The second main dish for my Christmas dinner is a turkey breast with ginger and vanilla and carrots, tagliatelle and cranberry sauce as a side dish. The meat is also cooked with low temperature in the oven and the result will be a tender, juicy and soft turkey breast. (find more information on cooking with low temperature here.) A spicy paste made of ginger, garlic, chili, vanilla, orange zest and salt is rubbed into the meat and this imparts a very special, exotic and Christmassy flavor. The cranberry sauce is the perfect addition.
This recipe is so easy to make that you’ll simply love it. You’ll only have to muster up some patience as the meat is in the oven for almost two hours.
Turkey Breast with Ginger and Vanilla
Serves 4:
For the turkey breast:
1 turkey breast (about 2 lb)
about 2 inches of ginger
2 cloves of garlic
½ red chili
1 vanilla bean
1 orange (zest)
1 ½ teaspoons salt
2 tablespoons oil
For the Cranberry Sauce:
1 lb (450 g) fresh cranberries
1 orange (juice and zest)
¼ cup (60 ml) Cointreau (orange-flavored liqueur)
2/3 cups (120g) sugar
1 lb (450 g) carrots
1 lb (450 g) tagliatelle or similar pasta
Preheat the oven to 120°C / 250°F.
Peel the ginger and the garlic and finely grate or chop them. Deseed the chili and chop it. Split and scrape the vanilla bean. Zest the orange. Combine the ginger, garlic, chili, vanilla pulp, orange zest and salt in a mortar and pestle until it resembles a paste. Rub the turkey breast with the ginger-vanilla-paste.
Heat the oil in a frying pan and sear it on all sides for about 5 minutes. Transfer the turkey breast into an ovenproof dish, cover the dish and cook in the oven for about 1 hour and 45 minutes to 2 hours. The meat is done when a meat thermometer, which is inserted into the thickest part of the meat, shows a core temperature of 63°-65°C / 145°-149°F.
For the cranberry sauce wash the cranberries and transfer them into a medium sized pot. Add the orange juice and zest, the Cointreau and the sugar and cook until the cranberries have popped open and the sauce starts to gelatinize. Set aside in a serving dish and allow to cool completely.
Peel the carrots and cook in salted water until tender.
Cook the tagliatelle in salted water according to the instructions on the package.
Serve thin slices of the turkey breast with the cranberry sauce, the carrots and the pasta.
My Christmas Dinner:
* * *
Beef-Filet with Chocolate Gravy
or
Turkey Breast with Ginger and Vanilla
* * *
Chocolate-Gingerbread Mousse with Orange Sauce
And here is the recipe for printing:
- [b]For the turkey breast:[/b]
- 1 turkey breast (about 2 lb)
- about 2 inches of ginger
- 2 cloves of garlic
- ½ red chili
- 1 vanilla bean
- 1 orange (zest)
- 1 ½ teaspoons salt
- 2 tablespoons oil
- [br]
- [b]For the Cranberry Sauce:[/b]
- 1 lb (450 g) fresh cranberries
- 1 orange (juice and zest)
- ¼ cup (60 ml) Cointreau (orange-flavored liqueur)
- 2/3 cups (120g) sugar
- [br]
- 1 lb (450 g) carrots
- 1 lb (450 g) tagliatelle or similar pasta
- Preheat the oven to 120°C / 250°F.
- Peel the ginger and the garlic and finely grate or chop them. Deseed the chili and chop it. Split and scrape the vanilla bean. Zest the orange. Combine the ginger, garlic, chili, vanilla pulp, orange zest and salt in a mortar and pestle until it resembles a paste. Rub the turkey breast with the ginger-vanilla-paste.
- Heat the oil in a frying pan and sear it on all sides for about 5 minutes. Transfer the turkey breast into an ovenproof dish, cover the dish and cook in the oven for about 1 hour and 45 minutes to 2 hours. The meat is done when a meat thermometer, which is inserted into the thickest part of the meat, shows a core temperature of 63°-65°C / 145°-149°F.
- For the cranberry sauce wash the cranberries and transfer them into a medium sized pot. Add the orange juice and zest, the Cointreau and the sugar and cook until the cranberries have popped open and the sauce starts to gelatinize. Set aside in a serving dish and allow to cool completely.
- Peel the carrots and cook in salted water until tender.
- Cook the tagliatelle in salted water according to the instructions on the package.
- Serve thin slices of the turkey breast with the cranberry sauce, the carrots and the pasta.
