Happy November! Fall is in full swing here in Birmingham with the leaves and weather finally changing and quickly dropping. A lot of times, poor Thanksgiving is the holiday that gets often overlooked or over shadowed with all of the Christmas lovers beginning their holiday decorating and celebrating on November 1. But I think Thanksgiving deserves a little love and attention so we are going to spotlight a few of everyone’s favorite Turkey Day meal staples from our own Kirkwood Kitchen!

Now it wouldn’t quite be a Thanksgiving feast without the turkey and it’s dressing would it? Today we are sharing our Juicy Herb Roasted Turkey with tips on how to keep it from drying out or over crisping the skin! We will also share our southern cornbread dressing that is oh so moist and delicious with this turkey!

Check out the Recipes below!

Herb Roasted Turkey

• Ingredients:
• 10-14lb Turkey fully thawed or fresh
• 2 sticks (1 cup) unsalted butter, room temperature
• 2 tsp. lemon zest
• 1 Tbsp. fresh thyme leaves
• 1 Tbsp. chopped fresh rosemary
• Kosher Salt
• Ground Black Pepper
• 1 medium purple onion, cut into quarters
• 1 head of garlic
• ½ bunch chopped fresh parsley
• 1 large cheese cloth
• 5 cups of broth (bone, chicken, etc)

Let turkey rest at room temperature for 1 hour. Transfer oven rack 1 level below center of oven and preheat to 425 degrees near end of resting. Remove neck and giblets from turkey and remove any pin feathers that maybe left behind. Pat outside of turkey with clean paper towels and dry inside as well. Tuck wings under turkey, season cavity well with salt and pepper.

In a mixing bowl stir together 1 stick butter, lemon zest, thyme and rosemary. Using the back of a wooden spoon and starting at the back end of the turkey, carefully separate the skin from the meat leaving skin intact between breasts, front area and sides. Be careful not to tear skin or butter will melt out as it bakes.

Transfer turkey to a large roasting pan with a roasting rack. Rub hands over turkey skin to smooth around. Brush 1/2 stick of melted butter all over the turkey, except underside. Season well with salt and pepper. Stuff onion, garlic, and parsley into cavity of turkey. Tie legs together with kitchen twine. Cover turkey with cheesecloth soaked in 1/2 stick of melted butter. Pour broth into the bottom of the roasting pan.

Throughout the roasting, pour/baste drippings from bottom over the turkey 2-3 times to keep it nice and juicy. Bake in oven at 425 for 45 minutes then reduce oven temperature to 350 and bake for about 2 hours or until thickest portion of thigh registers 160 degrees on a probe thermometer. Remove turkey from the oven and lightly tent with foil while turkey rests for 30 minutes then carve and enjoy!

Southern Cornbread Dressing

• Ingredients
• For the Cornbread:
• 1 cup self-rising cornmeal
• ½ cup self-rising flour
• ¾ cup buttermilk
• 2 eggs
• 2 Tbsp. vegetable oil
• For the Dressing:
• 8 Tbsp. butter
• 3 medium onions, chopped
• 4 stalks celery, chopped
• 1 ½ tsp. dried sage
• 1 tsp. poultry seasoning
• ¾ tsp. salt
• ½ tsp. black pepper
• 2 to 2 ½ cups chicken stock or broth
• 1 10 ½ oz can Cream of Chicken Soup

For the Cornbread:

Mix all ingredients together in a mixing bowl and bake in a 350 degree oven until tooth pick inserted comes out clean. Cool on rack until ready to assemble dressing.

For the Dressing:

In a sauce pan Sautee onions and celery in 1 tbsp of butter until tender about 5 minutes. In a mixing bowl crumble cornbread and add sautéed onions and celery, dried sage, poultry seasoning, salt, pepper, cream of chicken soup and 1 cup chicken stock. Stir together adding more chicken stock as needed until desired consistency. Bake at 350 degrees until set in the center. Let cool and enjoy!