You might be wondering why I left out the duck in my loaves, especially since in a real turducken, the duck meat brings such a delicious flavor to the table. Short answer: Whole Foods didn't have duck breasts and I was not willing to carve my own. So turcken loaves would have to suffice! I chose to use turkey and chicken thighs for this experiment because, well, I love dark meat. You can easily substitute turkey and chicken breasts, if you wish.
Like the real turducken, the first step in this process was to de-bone the turkey and chicken thighs! You can easily purchase boneless (and skinless!) chicken thighs at the grocery store, but I happened to pick up the wrong package. But no worries - removing the bone was quite simple for these thighs. And if your chicken thighs have skin, make sure to remove the chicken skin, but absolutely leave the skin on the turkey thighs!
Instead of pounding the meat to a thin layer (which you should do if you are producing a large turcken or turducken loaf), I chose to just slice the thighs horizontally, so as to create two flaps allowing the thighs to be opened up like a book.
Because I was trying to keep this dish as simple as possible, I chose to use Stovetop Cornbread Stuffing - just add butter, water, and mix! If you have the time or patience (or just leftover stuffing), I would recommend using a homemade stuffing to introduce a greater depth of flavors into your turcken loaves. But if not - no worries - Stovetop tastes just fine!
Laying flat the turkey thigh, sprinkle a dash of thyme, rosemary, salt, and pepper on top of the meat and spread a layer of stuffing to cover the entire surface. Place the flat chicken thigh on top, sprinkle with a dash of thyme, rosemary, salt, and pepper, and add a layer of stuffing on top of the chicken thigh. Roll up the chicken thigh so that the ends of the flaps meet, and repeat with the turkey thigh, wrapping the turkey thigh around the chicken thigh. Fasten the turkey thigh flaps together with a skewer.
Mix 2 tablespoons of butter with thyme, rosemary, salt, and pepper (I probably used about 1/2 tsp of thyme, 1/2 tsp of rosemary, 1/4 tsp of pepper, and a dash of salt). Spread one tablespoon of seasoned butter on the outside of the turkey skin, and spread one tablespoon of the seasoned butter underneath the skin so that it directly touches the meat. If you are watching calorie content, you can probably cut back on the butter, but I like my roasted meats to be as rich (and deliciously buttery) as possible.
Place the turcken loaves in a baking dish and bake at 350 F for 30 minutes, or until the loaves reach 165 F.
Remove from heat and serve alongside your favorite vegetable(s) and/or side dish(es). I chose to serve alongside garlic-roasted broccoli, topped with a dash of lemon juice and pecorino cheese. Enjoy!
No comments:
Post a Comment