Thanksgiving dinner: roast turkey and sweet potato pie recipes Half a pat of butter, at room temperature A little olive oil 1-2 carrots, 1 onion and a bit of celery, all unpeeled and halved or quartered 300g unsmoked streaky bacon First the bird: know how much it weighs, remove the giblets and have at room temperature. Preheat the oven to 220C/425F/gas 7 (or whatever full throttle is). Going in at the neck end and starting on one side of the breastbone, work your hand in between the skin and the flesh, wiggling your fingers to fully separate the flesh and skin to the top, thin end of the breast. Repeat on the other side. Season the butter and smear three-quarters of it under the skin, directly on to the breast meat. Spread the rest of it all over the legs. Lightly drizzle the whole bird with olive oil and season well. If you're stuffing your bird, do it from the neck end, thereby not stuffing the main cavity at all (the bird cooks better that way). Pile your vegetables into the middle of a roasting tray and sit the bird on them. Overlap slices of streaky bacon all over the breast and legs and loosely rest some foil on top. Roast for about 20 minutes, then turn down to 180C/350F/gas 4 and cook for 23 to 25 minutes per kilo (there's no need to baste - that's what the butter and bacon are for). Whip the foil off for the last 20 minutes, then check she's cooked by inserting a thin knife where thigh meets breast - the juices should run clear. Remove from the oven and give her a thorough basting, then transfer to a serving dish. Replace the foil, cover with a tea towel or two, and rest for 15 to 20 minutes before carving. Sweet potato and marshmallow pie 2 large sweet potatoes (about 1kg) 1 tbsp maple syrup 25g butter, plus extra for greasing ¼ tsp ground cinnamon ¼ tsp ground nutmeg 100g pecans 100g marshmallows Preheat the oven to 180C/ 350F/gas 4. Roughly prick the sweet potatoes all over and bake until squidgy - anything from 1 to 1½ hours, depending on their size. Remove but leave the oven on. When they're cool enough to handle, peel, then whizz the flesh in a food processor with the maple syrup, butter, spices and seasoning. Put into a buttered dish, making sure it doesn't come more than two-thirds of the way up. Spread the pecans on a baking tray. Put in the oven above the sweet potato and, after 15 minutes, take them both out. Chop the nuts and scatter on top of the sweet potato. Cover with marshmallows, loosely foil the dish and bake for seven to 10 minutes until the marshmallows have melted. Take off the foil and cook for a further five minutes, until the top is golden. Big Table, Busy Kitchen," by Allegra McEvedy, is published by Quercus (£25)