Turkey with fruits and tangerine sauce

Turkey is a must in a traditional Christmas meal. Àngels Pallàs' proposal, this turkey with fruit and mandarin sauce , is a traditional British recipe adapted to our palates. It can be made with a whole turkey by increasing the ingredients of the stuffing; in fact, the original recipe was designed for a whole stuffed turkey.

Ingredients

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

For the mandarin sauce:

• 5 tangerines
• 1 tbsp mandarin peel cut into thin strips
• 2 tbsp sugar
• 1 tbsp Brandy (preferably good)
• 200 cc of mild chicken broth
• 1 tbsp cornstarch

For the accompaniment:

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

Preparation

1. We leave the dried apricots and red fruits in a bowl with hot water for about ten minutes. We take them out of the water, cut them and put them in a bowl with the pistachios and chopped parsley.
2. We 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. We add salt and pepper, a few drops of cognac and a little butter on top.
3. While the chicken breast marinates, we make a sauce with the onion and garlic in a bowl with butter and oil. It is important to make the sauce with plenty of butter, since when making the recipe with skinless chicken breast, it can be a little dry. First, we put the onion in and once it is sautéed, we add the chopped garlic and let it cook for a minute. It is important that the garlic does not burn so that it does not become bitter. We only let it change color without letting it toast. We remove it to a bowl to cool a little. We wait about ten minutes and add the dried red fruits, pistachio and chopped parsley. We mix well.
4. We place the dough on top of the breast and carefully roll it up. We tie it with kitchen string, wrapping the string from one end of the breast to the other, and season it with salt and pepper. If we don't dare to stuff the breast at home, we can take the stuffing to our trusted store. Normally, they have no problem stuffing the breast with our stuffing.

Place the stuffed chicken breast in an oval cocotte with oil and melted butter and let it brown on the stove. When the chicken breast is brown on both sides, cover the cocotte and leave it in the oven preheated to 200º for 20 minutes, 10 minutes on one side and 10 minutes on the other side. After 20 minutes, put a couple of spoonfuls of sugar on top, remove the lid and leave it in the oven for two or three more minutes so that it becomes shiny.

Remove the breast from the oven, let it cool a little, then untie and cut it. Serve it on an Emile Henry ceramic platter with a little mandarin sauce and its segments (without the skin) on top.

Mandarin sauce:

1. We make juice from three mandarin oranges and set it aside.
2. Peel and make crows from the other two mandarins. To make the crows without the skin, cut the first crow directly from the peeled mandarin, leaving the skin on the fruit. Cut the skin off the second crow without removing it completely, turn the page as if it were a book and cut the second crow directly from the mandarin. Continue the same procedure with all the crows from the two mandarins.
3. We take the skin of the two mandarins and remove the white part of the skin so that it is not bitter and cut the skin into very thin strips with scissors or a sharp knife. We blanch, strain and remove the skin.
4. We make juice with the other mandarins.
5. We prepare the cornstarch by mixing it with water. It is important to first add the cornstarch and then add the water and mix so that there are no lumps.
6. As with any good Worcestershire sauce, we will start by making a little caramel by toasting the sugar with a little water in a saucepan. When the sugar is toasted, we carefully add the brandy, the mandarin juice and the chicken broth.
7. When the sauce starts to boil, add the cornstarch, the strips of mandarin peel and finally, the mandarin slices. Adjust the salt and pepper and remove. If you make it the day before, it is important to leave it a little thin as the cornstarch will thicken it during the night.

Potatoes to accompany:

1. Cut the potatoes into very thin slices with a sharp knife or a mandolin and place them in a bowl with oil. Remove them from the bowl, shake them to remove excess oil and place them on a non-stick mat to bake them.
2. Place the leaves on top of the potatoes. Remove any excess oil from the sheet and place in a preheated oven at 200º for 10 minutes or until crispy.