Why on earth do we cook turkey at Christmas to dismiss it the rest of the time? It doesn't make sense to struggle with something which we are totally unfamiliar with, to serve on one of the most important family meal of the year.
Granted, a Turkey is rather a large bird, perfect for an occasion may be less so on a evry basis. However well cooked, it is moist and succulent. We only need a recipe which allows us to make the most of this lean meat.
That's when food bloggers come to the rescue. Personally, I think that a blog-post should at least engage and inspire. One which did exactly that, is David Lebovitz' Melon de Dinde. But the little tease bought his melon at the market.
After much hesitation, I recreated the recipe from his photographs. It seemed like a good idea at the time to do a step by step video. Please, click on the pink square to get it started.
If you are wondering about the tricky step, all you need to do is to cup your hands under the meat and to rotate it round, it does end up in a ball.
Turkey Melon
Serves 4 to 6 (or in our case, 3.5 satiated people)
Quick reminder of the ingredients you will need
- 2 or 3 tablespoons of grained mustard (any other mustard will do as long as it's smooth, you might want to try honey mustard, however Dijon willnot as it would be too strong).
- 6 slices of turkey, tenderised them (with a meat hammer) if you can
- About 8 bacon slices, the alternative is to use rashers in which case you will need less)
- Salt, pepper, 2 tsp tarragon (optional an alternative is thyme)
- 8 to 10 shallots peeled and left whole
- 1 peppers, diced
- a good glug of vegetable oil (about 2 tablespoons) or butter (10gr) if you prefer
- half a pot of cream (about 200g)
and baking paper or cling film
Cooking Method:
Heat the oil in a casserole or large saucepan,(on medium heat) add the shallots and the diced pepper until slightly coloured.
Increase the heat, Add the turkey melon and brown it slightly all around, it should take 5 minutes, don't let it go too crispy.
Reduce the heat to low, season and add the herb, cover and simmer for 30 minutes.
Get the turkey melon and the vegetables out, keep them warm in the oven while you finish the sauce. Turn the heat up add the cream, stirring all the time (about 5 minutes), lower the heat and return the shallots, peppers to the sauce.
Cut the melon, to serve the choice is yours, mine was spaghetti but rice or spinach would be good accompaniments too.
Turkey melon is delicious hot and it is equally good served cold too, a great idea for picnics.