Stuffed Turkey Leg

By jonoandjules on 16 December 2024

Not sure why we didn't think of this before. A boned, brined, stuffed, and rolled, turkey leg with delicious gravy that can be completely prepped in advance. Juicy, tasty and easy, even if it does take a bit of time in the prep. It's a no-brainer!

Ask your butcher to bone the turkey legs for you and keep the bones to make the gravy.

Wine Suggestion: Classic Christmas dinner fare, an oaked white like Rustenberg's Five Soldiers Chardonnay and a Rhône red like Les Pallières Racines Gigondas made by the Bruniers of Vieux Télégraphe Chateuneud-du-Papes. Pushing the boat out a bit with standard bearers but we thought it was worth it.

Stuffed turkey leg - serves 4 to 6 (generously and easily halved)

2 boned turkey legs

FOR THE BRINE:

140g table salt
½ tsp white peppercorns
½ tsp coriander seeds
½ tsp fennel seeds
6 sprigs of thyme
2 bay leaves

FOR THE STUFFING:

50g butter
1 onion, finely diced
1 clove of garlic, finely grated
200g sausage meat
a bunch of sage, half the leaves finely chopped (keep the rest for the gravy)
½ tsp dried oregano

FOR THE GRAVY:

turkey bones (or chicken bones)
2 tbsp vegetable oil
2 onions, peeled and cut into chunks
2 cloves of garlic, peeled
2 carrots, cut into chunks
½ bunch of thyme
2 bay leaves
150ml white wine
100ml dry sherry
1 litre good quality chicken stock
1 tsp Marmite
1 tbsp cornflour

To make the brine, put all of the ingredients into a medium-large saucepan, with 500ml water. Place over a hight heat and bring to the boil to dissolve the salt, then remove from the heat and add 1.5 litres of cold water. Leave to cool.

Put the cooked brine into a large bowl and add the turkey legs. Leave to brine for two hours but no more.

Meanwhile, make the gravy. Heat the oven to 220C/200C fan/gas 7.

Put the bones into a large rosting tray and place in the oven. Turn the oven down immediately to 200C/180C/gas 6 and roast for 20-25 minutes until golden.

While the bones are roasting, heat a large saucepan over a high heat. Add the vegetable oil, when it almost smokes, add the onions, garlic, carrots, thyme and bay leaves and brown well for 15 minutes, stirring often. Add the white wine and sherry and reduce to a syrup, then add the stock, roasted bones, and the unchopped sage. Add the Marmite and plenty of black pepper and simmer gently for 1 hour. Pass through a fine sieve into a clean saucepan and simmer gently for 20 minutes. Mix the cornflour with 2 tbsp of cold water and whisk it into the gravy. Simmer for another 10 minutes. Taste and adjust the seasoning if you need. It should be super tasty.

Meanwhile, make the stuffing. Melt the butter in a medium frying pan, add the onion, garlic and a generous pinch of salt and cook for 10-15 minutes or until soft. Transfer to a large bowl and mix in the sausage meat, finely chopped sage, oregano and some black pepper.

Put a large piece of foil on top of the the work surface and lay one of the boned legs on top, skin-side up. Rub the the skin with salt and pepper. Turn it over and place half the stuffing on the flesh side. Smooth it out with a spoon but leave a good 3cm gap at the end you are going to roll towards. Roll the leg tightly and secure it with kitchen string - don't worry too much about what it looks like at this stage (ours had a hole and the stuffing was bursting out the side - no matter!). Repeat with the second leg. Put the leg into a roasting tray and roast in the hot oven for 25 minutes. Remove the foil and roast for another 30-35 minutes, until the skin is golden and the juices run clear (a meat thermometer is very useful here). Remove from the oven and leave to rest, covered loosely with foil, for 10-15 minutes. Add the roasting juice to the gravy and then carve and serve.

(Original recipe from Marcus Everyday by Marcus Everyday, HarperCollinsPublishers, 2019.)