Roast turkey with bread and celery stuffing

Wash and dry the celery. Peel the onions and finely chop both vegetables. Melt the butter in a large frying pan over medium heat. Add the vegetables and cook gently for about 20 minutes, stirring, until soft but not browned. Remove from the heat and cool for about 20 minutes.

While the vegetables cool, cut the bread and process into fine crumbs. Wash the lemon, finely grate the zest without the pith and squeeze out the juice. Wash and chop the parsley. Once the vegetables have cooled, mix with the breadcrumbs, lemon zest and juice, parsley and cracked, beaten eggs in a bowl. Add 0.5 tsp salt and 0.5 tsp pepper.

Heat the conventional oven to 180 °C. Remove any giblet bag and pat the turkey dry without washing. Rub the skin with the oil, 2 tsp salt and 1 tsp pepper. Reserve a third of the stuffing in a small covered baking dish in the fridge. Loosely fill the cavities with the rest immediately before roasting. Add any that will not fit to the dish. Secure the openings with skewers, tie the legs and tuck the wings underneath. Place breast up on a rack in a roasting pan. Pour the water into the base and roast immediately.

Roast for about 200 minutes, basting occasionally. Cover the skin loosely with foil if it browns too much. Check with a meat thermometer without touching bone. The centre of the stuffing and the thickest parts of the breast, thigh and wing must all reach at least 74 °C. Continue roasting until every point reaches this temperature.

Transfer the turkey to a board and cover loosely with foil. Rest for 30 minutes. Meanwhile bake the covered dish of stuffing for about 30 minutes until its centre reaches at least 74 °C. Remove all skewers and string. Spoon the stuffing out of the turkey, combine with the separately baked stuffing and carve the bird.