Roast Turkey with Glazed Carrots and Polenta Diamonds

For the roast turkey, rinse turkey, pat dry and rub inside and out with salt and pepper.

Peel, quarter and core apples and cut into wedges. Peel onions. Dice 2 onions and cut remaining onion into rings. Sauté apple and onion rings in 2 tablespoons clarified butter. Stir sage, maple syrup and about half of the cranberries into apple onion mixture and stuff into turkey.

Rinse and peel soup vegetables as necessary and chop finely. Sauté diced onions and soup vegetables in 1 tablespoon butter. Place vegetables in roasting pan with turkey and brush turkey with melted butter. Roast turkey in oven preheated to 220°C (approximately 425°F) for about 15 minutes. Reduce oven temperature to 180°C (approximately 350°F) and add about 250 ml (approximately 1 1/4 cups) hot chicken broth to roasting pan. Roast turkey about 1 hour, basting occasionally with pan juices.

Add remaining cranberries and more broth, if necessary, to roasting pan. Roast turkey about 2 more hours, basting occasionally.

For the glazed carrots, thoroughly scrub and peel carrots. Peel onion and chop finely.

Shortly before end of turkey roasting time, sauté onion in butter. Stir carrots into onion miture and sauté about 3 minutes. Stir sugar into carrot mixture and sauté briefly until caramelized. Pour vegetable stock into carrot mixture, cover pan, reduce heat to medium and simmer for about 10 minutes. Season carrots with salt and pepper. At the end of roasting time for turkey, remove turkey from roasting pan to a plate, cover with aluminum foil and let rest for about 15 minutes.

For the polenta diamonds, boil milk. Stir cornmeal into milk and season with salt and pepper. Reduce heat to low and simmer polenta mixture for about 10 minutes, stirring often. Remove polenta mixture from heat, let cool slightly and stir in eggs and Parmesan. Spread polenta on a lightly oiled plate about 1 cm thick (approximately 1/3 inch thick) and let cool. Just before serving, cut polenta into diamonds and fry in hot oil until golden brown.

For the gravy, pour roasting pan juices into a saucepan with remaining chicken broth and currant juice. Bring gravy mixture to a boil, simmer to reduce as desired and strain through a sieve. Stir crème fraîche into gravy and season with salt and pepper.