The particular Turducken I chose was stuffed with chicken apple sausage stuffing, inside a duck, inside a turkey. Duck on its own can be a fairly decadent treat, so I didn't want my sides to be too heavy. I ended up going with some whole wheat rolls, garlic sauteed asparagus, and honey butter whipped sweet potatoes.
Because a Turducken is so dense (as you can imagine!), the directions for this size roast is to cook at 220* for about 7-1/2 hours (that's after adequately thawing your bird) to be sure it's appropriately heated all the way through. You definitely need to plan ahead before preparing this - but if you purchase one of these, you're already planning ahead!
A Turducken is super easy to serve, because it's actually boneless - aside from the legs and wings. Just slice directly down the center, then take slices out toward the sides after that. I was worried that the meat might be dry because of the way its cooked, but it's actually very tender, moist, and well seasoned. It's a bit of an investment, but definitely something you should try at least once for a special occasion. With New Year's coming up - you definitely want to put this on your list of possibilities. And if you somehow don't have a plan for your Christmas dinner yet, make things easy on yourself and pick one of these up. You will be sure to impress your guests.
And now, I want to share the recipes I came up with to go along with our Turducken dinner. They're super easy, and super tasty!
Recipes:
Garlic Sauteed Asparagus
Ingredients:
Asparagus
minced garlic (I prefer fresh)
olive oil
sea salt
Directions:
Wash and trim your asparagus. If your asparagus is particularly thick, it's always a good idea to take a vegetable peeler to the bottom few inches. Peeling that will take off the stringy, chewy, not so yummy part. I cut my asparagus in half, but you can leave yours whole if you like.
Next heat an appropriately sized frying pan to about a medium high heat. Add a couple tablespoons of olive oil, then a few cloves worth of minced garlic (more or less to taste). Let the garlic flavor infuse with the oil then add the asparagus. Sprinkle with a few pinches of sea salt. It will only take a 4-5 minutes to fully cook the asparagus, if you're like me. Cook a few additional minutes if you like it to be a little more tender.
Honey Butter Whipped Sweet Potatoes
Ingredients:
4-5 sweet potatoes
1/2 cup (1 stick) unsalted butter
1/4 cup honey
cinnamon
chopped walnuts
Directions:
Wash, peel, and cut the sweet potatoes into quarters (or smaller if you want it to cook a little quicker). Add to a pot and cover with cold water. Bring to a boil and cook until fork tender.
When potatoes are ready, drain and place in large bowl. Using a hand mixer (or a stand mixer if you prefer) blend, adding butter and honey. Sweet potatoes are (duh) naturally sweet, so you really shouldn't need more than 1/4 cup of honey, but it's up to you. I tend to go the "add a little, then add a little more" route to be safe with new recipes like this.
Once the potatoes are a smooth consistency, add a few generous dashes of cinnamon (which you know I love), then add chopped walnuts (amount depending on how nutty you want your potatoes, I prefer less over more) and lightly blend together by hand.
Have you ever tried a Turducken? What are your holiday dinner plans? Anything fun set for New Year's? We're still trying to figure out our plans for that... Suggestions?
Disclosure: I was provided with a Turducken for the purpose of this blog post. I was not compensated in any other way. As always, all opinions are my own.

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