If a whole turkey is too much or you prefer breast meat to leg meat, a turkey crown with no legs, just the first joints of the wings, is the answer. It's also blissfully quick to cook and easy to carve.

Serves 6
1 medium leek, sliced in thin rounds
25g butter
75g flat-leaf parsley, chopped (reserving half for garnish)
500g pork mince
Sea salt flakes and freshly ground black pepper
1 turkey crown (about 2.3kg)
6-8 tbsp extra virgin olive oil
6 baking potatoes, peeled, halved and parboiled
4 pomegranates, halved crossways
4 tbsp pomegranate molasses
2 tbsp marmalade
60-100ml hot vegetable or chicken stock

Pre-heat the oven to 200°­­­­­­C, Gas Mark 6. Sauté the leek in the butter for 3 minutes until wilted. Scissor-chop half the flat-leaf parsley and put this, with the leek and half of the pork mince, into a food processor. Whizz in 10-12 bursts to a dense green stuffing. Knead this mixture into the remaining pork, adding seasonings. Push about a third of the stuffing inside the neck cavity of the bird and securethe skin underneath with wooden cocktail sticks. Mound the remaining stuffing inside the body cavity. Weigh the stuffed crown; it should be about 3.25kg. Brush the turkey skin all over with 1-2 tablespoons olive oil. Foil-wrap the stuffed crown completely to keep the stuffing compact and in place. Set the turkey, skin side up, in a large roasting pan surrounded by the potatoes parboiled for 12 minutes. Drizzle the potatoes with more olive oil, then roast the turkey and potatoes for 30 minutes. Reduce the heat to 180°C, Gas Mark 4 and cook for 120-145 minutes more, allowing 20 minutes per 500g of stuffed joint plus 20 minutes extra. Remove the foil after 50 minutes. While the turkey roasts, extract the juice from 2 of the pomegranate halves with a lemon squeezer, discarding the debris. Add the juice, molasses and marmalade to a small pan and boil to a sticky glaze, adding a little hot stock to thin, if needed. When the turkey breast registers 82°C on a meat thermometer and the potatoes are golden and crisp, turn off the heat and leave the pan contents to rest for 10 minutes. Add the remaining 6 halves of pomegranate to the pan.To serve, pour over a little pomegranate sauce, transfer the remainder to a sauceboat and garnish the turkey with the remaining parsley.

FEATURE CLARE FERGUSON
STYLING ALI BROWN
PHOTOGRAPHS WILLIAM LINGWOOD