Rolled and stuffed turkey leg with caramelised fennel recipe

The Baldini family’s Christmas favourite – I hope your family loves it too!

I use turkey leg rather than breast meat; it stays moist and has greater flavour due to its higher fat content. And Christmas is for indulging in a little extra flavour!

It’s late in the season but you should hopefully still be able to find some fennel in your garden or at the local green grocer.

We wish you and your family a very happy Christmas and prosperous new year.

Ciao, Sioban

 

Rolled and Stuffed Turkey Leg

Serves 4

Ingredients

  • 2 turkey legs, deboned
  • 6 thin slices of prosciutto
  • 60 gm stracchino cheese, sliced thinly into 8
  • 2 small cloves of garlic, crushed
  • 200 ml white wine
  • ¾ tsp finely chopped rosemary
  • ¾ tsp finely chopped sage leaves
  • 50 ml olive oil
  • Sea salt and white pepper
  • butchers twine

Method

Trim off any excess fat from the turkey leg, and then lay one leg on some baking paper. In a bowl mix your rosemary, sage, garlic and some salt and pepper.

Sprinkle half of the herb and garlic mixture on the inside of the turkey leg, then place 3 slices of your prosciutto on top to cover the inside of the leg and then half of your cheese placed in a line in the middle of the turkey leg.(I normally use a peeler to thinly slice your cheese).

Roll your turkey into a mini roast, squeezing tightly to make sure that the filling is secured inside and that it has formed a full circle. Now you need to truss the turkey. With your trussing rope make a knot at the left hand end and twirl the rope around your hand and thread on to your roll and pull tight, continue this all the way up the roast and tie a secure knot at the end. (I will demonstrate this in the class and you can then practice it, which will make it easy to learn ) Season the meat with a little salt and white pepper. Repeat this for the other turkey leg.

Pre heat your oven to 180 degrees. Heat a heavy based fry pan with the oil, once hot place in your turkey and brown on all sides and deglaze with white wine. Transfer the turkey to a baking dish, but keep aside the fry pan that you have deglazed. Place in the oven for approximately 15-20 minutes or until it is cooked, remove from the oven and leave covered to rest for 5 minutes, meanwhile place the fry pan that you had kept aside onto heat and reduce the liquid gently scraping off all the caramelised bits from the bottom, this adds great flavor to your jus.

Slice each turkey roll into 4 pieces and then serve your turkey on a base of caramelised fennel, spooning some of the jus over the top.

Caramelised Fennel

Serves 4

Ingredients

  • 3 large fennel bulbs
  • 1 tsp chopped parsley
  • 2 cloves of garlic, peeled
  • 80 ml olive oil
  • Sea salt and ground white pepper

Method

Half your fennel and remove the core and slice the fennel into thin slices of about 3mm thick, and roughly crush your garlic. Heat a heavy based fry pan with the oil and once hot add in the fennel and season with sea salt and pepper. Leave to cook on a medium heat for about 8 minutes, stirring frequently so that it doesn’t burn but caramelises well. Add in your garlic and leave to cook for another few minutes, deglaze the pan with about ¾ cup water and place a lid on and simmer for about 10 minutes until the fennel is well cooked and the water has evaporated. Taste to check the seasoning and adjust if needed. Add in the chopped parsley and serve with your rolled Turkey. This fennel dish also accompanies roast pork really well.

 

 


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