Gravy
If you're roasting your own turkey, you're already sitting on a goldmine of gravy, so don't bother buying the supermarket jar variety filled with MSG etc, and don't overfuss this easy and improvisation-friendly gravy recipe.
All you need is a couple of onions, some unsalted butter (preferably organic) and a couple of tablespoons of either white or wheat flour or cornstarch.
If your turkey came with a bag of giblets, boil 1-2 cups of water in a saucepan, place the giblets in the saucepan, and simmer on low heat for as long as the turkey cooks. You want as concentrated a broth as possible without burning the saucepan. If your turkey didn't come with giblets, so be it. No worries.
- While your turkey is cooking, thinly slice 1-2 onions
- After your turkey is out of the oven and resting on a carving board, heat a dollop of butter in a medium-sized saucepan
- Add the onions and fry for 1-2 minutes
- Add 1-2 tablespoons of flour and mix in with the onions until evenly distributed. You're much less likely to get lumps this way, compared to adding flour after you've added liquid
- Add the drippings from the turkey roasting pan. If you have giblet broth, add this too
- Simmer on low heat and stir, as the gravy thickens
- To add kick, add a splash of red wine, or whiskey (Johnny Walker Green Label worked a treat last week!)
- Add salt and pepper to taste if needed
Fresh Cranberry Sauce
(As dictated to me by Babs, who whipped this up while I was carving the turkey in the dining room)
- Put 250g of fresh cranberries in a small saucepan on medium heat
- Add "a teeny amount" of boiling water, enough to cover the bottom surface of the saucepan
- Add ~3 tablespoons of sugar
- Cook until the cranberries soften (less than 10 minutes) and stir regularly
- Use stirring spoon or potato masher to mash the berries
