Roasted Turkey Stuffed with Prunes
Why Not turkey in Provence
After all, this region is known for different kinds of fowl. This recipe came from the Aquitaine region in the Southwest of France, same as Bordeaux.
The ingredients for Roast Turkey stuffed with Prunes
I love shopping in Provence and looking at all of the local foods. I was surprised to see turkey regularly at the meat market. I never thought about cooking it here since I associate it with Thanksgiving. But browsing through the summer edition magazine, “Cuisine et Vins France” that I picked up the last time I was in France, I found a recipe for a turkey roast stuffed with prunes. It was lovely!
magazine page form "Cuisine et Fins de France”, summer edition 2018. www.cuisineetvinsdefrance.com
Because it was just for me and my parents, I kept it rustic and added potatoes during roasting, so it became a one dish meal :) It wasn’t quite a pretty, but the flavors were fantastic! If I wanted it to be more elegant, I would have reserved the meat, prunes and potatoes out of the braising liquid, then strained the liquid through a sieve, reduced it, then whisked in butter right before serving. But for us on a “weeknight” dinner, we enjoyed the good flavors and didn’t mind the rustic quality of having the texture in the sauce.
The one pot roast.
I was very happy with this recipe and will make it again. However I did change it a bit. The photo looked different than the ingredients list, plus there were a few odd things in the recipe. For example, I couldn’t figure out what to do with all of that butter in the original recipe. Plus there were no herbs in the recipe. And way more prunes than needed. Also, I added thyme and peppercorns.
I took notes on what I did and included the “recipe” below. Please keep in mind I didn’t measure things. But you can figure it out, just as I did :) Here is a photo of the original recipe so you can compare.
RôTi de Dinde Farci aux Pruneaux
Roast Turkey stuffed with Prunes
ingredients
turkey roast, about 11/2 to 2 pounds
20 prunes
2 tablespoons cognac
2 tablespoons olive oil
2 onions
1/4 cup of butter
1/2 cup white wine
1 cup chicken stock
thyme sprigs
pepper corns
salt and pepper
method
First, soak the prunes in the cognac. Depending on how moist the prunes are would depend on how long you soak them. If time permits, do it the day before. But two hours is sufficient for somewhat moist prunes.
Un-tie the turkey breast and season. Add 10 prunes in the center and roll up.
Don’t judge me for my tying up skills here. I have been taught how to properly tie up a roast. But I realized I didn’t have any string, so I had to use the same string in which I untied the breast. I kept it in one large loop and tried my best to re-tie it without having an end to loop and the breast was bigger now that it was stuffed :) I did get the job done and it stayed in-tact :)
Turkey breast re-tied after adding the prunes.
Put the oil in a braising pan and brown the turkey on all sides over medium high heat.
Remove the turkey breast from the pan. In same pan add a couple of tablespoons of butter. sauté the chopped onions until translucent and just a little color.
Deglaze the pan with the wine, then add all of the wine and the cognac from the prunes. After ascohal has burned off, add the chicken stock and prunes. Warm it to a light simmer then add the turkey.
Onions in butter and wine with prunes.
Add the turkey breast in the braising liquid, along with a couple of bay leaves and thyme springs. then bring to another simmer.
Cover and put in an oven. For a one dish meal, add quartered yellow potatoes before putting in the oven. Cook in a 170 degree convection oven for about 30 to 35 minutes until the meat thermometer reads 145 degrees.
Let rest in pan for 5 minutes, then take out the meat and prunes (and potatoes if you are using them). Cover with foil while you make the sauce.
Two methods for the sauce:
For a rustic one dish pot, in braising pan, reduce sauce until thickened. Turn off heat, take out bay leaves and thyme sprigs. Add two knobs of butter, whisking in until a nice velvet texture. Slice the turkey breast on a platter and scatter the potatoes and prunes around. Add sauce and serve.
For an elegant meal, strain sauce and put the liquid back in the pan. Reduce until the sauce is thickened. Turn off heat and whisk in a couple of knobs of butter until velvet texture. Season. Plate up with the sacue on the bottom of the plate, add the potatoes or the side dish of your choice. arrange slices of the turkey on top. Add more sauce and garnish with fresh herbs.
