It's no secret that you can make excellent baked meat from turkey with the usual ingredients and spices. For lovers of delicious and original dishes, a couple of options are offered below, how to cook a turkey thigh for a festive table or an ordinary meal. The recipe for each dish is quite simple, tasty in its own way and designed for 4 people. For a larger number of people, the number of ingredients increases proportionally.
1. Turkey in apple wine (cider):
To prepare this festive dish, a turkey thigh (the recipe provides this), you need to choose not very large hips. Their weight should not exceed 1 kg. You will also need these products:
- melted butter - 50 g;
- potatoes (preferably slowly digestible) - 1 kg;
- sour apples - 2 pcs.;
- cider - 0.5 l;
- leek - 3 stalks;
- marjoram - 7 small branches;
- pepper;
- salt.
Cooking:
- Butter is melted in a deep skillet and turkey thigh is fried on both sides. This recipe involves the use of ghee, since with another oil the taste of the dish will be completely different. During the frying of meat, it should be pepper and salt to taste. A prepared turkey thigh is placed in the oven right in the pan, preheated to 150 ° C. Turkey is baked in the oven for about 2 hours.
- Peeled and washed leeks are cut into large rings. Peeled and washed potatoes are cut into large cubes. Washed apples are cut into quarters, seeds are removed and finely chopped. After 0.5 hours of meat in the oven, add all prepared vegetables and apples to it. Pepper and salt all the ingredients a little more.
- After 15 minutes, pour a glass of water and the whole cider to the meat. From the washed marjoram, tear off the leaves and add them to the meat. You can leave a couple of twigs to decorate the dish.
- It is better to determine meat readiness with a special thermometer. If it is absent, you can make a small incision and visually check the meat for readiness. The finished turkey thigh is removed from the oven and cut into small slices. Serve this dish with baked vegetables and various sauces.
2. Baked turkey thigh (the recipe is characterized by the presence of a large number of different spices, so it is more suitable for lovers of exotic cuisine):
The following ingredients are needed for cooking:
- a large thigh of a turkey - up to a maximum of 2 kg;
- butter - 3 tbsp. spoons;
- ground paprika - 1 teaspoon;
- ground ginger, cardamom, black pepper - each 0.5 tsp;
- ground nutmeg, cloves, bay leaf - each 0.25 teaspoons each;
- ground cayenne pepper - on the tip of a knife;
- lemon juice - 25 ml;
- table salt.
Cooking:
- Butter is carefully mixed with lemon juice. All ground spices (except pepper and salt) are added to this mixture. The washed turkey thigh is blotted dry with a paper towel. The meat is rubbed with salt and ground pepper. Carefully sticking your fingers under the turkey skin, we separate it from the meat to form a gap between them (pocket). In the resulting pocket evenly distribute the mixture of spices and oil. After this procedure, lubricate the thigh of the turkey and the outside.
- In the preheated (up to 230 ° C) oven, put the meat laid on a baking sheet. Bake it until the skin becomes well-fried. From the puncture of the finished meat (in its thickest part), clear meat juice (without a mother tongue) should stand out. The average thigh baking time depends on its size. It can take from 40 to 60 minutes.
- Ready meat is transferred to a dish, covered with a piece of foil and left to stand for about 15 minutes indoors at room temperature. Thanks to this procedure, the meat will become even more juicy and tender.
Ready turkey thigh, the recipe of which is presented here, is served with a side dish of rice and fresh vegetables.