He always orders the house-made pappardelle, I always order the seafood pasta. We share the cabbage and walnut salad and spoon-battle over the last skerricks of dessert.
The ragu on the pappardelle changes each time, and while variations of beef and lamb are on regular rotation, turkey has only appeared once at our regular date night haunt…
The tacchino was ordered with a touch of hesitation, lunchmeat and overcooked Christmas roll far too vivid in his memory, but with one bite all bets were off.
Talking ceased, lest it delay the measured movement of fork from plate to mouth, and thoughts of returning the next day began before the sides of the bowl were even scraped clean.
I managed to snag a small taste, bartered with a garlicky clam or other such morsel from amongst my seafood orecchiette — and in that instant the smokey, rich sauce was branded on my tastebuds.
It was shortly thereafter I discovered Flintstone-worthy turkey legs at our local grocery store, there was no question in my mind as to what they would become.
I approached them as I would lamb shanks, slow cooking in tomato with a touch of wine. Adding dark sundried tomatoes for a richness you just can’t put your finger on, and a few bay leaves for that illusive herbal whisper. Smoked paprika or chipotle would be welcome but weren’t invited this time.
The bowl of leftovers seemed bottomless, but while we were handing out other meals left and right in an attempt to keep the fridge manageable in the midst of an overflowing week of client work, RJ refused to let even a spoonful of the ragu to leave the premises.
I’d say we have a winner.
Turkey Ragu
Rich and hearty this is no ordinary turkey dish — nor ordinary ragu for that matter. Intense, almost black, sundried tomatoes add an impossible richness while white wine and bay leaves lighten the stew just enough to send you straight back for a second (and perhaps third) helping.
Serves 6, give or take
INGREDIENTS
- 1.5 kg turkey legs, approx 2 large or 3 medium
- 1 brown onion, diced
- 4 cloves garlic, diced
- 2 Tbsp olive oil
- ½ c white wine
- ¼ c sundried tomatoes, very finely chopped
- 3 bay leaves
- 800 ml tomato passata (or 2 x 4oog cans chopped tomatoes)
- 6 c reduced-salt stock
METHOD
Preheat oven to 180°C (350°F).
Heat half the oil in a large heavy-based pot
Add wine to deglaze and simmer briefly to burn off the alcohol. Add sundried tomatoes, bay leaves, passata and stock. Stir well then return turkey legs to the pot, submerging as best possible.
Bring to a boil, cover and move to the oven. Bake for 2 hours then uncover pot, turn legs and bake a further 45 mins to 1 hour (uncovered) until sauce has thickened and meat is falling from the bone.
Remove legs from pot and, when cool enough to handle, remove and discard skin and bones. Roughly shred meat and return to pot with the sauce, discard bay leaves. Depending on your stock you may need to season with a touch of salt.
Serve ragu with wide pappardelle or twisty pasta that will catch and hold as much sauce as possible.
gluten-free // dairy-free // soy-free // nut-free // probably paleo
Looks and sounds delicious!! Beautiful photos 🙂
Haha… whenever I see turkey legs I always remember staying over my dad’s house in primary school. He tried to cook a Flinstonian turkey leg in the microwave and… well, let’s just say that the giant thing couldn’t turn and there was a giant bang. Goodbye microwave, hello fragments of turkey all over the kitchen. Thankfully he has learned since then (other than leaving a chicken in the oven, going to the gym and then trying to ‘rehydrate’ the burned chicken with a can of pumpkin soup) and I’ve commenced my own love of turkey. Particularly turkey mince in Asian dishes!!! I adore ragu though, particularly with pappardelle, and this dish looks delicious JJ!! I’m glad that you were able to revisit fave restaurant memories and get serious credit points with RJ! I reckon they should be cashed in with some sort of Christmas breakfast in bed… 😉 xxx
Jenner.
1. This looks freaking YUMMY.
2. This post, a turkey pasta sauce recipe, almost made me cry it’s amazingly well written.
3. Bravo, petit chou!
xoxo
The word “such” didn’t seem to have made it in my last comment. Lost in translation, sorry. xo
I too have been damaged by turkey rolls, irreparably I thought, but no. This will be happening in my house very very soon 🙂