Turkey with Fruit and Mandarin Sauce

The turkey cannot be missing from a traditional Christmas meal. Àngels Pallàs's proposal, this turkey with fruits and mandarin sauce, is a traditional British early recipe adapted to our tastes. It can be made with a whole turkey by increasing the stuffing ingredients; in fact the original recipe was intended for a whole stuffed turkey.

Ingredients

• 8 dried apricots
• 100 g of roasted, chopped pistachios
• 100 g of dried cherries (or any dried red berry)
• 1 medium onion
• 1 garlic Parsley, chopped Butter and oil
• 1 or 2 turkey breasts cut for stuffing
• Salt, pepper and lemon
• Cognac

For the mandarin sauce:

• 5 mandarins
• 1 tbsp of mandarin peel cut into thin strips
• 2 tbsp of sugar
• 1 tbsp of Brandy (better if it's good)
• 200 cc of mild chicken stock
• 1 tbsp of cornstarch

For the accompaniment:

1. A couple or three large potatoes
2. Oil
3. Leaf herbs (sage, basil, etc.)

Preparation

1. Soak the dried apricots and dried red fruits in a bowl with hot water for about ten minutes. Remove them from the water, chop them and set them aside in a bowl with the pistachios and the chopped parsley.
2. Open and stretch the breast until it has a rectangular shape. If necessary, we can add a piece of another breast to complete the rectangle. Season with salt and pepper, add a few drops of cognac and a little butter on top.
3. While the breast marinates, make a sofrito with the onion and the garlic in a pan with butter and oil. It is important to make the sofrito with plenty of butter because when making the recipe with the skinless breast, it can become a little dry. First add the onion and once it is softened, add the chopped garlic and let it cook for one minute. It is important that the garlic does not burn so it won't turn bitter. Just let it change color without browning. Remove it to a bowl to cool slightly. Wait about ten minutes and add the dried red fruits, the pistachio and the chopped parsley. Mix well.
4. Place the mixture on top of the breast and roll it up carefully. Tie it with kitchen twine, wrapping the twine from one end of the breast to the other, and season with salt and pepper. If you don't dare to stuff the breast at home, you can take the stuffing to your trusted shop. Usually, they have no problem stuffing the breast with our filling.

Place the stuffed breast in an oval casserole with oil and melted butter and let it brown over the heat. When the breast is browned on both sides, cover the casserole and put it in the oven preheated to 200º for 20 minutes, 10 minutes on one side, and 10 minutes on the other. After 20 minutes, sprinkle a couple of tablespoons of sugar on top, remove the lid, and leave it in the oven for two or three more minutes so it turns nice and glossy.

Remove the breast from the oven, let it cool a little, untie it and slice. It can be served in an Emile Henry ceramic dish with a little mandarin sauce and its segments (without peel) on top.

Mandarin sauce:

1. Juice three mandarins and set the juice aside.
2. Peel and segment the other two mandarins. To segment without skin, cut the first segment directly from the peeled mandarin leaving the peel on the fruit. Cut the peel of the second segment without completely removing it, fold back as if it were a book and cut the second segment directly from the mandarin. Continue the procedure with all the segments of the two mandarins.
3. Take the peel from the two mandarins and remove the white part of the peel so it won't be bitter, then cut the peel into very thin strips with scissors or a sharp knife. Blanch, strain and discard this peel.
4. With the other mandarins make juice.
5. Prepare the cornstarch by mixing it with water. Important: first put the cornstarch and then add the water and mix so there are no lumps.
6. As a proper English sauce, start by making a bit of caramel by toasting the sugar with a little water in a saucepan. When the sugar is toasted add the brandy carefully, the mandarin juice and the chicken stock.
7. When the sauce begins to boil, add the cornstarch, the mandarin peel strips and finally the mandarin segments. Adjust salt and pepper and remove from heat. If you make it the day before it's important to leave it a bit thin since the cornstarch will thicken it overnight.

Potatoes to accompany:

1. Cut very thin slices of the potatoes with a sharp knife or a mandoline and leave them in a bowl with oil. Remove them from the bowl, shake off excess oil and place them on a non-stick baking sheet to bake.
2. Place the herbs on top of the potatoes. Remove the excess oil from the sheet and put it in a preheated oven at 200º for 10 minutes or until crispy.