What could be better than turkey basted with a gastrique made with fresh tangerine juice, zest and champagne vinegar, then topped with a Grand Marnier and pink peppercorn gravy-not much! We made it while on Kauai using tangerines from our tree, the results were fresh, sweet, savory and absolutely delicious. The recipe is inspired by Bobby Flay with a few tweaks of our own, ENJOY!
Gastrique is caramelized sugar, deglazed with vinegar, used as a flavoring for sauces.
If you’ve never brined a turkey, we highly recommend it. The brine below imparts some incredible flavors while tenderizing the meat.
Brining - 2 Days before cooking, if brining, follow directions for your brine of choice. The collage shows some of our favorite brine ingredients, if you have time to make your own. If not, we like the turkey brine from Simply Organic. After 24 hours, rinse well, pat dry with paper towels and carefully loosen the breast skin of the turkey.
Air Dry - 1-Day before cooking, place your turkey on the rack of a sheet pan and dry uncovered in the refrigerator for 24 hours, this step helps give the turkey a nice crispy skin. It’s important to loosen the skin before this step. Air drying makes the skin thinner and can more easily tear.
Tangerine Gastrique/Glaze
Combine the tangerine juice and vinegar in a medium, nonreactive saucepan over high heat. Cook until reduced by half.
Add the honey and continue cooking until reduced to 2 cups. Stir in the tangerine zest and salt and pepper to taste, and transfer to a bowl to cool. Reserve 1/4 cup for the gravy and use the rest for the turkey.
Tangerine Compound Butter
In a small bowl, blend the butter with the minced garlic, chopped thyme, tangerine zest and season with salt and pepper, set aside.
Glazed Tangerine Turkey
Remove the turkey from the refrigerator 1 hour before roasting. Preheat the oven to 450 degrees F. Carefully loosen the breast skin of the turkey. Spread the butter evenly over the breast meat, then smooth out the skin. Brush the entire turkey with oil and sprinkle liberally with salt and pepper. Sprinkle the cavity of the turkey with salt and pepper and fill with the parsley, rosemary, sage, thyme and half of the carrots, celery and onions. Put 3 cups of the chicken stock in a medium saucepan and keep warm over low heat.
Place the remaining carrots, celery and onions on the bottom of a large roasting pan. Tie the legs together and the wings against the body with kitchen twine. Insert an oven safe, instant read thermometer in the deepest part of the breast. Set the turkey on top of the vegetables and roast until lightly golden brown, about 45 minutes.
Prep Time: 1 hour 30 minutes
Cook Time: 5 hours 15 minutes
Total Time: 6 hours 45 minutes
Ingredients
Brine
- 1 jar of Simply Organic Turkey Brine (optional)
Tangerine Gastrique/Glaze
- 4 cups fresh tangerine juice
- 2 cups champagne vinegar
- 2 cups clover honey
- Finely grated zest of 2 tangerines
- Kosher salt and freshly ground black pepper
Tangerine Compound Butter
- 2 sticks unsalted butter, softened
- 4 garlic cloves minced
- 3 teaspoons chopped
- Finely grated zest of 1 tangerine
- Salt and freshly ground pepper
Turkey a la Tangerine
- 1 container of Brine, we used “Simply Organic”
- One 17-pound whole fresh turkey, rinsed well and patted dry
- Olive oil, for brushing turkey
- Kosher salt and freshly ground black pepper
- Small bunch of fresh flat-leaf parsley
- Small bunch of fresh rosemary
- Small bunch fresh sage
- Small bunch fresh thyme
- 3 large carrots, cut into 1-inch pieces
- 3 large stalks celery, cut into 1-inch pieces
- 2 medium onions, quartered
- 6 to 7 cups homemade chicken stock
Gravy
- 5 to 7 cups homemade chicken stock, warmed
- 2 tablespoons unsalted butter
- 2 tablespoons olive oil
- 1 carrot, peeled and coarsely chopped
- 1 stalk celery, coarsely chopped
- 1 medium Spanish onion, coarsely chopped
- 2 cloves garlic, chopped
- 1/4 cup plus 2 tablespoons flour
- 1 cup dry white wine
- 1/2 teaspoon whole black peppercorns
- 2 tablespoons orange liqueur, such as Grand Marnier
- 1 teaspoon crushed pink peppercorns
- Kosher salt and freshly ground black pepper
- Finely grated zest of 1 tangerine
Instructions
Turkey Prep-optional
- Brining - 2 Days before cooking, if brining, follow directions for your brine of choice. The collage shows some of our favorite brine ingredients, if you have time to make your own. If not, we like the turkey brine from Simply Organic. After 24 hours, rinse well, pat dry with paper towels and carefully loosen the breast skin of the turkey.
- Air dry - 1-Day before cooking, place your turkey on the rack of a sheet pan and dry uncovered in the refrigerator for 24 hours, this step helps give the turkey a nice crispy skin. It’s important to loosen the skin before this step. Air drying makes the skin thinner and can more easily tear.
Tangerine Gastrique/Glaze
- Combine the tangerine juice and vinegar in a medium, nonreactive saucepan over high heat. Cook until reduced by half.
- Add the honey and continue cooking until reduced to 2 cups.
- Stir in the tangerine zest and salt and pepper to taste, and transfer to a bowl to cool. Reserve 1/4 cup for the gravy and use the rest for the turkey.
Tangerine Compound Butter
- In a small bowl, blend the butter with the minced garlic, chopped thyme, tangerine zest and season with salt and pepper, set aside.
Glazed Tangerine Turkey
- Remove the turkey from the refrigerator 1 hour before roasting. Preheat the oven to 450 degrees F.
- Carefully loosen the breast skin of the turkey. Spread the butter evenly over the breast meat then smooth out the skin. Brush the entire turkey with oil and sprinkle liberally with salt and pepper. Sprinkle the cavity of the turkey with salt and pepper and fill with the parsley, rosemary, sage, thyme and half of the carrots, celery and onions.
- Put 3 cups of the chicken stock in a medium saucepan and keep warm over low heat.
- Place the remaining carrots, celery and onions on the bottom of a large roasting pan. Tie the legs together and the wings against the body with kitchen twine. Insert an oven safe, instant read thermometer in the deepest part of the breast. Set the turkey on top of the vegetables and roast until lightly golden brown, about 45 minutes.
- Reduce the heat to 350 degrees F and continue roasting, basting with the warm chicken stock every 15 minutes. When the breasts register 150 degrees F on an instant-read thermometer, begin basting the turkey with some of the gastrique. Continue roasting and basting with the gastrique until the breasts register 160 degrees F, 2 1/4 to 2 1/2 hours.
- Remove the turkey from the oven and transfer to a baking sheet, keeping the oven at 350 degrees F. Remove the legs and transfer to a roasting pan. Tent the turkey loosely with foil and let rest 30 minutes before slicing.
- Strain the pan drippings into a bowl and discard the solids. Add enough stock to make 4 cups liquid. In a pot over medium-high heat, bring the liquid to a simmer. Transfer the simmering liquid to the roasting pan with the legs, cover with foil and braise in the oven until tender, about 1 hour.
- Remove the legs from the braising liquid and transfer to a baking sheet, reserving the braising liquid for the gravy. Switch the oven to broil. Brush the legs with some of the gastrique and place under the broiler until glazed and crispy, about 8 minutes.
Gravy
- In a saucepan, combine the turkey leg braising liquid with enough warm stock to make 7 cups and keep warm over low heat.
- In another large saucepan over medium heat, heat the butter and oil until the oil begins to shimmer. Add the carrots, celery and onions and cook until soft, about 5 minutes. Add the garlic and cook for 30 seconds.
- Whisk in the flour and cook until lightly golden brown, about 5 minutes. Whisk in the wine and cook until reduced by two-thirds. Whisk in the hot stock and black peppercorns and cook until thickened. Bring to a simmer and continue cooking, stirring occasionally, until the flour taste has been cooked out and the gravy coats the back of a wooden spoon, about 8 minutes.
- Strain the mixture through a fine sieve into a clean saucepan, bring to a simmer and cook until slightly reduced. Add the reserved 1/4 cup tangerine gastrique, the orange liqueur and pink peppercorns and cook for an additional minute. Season with salt and pepper and stir in the tangerine zest.
- Serve the gravy alongside the turkey.
Notes
Adapted From | Bobby Flay
