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Nov 20, 2014 By Shereen Pavlides for The 3 min read

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Nancy Rokos/ for the Ä¢¹½ÊÓƵ

Chef Shereen Pavlides starts preparing her roasted turkey with lemon herb gravy for a Thanksgiving Day feast.

Nancy Rokos/ for the Ä¢¹½ÊÓƵ

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Nancy Rokos |For the Ä¢¹½ÊÓƵ

Chef Shereen Pavlides’ carved roasted turkey with lemon herb gravy for a Thanksgiving Day feast.

Nancy Rokos/ for the Ä¢¹½ÊÓƵ

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In this weekÄ¢¹½ÊÓƵ edition of Cook This, Chef Shereen Pavlides highlights the flavor of turkey, with lemony-herb gravy.

To watch Chef Pavlides make this dish, visit heraldstandard.com.

Roasted turkey with lemon herb gravy

For the turkey:

1 (10 – 12 pound) fresh turkey (neck and giblets removed)

1 small bunch fresh thyme

1 small bunch fresh rosemary

1 small bunch fresh sage

2 lemons – quartered

1 medium onion – quartered

1 head of garlic – halved, skin on

4 tablespoons unsalted butter – room temperature

kosher salt / fresh finely ground black pepper

2 cups turkey or chicken stock and extra for the gravy.

6 tablespoons unsalted butter

6 tablespoons all purpose flour

1/4 cup good chardonnay wine

how to roast the turkey:

Heat oven to 350 degrees F.

Remove the turkey from the refrigerator 45 minutes before roasting.

Place the turkey in a medium roasting pan.

Stuff the cavity with herbs, lemons, onion and garlic. Tie the legs together and tie the wings close to the body using butchers twine.

Rub the top of the turkey with butter and season the entire turkey with 3 – 4 teaspoons salt and 15 turns on the pepper mill (visually the skin should look evenly coated with seasoning).

Pour 2 cups stock into the roasting pan, around the turkey and cover the pan with foil. Roast 1 hour 15 minutes.

Remove foil. Increase the oven temperature to 400 degrees F. Baste the turkey and continue roasting uncovered until golden brown and cooked until an instant-read thermometer registers 160 degrees when inserted into the thigh, about 45 minutes.

(Note: add 15 minutes for each additional pound for initial roasting time. Finish uncovered with the higher temperature the last 45 minutes). If the turkey is browning too quickly, loosely cover the skin with foil to protect it from burning. Remove the turkey onto a cutting board loosely covered with foil to rest, 30 minutes. Discard lemons, onions and herbs from the cavity.

Strain the pan juices into a bowl or fat separator and discard the solids. Skim and discard the fat. Add enough stock into the bowl to make 3 cups. (This is needed to make the gravy).

The gravy

Meanwhile, while the turkey is resting: Melt the butter in a 2-quart sauce pot over medium-low heat.

Whisk in the flour, a little at a time until smooth. Continue whisking the roux while cooking, to cook-out the raw flour flavor, about 1 minute.

Whisk in the wine (it will suck up the flour quickly and become a creamy paste), about 20 seconds.

Pour in the warm turkey drippings and turkey stock. Bring to a gentle boil over medium high heat, reduce the heat to medium-low and continue to cook until thickened and the flavor builds, 15 – 20 minutes.

Season to taste with salt and pepper.

Pour into a gravy boat, served alongside the carved turkey.

Active prep: 18 minutes

Cook: 2 hours 20 minutes

Serves: 6 – 8