Happy new year!
2020 shall bring us all clear vision to fulfill our goals and be the most successful year of our lives.
For me, I've committed to bringing you all more cooking - based content this year, something I enjoy doing greatly. Furthermore, I'm incredibly excited to bring you all today's recipes, as it's a dish I've been designing for a couple of months now.
Today I am going to show you how to make seared wild turkey breast with a parsnip puree and citrus gastrique. Sounds complicated, right? WRONG. This recipe is so unbelievably simple that almost anyone can make it. In addition, this dish is elegant, complex, bursting with flavor, and an overall joy to eat.
To begin, let's talk turkey. I'm using the breasts from the last jake turkey I shot - I probably wouldn’t use an old tom for this recipe, as increased connective tissue from an older bird and quick cooking time would leave for a tough piece of meat. In addition, the turkey was brined for several days before I packed it away into the freezer. Let me clarify that this isn't ideal. Again, this ISN'T ideal. Without going into complexities, the increased moisture content within the bird freezes and expands, puncturing cell membranes and expelling liquid from the meat, leaving a more dry piece of meat. I knew this going into it, and decided to combat such by perfecting my cooking process. Cooking a piece of meat as quickly as possible leaves as much moisture as possible intracellularly- I used a probe thermometer to continuously watch my temperature. I also first seared the meat at an extremely high temperature, initiating the cooking process. I cooked to 165F, removed from cooking vessel and let rest for 10-15 minutes before eating.
If you all are interested in my brine recipe, than I'd be glad to write one up. I use it for white meat that isn’t fish - turkey and quail mostly.
Next, the parsnip puree. Don't let the use of parsnips turn you off. This puree is like an elegant, complex cousin of a mashed potato. I advise you to at least try it once in your life.
Though white wine vinegar is used in this gastrique, the caramel color of the sugar and blood orange juice gives this sauce a beautiful color.
Last but not least, the gastrique. A gastrique is a sauce made from sugar and vinegar. Essentially, a caramel is made and, instead of adding milk or cream to make caramel, vinegar is added. Once the vinegar is added and sugar dissolved, flavorings are added. This gastrique utilized blood orange peel and juice, lemon juice, and garlic. I advise you to use a decent quality vinegar here - if you use a cheap white vinegar, than your gastrique will be awful. You should use either white wine or red wine vinegar for gastrique - this recipe utilizes white wine vinegar. I used a high quality unfiltered vinegar for this application.
Gastrique isn’t something that is supposed to be eaten in abundance. The sauce is extremely strong and rich. It's more of an accent flavor than anything else, and works really well with this application.
I'm going to ask you, my readers, to do one thing, and that is to tell someone about the blog. Starting with this post, I'll ask you guys randomly in the post to tell someone about the blog. It helps to grow the blog, which allows me to bring you all more content.
If you have any questions about this recipe, feel free to comment or email me. I fed this very dish to 3 people (one was myself), one of which is relatively picky, and they enjoyed it (I think). Without further ado, here are the recipes.
Roasted Wild Turkey Breasts
2 Turkey breasts from a younger bird, thawed
1tsp Salt
1tsp Pepper
1tsp Garlic Powder
¼ Cup Neutral Oil (Canola or Vegetable Oil)
1.) Using paper towels, dry off the turkey breasts, making sure that they are mostly dry.
2.) Preheat oven to 400F
3.) Preheat a 10” or 12” skillet over high heat. Do not use nonstick.
4.) Pour oil into pan and allow to heat.
5.) Distribute seasonings over turkey breast pieces, seasoning both the front and back of the turkey breasts.
6.) When oil in pan has begun to smoke lightly, add turkey breasts. Cook for 1-2 minutes, or until the turkey has browned.
7.) Flip turkey breasts and immediately place pan into oven. Allow to bake for 8-15 minutes, or until turkey has cooked to 165F, or until turkey has cooked through. This time varies based on the thickness of the turkey breasts.
8.) Once cooked, remove from oven and allow to rest for 10-15 minutes before eating.
Parsnip Puree
1lb Parsnips, peeled and sliced
¼ Cup Milk
½ Cup Cream
4 Garlic Cloves, Peeled and Smashed
1 Bay Leaf
6Tbs Butter
To Taste Salt
To Taste Pepper
0.5 tsp Garlic powder
¼-1/2 Cup Milk
1.) In a deep skillet or pot, place parsnips with first installment of milk, cream, garlic cloves, and bay leaf.
2.) Over medium low heat, cook parsnips until tender, 8-12 minutes. A fork or knife should go through without resistance.
3.) Once cooked, strain parsnips, setting aside milk mixture.
4.) Place cooked parsnips into food processor with butter. Using set aside milk mixture, add enough milk to achieve smooth, thick consistency. If there is not enough of the reserved milk mixture, use 2nd installment of milk.
5.) Add salt, pepper, and garlic powder. Blend in food processor to distribute spices.
Blood Orange Gastrique
½ Cup Sugar
1Tbs Water
½ Cup Vinegar (I used white wine vinegar)
1 Blood orange, juiced and peeled
1 Lemon, juiced
2 Garlic clove, smashed
1.) In small sauce pot, add sugar and water.
2.) Over medium high heat, heat sugar and water until caramel color has been reached. About 8-15 minutes.
3.) Once color has been reached, remove from heat and immediately add vinegar. Be careful, as splattering may occur.
4.) Return pot to stove and lower heat to medium. Mix until sugar has dissolved into vinegar. Sugar may solidify after vinegar has been added. Continue heating until sugar softens and dissolves into vinegar.
5.) Add blood orange juice and peel, lemon juice, and garlic. Mix.
6.) Reduce sauce for an additional 3-8 minutes until sauce has thickened.
7.) Remove from heat, strain, and allow to cool slightly before eating.