Braised Turkey

As a nurse, I  usually share my patient's bitter sentiments about hospital foods. Let's face it, nobody really shouts out for joy at the prospect of consuming low cholesterol, low sodium,low fat and low flavored foods. Not  when one is already feeling unwell. But then again, one can not really expect a lot from a pot that is used to cook for 2000 other suffering patients and their tastebuds.

 Food comforts me and when I'm ill, soothing  and spoiling my palate somehow  eases a bit of my discomfort. It's also the same reason why I have to sneakily ask FF to buy me Mc Donald's take out ( Burger, fries,  McCafe Triple Choco Chip Cookie and all) a day after undergoing a surgery AND after being told to eat soft diet. I know what patients get when they're on soft diet and 3 soft diet meals is all that I could handle! I was miserable, in pain and hungry. 

I was bringing my patients' lunch last week, somehow anticipating some usual faint mumbling and groaning about watery soups, obviously mass produced mashed potatoes , soggy pastas, dry breads, tasteless meats and overly sweet jelly desserts. Those who don't bother saying anything are just too sick to eat anyway.  One of the dish on that day was Putenbraten or roast turkey in (obviously store- bought , ready-made) brown gravy. But damn it looked good! For once, hospital food looked so appetizing!  I immediately knew, what to cook at home  the next day! Who would have thought that dreadful hospital food would inspire me. Hah!

Since I could not possibly buy an entire turkey for FF and I. There's a thin line between, gratification and overindulgence that we don't mean to cross. We bought turkey legs instead. I bought drumsticks while FF, went for the sectioned thighs. We had it for dinner and eat the leftovers the day after. Nobody was complaining after this satisfying meal.

Ingredients:

• 2 turkey legs, 2 turkey thighs 
• salt, pepper, paprika powder
• oil for frying
• 1 large onion, chopped
• 3 cloves of garlic, smashed
• 200 ml red wine
• 500 ml chicken stock
• 3 bay leaves, a tsp each of dried thyme's and rosemary

• 1 Bundle of Suppengemüse, chopped. These are vegetable for making soup comprising of 2 or 3 carrots, 1 or 2 stalks of leak, a quarter celeriac and parley.

Cooking instructions.

1 Wash and carefully pat turkey legs/thighs dry. Season well with salt and pepper. Rub in  paprika powder and set aside for 30 mins. Heat a bit of oil in a dutch oven . Seat meat and brown on all side. Remove meat from the pot and set aside.



2 Add 3 tbsp of oil into the pot. Saute onion until aromatic, add in garlic and toss in chopped vegetables.

3 Turn heat to high and deglaze pan with a cup of read wine. Toss in bay leaves, thymes and rosemary. Put the turkey back into the pan.

4 Pour chicken stock until almost half of the meat is submerged in liquid.Let the liquid boil before putting the pot into a preheated 190°c oven. Bake covered for 1 and half hour. Occasionally check the meat for tenderness and add more stock if the sauce  dries out. Once the meat is tender, remove pot from the oven. Put the pot back on the stove and crank up the heat  and bring the sauce to a boil to thicken it up a bit. Season with salt and pepper as needed. 

Braised Turkey with gnocchi