Frances Bissells Turkey Fillets With Pomegranate Sauce Recipes

POMEGRANATE MOLASSES-GLAZED TURKEY

Steps:

• Heat pomegranate juice, sugar, and lemon juice in a saucepan over medium-high heat. Cook, stirring continuously, until sugar is dissolved, 3 to 5 minutes. Bring to a simmer; reduce heat to medium-low. Cook, stirring frequently, until reduced down to 1 1/2 cups, about 1 hour. Remove from heat. Let pomegranate molasses cool to room temperature, at least 20 minutes.
• Preheat oven to 450 degrees F (230 degrees C).
• Whisk the pomegranate molasses, horseradish, mustard, and sage together in a bowl to make the glaze.
• Remove any giblets or gizzards from the turkey and place the turkey in a roasting pan. Brush with olive oil; season with salt and pepper.
• Bake in the preheated oven, basting with the juices from the bottom of the pan every 15 minutes, for 2 hours. When an instant-read thermometer inserted into the thickest part of the thigh, near the bone, reads 175 degrees F (79 degrees C), brush turkey with 1 cup glaze. Continue roasting until no longer pink in the center, about 15 minutes more.
• Remove turkey from the oven and brush with the remaining glaze. Cover with a loose tent of aluminum foil and allow to rest for 15 minutes before carving up that turkey.

ROASTED TURKEY WITH POMEGRANATE SAUCE AND WILD RICE AND GOAT CHEESE STUFFING

Steps:

• Preheat the oven to 450 degrees F.
• Remove the neck and gizzard from the turkey and discard. Rinse the bird thoroughly with cold water and pat dry. Using your fingers, gently loosen the skin from the breasts and drumsticks and slip the sage leaves underneath. Rub the entire surface with 1/4 cup of the melted butter. Lightly sprinkle the skin and cavity with salt and pepper.
• Truss the turkey and place on a rack in a large roasting pan. Roast for about 45 minutes, until brown, basting with the remaining butter every 10 minutes. Reduce the temperature to 350 F and continue roasting for another 1 1/4 hours or until an instant-read thermometer inserted in the thigh registers 180 degrees F. If the legs or breast brown too quickly, cover them with foil.
• Transfer the turkey to a cutting board and allow it to rest 20 to 30 minutes before carving.
• To serve, cut down along each breast and remove it whole. Cut the breast into slices, the way you would a loaf of bread. Place on a large serving platter and arrange the thigh meat in chunks and the legs on top. Spoon some pomegranate sauce over the top and sprinkle everything with the pomegranate seeds and chives. Serve the remaining Pomegranate Sauce and the Wild Rice and Goat Cheese Stuffing alongside.
• You can reheat sliced turkey over medium heat in stock just to cover. Top with sauce, pomegranate seeds, and chives just before serving.
• Melt the butter in a large saucepan over medium heat, and sweat the onion and garlic until the onion is tender, about 3 minutes. Add the peppercorns and cook another 3 minutes.
• Add the port and cook, stirring, until most of it has evaporated. Add the stock, pomegranate juice, molasses and brown sugar, raise the heat to medium-high, and reduce slowly to a sauce consistency. As the sugars caramelize, the sauce will turn brownish red. Season, to taste, with salt and pepper. Remove from heat and add chives and pomegranate seeds.
• Place the rice, water, and salt to taste in a medium saucepan and bring to a boil over medium-high heat. Simmer until the grains open all the way. Drain the rice.
• Meanwhile, cook the chorizo in a small saucepan over medium heat until the fat is rendered and the chorizo gets a little crisp. Drain.
• Melt the butter in a large saute pan over medium heat. Add the onion, garlic, carrots, and celery and sweat until the onion is tender, about 5 minutes. Add the rice, chorizo, bread, cheese, parsley, thyme, and stock and stir to combine. The mixture should be quite wet: add a little more stock or water, if needed. Season, to taste, with salt and pepper.
• Transfer to a 6-cup buttered baking dish and bake, uncovered, until golden brown and heated through, 25 to 30 minutes. May be refrigerated up to 1 day; reheat with a little chicken stock for 20 minutes at 350 degrees F.

GRILLED TURKEY WITH POMEGRANATE-BLACK PEPPER GLAZE

Steps:

• Whisk together all ingredients in a medium bowl and season with salt to taste. Truss the turkey. Place turkey on a work surface, breast side up. Rub it with olive oil, and season with salt and pepper. Heat the grill to medium heat. Have the rotisserie shaft fitted with 1 spit fork. Making certain that the turkey is centered, push the rotisserie shaft through the turkey between the legs, exiting at the neck. Slide the spit fork onto the shaft. Insert the tines of the spit forks into the turkey, screw side up, and tighten the screws to secure firmly. Set the rotisserie shaft in place in the rotisserie ring. Loosen the retaining loop at the handle, and let the counterweight assembly hang down to counterbalance the weight of the breast. The rotisserie should rotate so that the heavy side of the turkey rotates down to the bottom. Swing the counterweight assembly so that the counterweight is directly opposite the heavy side of the turkey. Tighten the retaining loop. The counterweight travel should stick out a little bit above the shaft handle and retaining loop. You may need to adjust the travel of the counterweight as the food cooks, or if the motor sounds like it is straining. Insert the pointed end of the rotisserie shaft into the motor. Set the rotisserie shaft into the ring. Cover the grill, and turn the motor on. Grill the turkey 11 minutes per pound if unstuffed. During the last 30 minutes, baste the entire turkey with 1 cup of the marinade. Remove the turkey from the grill and immediately brush with the remaining glaze. Let rest for 20 minutes before slicing. To determine if the turkey is thoroughly cooked, insert an instant-read thermometer into the thickest part of the inner muscle of the thigh, making certain not to touch the bone, and check that the temperature is 175 to 180 degrees F.

TURKEY WITH POMEGRANATE GLAZE

Steps:

• For the brine and turkey: In a large stock pot, bring water, 1 1/2 cups kosher salt, sugar, coriander, ginger and bay leaves to a boil over high heat. Lower heat and simmer for 10 minutes, stirring occasionally to make sure the salt and sugar dissolve. While the brine is simmering, place the ice in a bucket or pot big enough to hold the turkey. Pour the brine over the ice. When the brine has cooled, add the turkey. Place a heavy object like a plate or lid on top of the turkey to keep it submerged in the brine. Refrigerate for 8 to 12 hours.
• Position an oven rack on the lowest level of the oven and preheat the oven to 450 degrees F. Remove the turkey from the brine and pat it dry; discard the brine. Tuck the wings underneath the turkey. Sprinkle the turkey inside and out with salt. Put the celery, lemon, onion and parsley into the cavity of the turkey and tie the legs together with kitchen twine. Place breast-side down in a roasting pan fitted with a rack. Roast for 30 minutes.
• For the glaze: While the turkey roasts, combine the pomegranate molasses, 3 tablespoons water and Aleppo pepper in a medium saucepan and bring to a simmer. Adjust heat and simmer, uncovered, until thick and syrupy, 5 to 10 minutes. Stir in the butter and soy sauce and remove from heat.
• After 30 minutes of roasting, turn the turkey breast-side up and lower the oven temperature to 325 degrees F. Roast 3 hours longer, or until a meat thermometer inserted into the thickest part of the thigh but not touching bone registers 160 degrees F. When the thermometer registers 155 degrees F, or during the last 30 minutes of cooking, begin basting with glaze every 5 to 10 minutes. Remove the turkey from the oven and allow to rest for 15 minutes before carving.

ROAST TURKEY WITH POMEGRANATE GRAVY

Steps:

• Roast turkey:
• Put oven rack in lower third of oven and preheat oven to 350°F.
• Rinse turkey inside and out and pat dry. Working from neck (small) cavity, run your fingers between skin and meat to loosen skin from breast, legs, and thighs, being careful not to tear skin. Rub softened butter between skin and flesh, then sprinkle turkey cavities and skin with salt and pepper. Fold neck skin under body and secure with metal skewer and fold wing tips under breast. Stuff large cavity with onion and thyme sprigs and tie drumsticks together with kitchen string. Brush skin all over with some melted butter.
• Put turkey on rack in a large flameproof roasting pan and roast, basting with some melted butter and/or pan juices every 20 minutes (if turkey is browning too fast, cover loosely with foil), until thermometer inserted into fleshy part of a thigh (do not touch bone) registers 170°F, 2 1/2 to 3 1/2 hours.
• Carefully tilt turkey so any juices from inside large cavity run into roasting pan, then transfer turkey to a platter (do not clean roasting pan) and let stand, loosely covered, 30 minutes (temperature of thigh meat will rise to 180°F).
• Make gravy while turkey stands:
• Cook sugar in a dry 1-quart heavy saucepan over moderate heat, undisturbed, until it begins to melt. Continue to cook, stirring occasionally with a fork, until sugar is melted into a deep golden caramel. Add 1/2 cup pomegranate juice (use caution; mixture will bubble and steam vigorously) and simmer over low heat, stirring occasionally, until caramel is dissolved. Remove syrup from heat.
• Pour pan juices through a fine-mesh sieve into a 1-quart glass measure or bowl, then skim off fat and reserve 1/4 cup of it. Add enough turkey stock to pan juices to total 3 1/2 cups liquid. Straddle roasting pan across 2 burners, then add water and deglaze pan by boiling over high heat, stirring and scraping up brown bits, 1 minute. Pour through fine-mesh sieve into glass measure with stock.
• Whisk together reserved fat and flour in a 3-quart heavy saucepan and cook roux over moderately low heat, whisking, until pale golden, 7 to 10 minutes. Add hot stock mixture in a stream, whisking constantly to prevent lumps. Bring to a boil, whisking, and add pomegranate syrup, then reduce heat and simmer, whisking occasionally, until thickened, about 5 minutes. Stir in any turkey juices accumulated on platter and simmer gravy 1 minute. Season with salt and pepper and stir in remaining tablespoon pomegranate juice.
• Remove string and skewer from turkey and discard onion and thyme from cavity. Serve turkey with gravy on the side.

BLACK PEPPER-POMEGRANATE MOLASSES GLAZED TURKEY

Steps:

• Preheat oven to 450 degrees F.
• Whisk together pomegranate molasses, horseradish, mustard, salt, and coarsely ground black pepper. Set aside and let sit at room temperature for at least 30 minutes before using to allow the flavors to meld.
• Remove the neck, heart and gizzard from inside of the turkey. Rinse the bird inside and out with cold water and pat dry. Rub the entire surface of the bird with the butter and season well (including the cavity) with salt and pepper. Truss the turkey and place breast-up on a rack in a large roasting pan. Roast for about 45 minutes, until slightly golden brown. Reduce the heat to 350 degrees F and continue roasting, basting with some of the chicken stock every 15 minutes, for about 1 hour, 15 minutes longer. (An instant-read thermometer inserted in the thigh should register 160 degrees F.)
• During the last 15 minutes of roasting, stop basting with the chicken stock and brush the entire turkey with 1 cup of the pomegranate glaze. Remove the turkey from the oven, brush with the remaining glaze, loosely tent and let rest 15 minutes before slicing.

POMEGRANATE GLAZED TURKEY LEGS

Steps:

• Pat the drumsticks completely dry and place on a baking sheet fitted with a cooling rack. Mix 1/4 cup salt, a few grinds black pepper and the sugar in a small bowl, then rub the mixture all over the drumsticks. Refrigerate, uncovered, for 4 hours and up to overnight. Rinse the legs and pat them completely dry.
• Preheat the oven to 350 degrees F.
• Mix the butter with the cumin, thyme, 1/2 teaspoon salt and a few grinds of black pepper and rub the mixture all over the drumsticks, getting underneath the skin if you can. Brush the drumsticks all over with the pomegranate molasses. Add 1 cup water to the bottom of the baking sheet and tent the sheet with foil. Bake for 1 hour and 30 minutes.
• Remove the foil from the pan and brush the turkey legs all over with the pomegranate molasses. Continue baking for 30 minutes, uncovered, then brush one last time. Bake until the skin is crispy and the turkey has reached 165 degrees F (avoiding bone), about 30 minutes more. Brush a final time with the molasses (be sure to use a fresh bowl of molasses and a clean brush to avoid cross-contamination with raw turkey juices) and let rest for 10 minutes. Slice the turkey and serve with the remaining pomegranate molasses on the side.

FRANCES BISSELL'S TURKEY FILLETS WITH POMEGRANATE SAUCE

Steps:

• Slightly flatten the turkey fillets and place in a single layer in a shallow dish. Cut the pomegranates in half. Remove about 30 to 40 seeds and reserve for garnish. Squeeze the pomegranate halves as you would lemons, straining out the seeds, to extract as much juice as possible. Add the walnut oil, garlic, juniper berries and spices. Pour over the meat, cover and marinate overnight.
• When ready to cook, remove the fillets, reserving the marinade. Dry the meat on paper towels. Melt half of one of the butter pieces in a large heavy frying pan until it is nut-brown. Then add four of the turkey fillets in a single layer. Cook over high heat to brown the meat thoroughly, then lower the heat and cook for about four to five minutes. Raise the heat again, turn the meat over and brown the other side. Lower the heat and cook gently, until the meat is done, four to five minutes. Remove the fillets from the pan and keep them warm on a covered platter while you repeat the cooking process with the remaining half of the butter and fillets.
• When all the turkey fillets are done and removed from the pan, cut the remaining piece of butter into four equal pieces. Raise the heat under the pan, add the marinade and stock and cook rapidly, scraping up all the brown bits from the bottom of the pan, until the sauce is reduced to about half a cup of syrupy glaze. Correct seasonings, adding salt and pepper to taste. Remove from the heat and rapidly beat in the remaining butter, one piece at a time.
• Divide the sauce among the plates, arranging the turkey fillets on top, and garnish with two or three walnut halves and the pomegranate seeds.