Boxing Day Creamy Moroccan Turkey

Christmas Day is a Turkey Day in the UK, and we always make more turkey than we need. This year I did three things to the turkey…

1. Brined in an Apple Spice Brine overnight.
2. Made an “under-the skin” rub of unsalted butter, sage, rosemary and thyme.
3. Injected the breast with a mix of unsalted butter, paprika, mixed spice and garlic.

…and of course smoked in the Kamado Joe for a couple of hours.

But this isn’t about that. This is about the day after. Normally we have turkey sandwiches with stuffing and cranberry sauce (and some pickled onions, naturally). If we’re feeling imaginative we will have an Indian style turkey curry as we did this Thanksgiving. Nothing wrong with either of those.

This year though, I wanted to experiment, and felt like trying something North African; or a bit Arabic, maybe; or both ! Warming spices, a little bit of fruit and nut thrown in, and that general flavour and smell of something decidedly non-Christmassy…made with whatever was to hand in the fridge/cupboard – who wants to go out for groceries on Boxing Day ? Fortunately I DO have a cupboard-supply of Moroccan Ras-el-Hanout and Harissa spices. We had spare oranges, turkey, cranberry sauce, an unopened tin of cashew nuts and some cream. A “quorum” of ingredients to get going.

So here it is. Sadly no pictures or videos on this one – none whatsoever ! Just imagine a creamy, golden coloured turkey curry, with little red cranberry jewels peeking through (also leftover), served with healthy brown rice. If I’d had fresh coriander, that’s what would have been sprinkled on top to complete a colourful presentation.

Verdict from the team was “delicious”, hence keeping a record of this concoction for future reference…

Boxing Day Creamy Moroccan Turkey

Where this ended up was not exactly planned from the outset – but it was absolutely fantastic !

Print Recipe Pin Recipe

Prep Time 30 minutes mins

Cook Time 30 minutes mins

Course Main Course

Cuisine Mediterranean

Servings 6 people

Equipment

• Stir-fry pan, wok or deep frying pan

Ingredients

  

• 2 tbsp oil for frying
• 1 medium onion finely chopped
• 2 cloves garlic
• 1 tsp ginger paste (or about a 1" cube chopped/grated)
• 2 tbsp ras-el-hanout spice mix for the warmth
• 1 tbsp Harissa spices / paste for the heat !
• 2 cups leftover turkey chopped into bite-sized pieces
• 2 oranges just the juice – lemons could be an option
• 2 tbsp honey
• ½ cup chicken stock
• ½ cup (golden) raisins / sultanas etc
• ½ cup pistachio or cashew nuts if salted, just rinse them
• ½ cup leftover cranberry sauce
• 1 cup heavy cream (double cream) crème fraîche probably better here
• salt and pepper to taste
• 1 handful fresh coriander chopped

Instructions

 

• Set up the fire and wok (or pan and hob) on a medium heat. Heat up the oil.
• Add in the chopped onion, garlic, ginger, ras-el-hanout and harissa. Heat up the spices to open them up. Make sure the onion is coated in all of those flavours. Stir for about five minutes.
• Put the chopped turkey in and coat all of this too. Stir around for another five minutes until well combined.
• Pour in the juice of two oranges, honey and the chicken stock. Keep the heat at a simmer and stir it all together.
• Add in the fruit and nuts and the cranberry sauce if you have it. Keep stirring.
• FInally add in the double cream (or heavy cream in the USA). Add in about half a cup at a time here.
• This is now where the wizardry comes in – go back and adjust whatever you like based on your taste, and how you feel. More sweetness – add in more honey. You'll probably need at least a little salt to lift the flavours, but do this at the end in case your chicken stock is overly salty. I didn't use any pepper, but that also might be needed, although maybe try to add more harissa. The dish needs to be a visual balance of meat, onion, fruit, nut and just enough red cranberries to look a little different.
• Stir it all together and let it all simmer to merge the flavours for about 20 minutes.
• Sprinkle on the chopped coriander just before serving.
• Serve with rice or flatbread (pita bread) or similar.

Notes

Paprika is probably the only other ingredient I might have added to the mix.  And maybe some lemon juice too…oh, and I have some “Mike’s Hot Honey” which might have gone well, but also might have been a bit pointless on this.  I wasn’t after “madras strength” – just a warming taste.

I think also if I’d have has pistachio nuts instead of cashews, that might have added an interesting, colourful dimension and complementary taste.  Cashews were fine, however.  Just make sure they’re not overly salty by rinsing them first in water.

Cranberries also add some interesting colour.  Fresh cranberries or even pomegranate could be an alternative here also if you have it.

Keyword Christmas, leftover, Moroccan, turkey