Roasted Sage Turkey with Vegetable Gravy

November settles into Chicago like a long exhale, the trees bare, the light going at 4:30 PM, the specific cold that is not yet winter but is practicing. I love November for reasons I cannot fully explain except that it is the month where everything slows slightly and turns inward and there is permission to be at home, which is where I want to be most evenings anyway, more so now that home contains two small people who are increasingly themselves.

Nora walks reliably now. Not confidently, not gracefully, but without the tentative quality of a beginner: she goes where she wants to go and if she falls she gets up with the expression of someone who considers falling a minor logistical inconvenience and not a setback. Owen pulled himself to standing on the couch on Wednesday and stood there for thirty seconds looking at the wall with the focused attention he gives to problems he is in the process of solving. He is solving the problem of walking. He will solve it on his own timeline. He always does.

The babies are nine months old. In February they will have been alive one year. I have been thinking about this with the quality of attention I give to things that are almost too large to hold: turning them over, measuring them, trying to find the edges. Nine months ago they were in the NICU in incubators. Now they are walking across my living room and eating pureed sweet potato off a spoon and opening the cabinet under the sink to pull out the dish towels, which is their current favorite activity and which is frankly fine with me.

Potato soup this week: Aldi Russets, butter, onion, chicken broth, a splash of cream, shredded cheddar. It is the simplest thing and it is the right thing for November. I made it on Sunday afternoon while Ryan was at a department training and the babies napped simultaneously for the first time in several weeks and I stood at the stove and chopped and stirred and the apartment smelled like something warm and good.

The potato soup did what I needed it to do on Sunday — it was simple and warm and it filled the apartment with the exact smell that November deserves. But for the weeks ahead, when the light keeps going at 4:30 and Owen is still working on the problem of walking and Nora is pulling every dish towel out of the cabinet with great satisfaction, I want something that requires a little more intention: something roasted, something with sage, something that makes the whole place smell like you meant it. This roasted sage turkey with vegetable gravy is that thing. It is a Sunday project for a month that is very good at Sundays.

Prep Time: 30 min | Cook Time: 3 hrs | Total Time: 3 hrs 30 min | Servings: 10

Ingredients

1 whole turkey (12 to 14 lbs), thawed if frozen
3 tablespoons unsalted butter, softened
2 tablespoons fresh sage, finely chopped (plus 6 whole leaves for garnish)
1 teaspoon garlic powder
1 teaspoon onion powder
1 teaspoon kosher salt
1/2 teaspoon black pepper
2 medium carrots, roughly chopped
3 stalks celery, roughly chopped
1 large yellow onion, quartered
4 cloves garlic, smashed
2 cups low-sodium chicken or turkey broth, divided
3 tablespoons all-purpose flour
1 tablespoon olive oil
Salt and pepper to taste

Instructions

Prepare the turkey. Remove the turkey from the refrigerator 45 minutes before roasting to bring it closer to room temperature. Remove the neck and giblets from the cavity and pat the turkey dry with paper towels.
Make the sage butter. In a small bowl, combine the softened butter, chopped fresh sage, garlic powder, onion powder, salt, and pepper. Mix until fully blended.
Season the bird. Gently loosen the skin over the breast with your fingers and spread half the sage butter directly onto the meat beneath the skin. Rub the remaining butter all over the outside of the turkey. Tuck the wing tips under the body.
Build the roasting bed. Preheat your oven to 325°F. Toss the carrots, celery, onion, and garlic with olive oil and spread them across the bottom of a large roasting pan. Pour 1 cup of broth over the vegetables. Set a roasting rack over the vegetables and place the turkey on top, breast side up.
Roast the turkey. Roast uncovered at 325°F, basting with pan drippings every 45 minutes, until a meat thermometer inserted into the thickest part of the thigh reads 165°F — approximately 2 3/4 to 3 hours for a 12 to 14 lb bird. Tent loosely with foil if the skin begins to brown too quickly.
Rest the turkey. Transfer the turkey to a cutting board and tent with foil. Let rest for at least 20 to 30 minutes before carving. The juices will redistribute and the temperature will rise slightly.
Make the vegetable gravy. Pour the pan drippings through a fine-mesh strainer into a measuring cup, pressing the vegetables to extract all the liquid. Discard the solids. Skim the fat from the surface, reserving 3 tablespoons of the fat. In a medium saucepan over medium heat, whisk together the reserved fat and the flour and cook for 1 to 2 minutes until golden and nutty-smelling. Slowly whisk in the strained drippings and the remaining 1 cup of broth. Simmer, whisking frequently, until the gravy thickens to your desired consistency, 5 to 8 minutes. Taste and adjust salt and pepper.
Carve and serve. Carve the turkey and arrange on a serving platter. Garnish with whole fresh sage leaves and serve with the warm vegetable gravy alongside.

Nutrition (per serving)

Roasted Sage Turkey with Vegetable Gravy — The Sunday the Apartment Smelled Like Something Warm and Good