Main Lunch

Simon Rogan’s Roasted Turkey Breast & Leg Ragout Recipe

If you can’t imagine Christmas without roast turkey, treat yourself to this tweak on the classic this festive season (and enjoy the compliments!)

1 hour prep, 1 hour 30 minutes cook

Serves 4

Ingredients

Turkey Leg Ragout

1 turkey leg

1 carrot, diced

1 onion, diced

3 x garlic cloves, smashed

2 x bay leaves

100g pancetta, diced

Turkey Breast

1 turkey breast

200g salted butter

20g parsley

20g sage

20g chives

60g Maldon salt

500g water

Garnish

8 x Red King Edward potatoes

1 x Ibis celeriac (or any other variety)

200g turkey leg ragout

5 x garlic cloves, smashed

3 x sprigs thyme

50g rapeseed oil

50g reserved herb butter

Method

Turkey Leg Ragout

1 In a large pan, fry the turkey leg all over until it is an even golden-brown, remove the leg from the pan and leave to one side to rest.

2 In the same pan, fry the onion, carrots, garlic and bay. Cook until the vegetables are soft and caramelised.

3 Return the turkey leg to the pan, cover with water and simmer for 1 hour. Remove the pan from the heart, strain the stock and place the leg on a resting tray. Return the stock to the heat until reduced by half.

4 In a separate pan, fry the pancetta until crispy. While that is cooking, shred the leg meat. Add the stock and the shredded leg into the pan with the pancetta. Continue to cook until the stock has reduced to a thick sauce.

Turkey Breast

1 Take the butter out of the fridge 30 minutes before cooking so it has time to come to room temperature.

2 Dissolve the Maldon salt in the water to make a brine, add the breast and set aside for 20 minutes. Whilst it’s brining, preheat your oven to 180⁰ Celsius.

3 Finely chop parsley, sage and chives and fold through the soft butter with a spatula.

4 Remove the breast from the brine and pat dry with a clean kitchen cloth. Gently rub the herb butter all over the breast. Place the breast in a roasting tray, skin side down. Cook in the oven for 20 minutes, then flip the breast over, baste with the herb butter and cook for a further 25-30 minutes.

5 Place the breast on a resting tray, slather with the caramelised herb butter from the oven tray (reserving 50g) and leave to rest for 20 minutes before serving.

Garnish

1 Clean, peel and thinly slice the potatoes. Cut the celeriac in half, peel and slice to match the potatoes.

2 Combine the salt, rapeseed oil, herb butter, garlic and thyme.

3 Spoon the turkey leg ragout into a cast iron dish. Cover the ragout by neatly placing alternating layers of the potato and celeriac slices and brushing with the oil, butter and garlic mix.

5 Cook until the vegetables are tender and a knife smoothly slides through the centre.

6 To serve, slice the breast and serve with a generous amount of butter. Spoon the ragout into a ramekin and serve alongside.