, spoon a swath of garnish across the spears.