Yotam Ottolenghi’s marinated turkey breast with cumin, coriander, and white wine

Turkey isn’t just for Christmas dinner, and if you fancy something a little different to the traditional roast, try this fresher tasting alternative. It only uses the breast, so it's perfect if you're only 2-3 people.  This is from Yotam Ottolenghi's the cookbook. 

4 tbsp mint leaves (it really annoys me when recipes require teaspoons of a herb. One basil leaf is the size of – or bigger than – a teaspoon. Same for a mint leaf. I took a couple of springs, stripped and chopped them. 

4 tbsp parsley leaves (see above)

4 tbsp coriander leaves (and again)

1 garlic clove, peeled (one garlic clove? ONE??? Put in at least 2-3)

60 ml [about 3 oz] lemon juice (life is too short to measure out 60ml of lemon juice. Get your lemon and juice it.)

125 ml [about 4 oz] white wine (ditto; glug, glug and another glug for good measure)

1/2 tsp cumin

1/2 tsp salt

1/2 tsp black pepper

about 1kg turkey breast

Either put all the ingredients except the turkey breast in a food processor or blender and blitz for 1-2 minutes to get a smooth marinade or mash it up using a pestle and mortar. This latter option reduces the amount of washing up! If you are going to use the pestle and mortar too, add the wine at the end, only. Doing it this way results in a more chunky marinade.

Ottolenghi's marinade for roast turkey

Put the turkey in a non-metallic container and pour the marinade over it. Massage the marinade into the meat, cover the container and leave in the fridge for 24 hours or however long you have (only up to 24 hours – please do not cook or eat anything, especially meat, that’s been basking in your fridge for a long time!).

As a complete aside, I heard some about competition thing on the radio once, where people had to ring in and complete the sentence “you know your marriage is in trouble when…”. One of the entrants was “you watch your husband prepare the Christmas turkey, and you're jealous as the turkey is getting more action than you.” Ho ho ho.

The turkey breast, marinading 

Anyway, when you’ve marinated your turkey, preheat your oven to 220°C. It starts getting a bit diva-ish at this stage, as you've the change the temperature every 15 minutes for the next half an hour, so put a reminder on your phone to keep yourself reminded.

Ottolenghi says to remove the turkey from the marinade (keep the marinade for later) and put it on a roasting tray. I kept the turkey in the marinade and cooked it the way he suggests: put it in the oven and roast for 15 minutes, then reduce them temperature to 200°C. Continue to cook for another 15 minutes, then reduce the temperature again to 180°C. Cook it at this temperature until the turkey is done — another 30-45 minutes. To check, the turkey is cooked, stick a small knife all the way into the centre; it should come out hot. If the meat goes dark before it is ready, cover it will foil.

The roasted, marinated turkey breast

If you decide to remove the turkey from the marinade, put the leftover marinade in a saucepan and simmer for 15 minutes, until reduced by about half. Taste and season with some more salt and pepper.

Remove the turkey from the oven and let it rest for 10 minutes. Slice it thinly and serve with the warm sauce.

I've also tried the sumac chicken from this book. 

Friday favourites - easy chicken tagine

This is from Nigel Slater, via the BBC, and I could find all of the ingredients in the supermarket. I used preserved lemons – I got these in the Carrefour at the Dreve Rochelle in Waterloo, in the ‘foreign foods’ section. You can also get them in any North African corner shops, should you have one nearby.

For the spice paste

2-3 large, juicy garlic cloves, peeled, roughly chopped

pinch sea salt flakes

2-3 good pinches smoked paprika

2-3 good pinches ground turmeric

1 tsp cumin seeds

glug olive or groundnut oil

For the casserole

6 large chicken thighs, bone in and skin on (I used chicken three breasts cut into about 5 pieces each to feed four of us)

good glug of olive oil

2 onions, peeled, roughly chopped

1 lemon, cut in half, thinly sliced (I used a preserved lemon - make sure you rince it first)

pinch of saffron strands (I had none, so I just left this out)

handful green olives, pits removed

small handful fresh coriander, roughly chopped

Preparation

For the spice paste, crush the garlic cloves and sea salt with a pestle in a mortar. Add the smoked paprika, turmeric and cumin seeds and grind to a paste. Add just enough olive or groundnut oil to make the paste runny enough to pour, but thick enough to coat the chicken.

Put the chicken into a bowl, pour the spice paste over them and toss well to coat all of the meat. Cover with cling film and leave to marinate in the fridge for as long as time allows, overnight if possible.

The paste, not pourable but thick

Heat the olive oil in a large shallow pan, then cook the onions until softened. Add the chicken thighs and cook until coloured lightly on both sides. Add the lemon slices and pour in enough water to come halfway up the chicken pieces. Stir in the saffron, if you're using it, then season well, cover with a lid and simmer for about 25 minutes, until the chicken is cooked through and tender. Add the olives and fresh coriander and serve.

Chicken tagine

Bulgur with green beans

Bulgur wheat from Delhaize

I served this with some bulgur, made with lots of chopped green beans cooked off a bit first in water.