Slow-Cooked Turkey with Mustard Sauce

You can find the original recipe here: http://www.simplyrecipes.com/recipes/slow-cooked_turkey_with_mustard_sauce/

1. Take out your 4 (or 3) turkey thighs and generously salt them. Let them sit out for 30 minutes. I bought 4 rather large turkey thighs and thought it was too much for the ratio of veggi's the original recipe called for. I think 3 thighs would have been plenty. Turkey thighs can be hard to find, but Shoppers had some (not Harris Teeter).

2. While the turkey is resting, you will have time to prep the vegetables and the sauce. Peel and chop your onions, carrots, and parsnips. I don't really like onions so I tried to chop them as fine as I can by hand. Below is what a parsnip looks like peeled. Parsnips look like white carrots and taste very similar to carrots. Parsnips are delicious. I would prep the potatos and greens just before you need them so they don't brown.

3. You can also make the sauce ahead of time. I used a product called Better Than Bouillon Chicken Base instead of canned or boxed chicken stock. Of course if you have homemade chicken/turkey stock use that instead.

Since the recipe called for 3 cups of chicken stock, I mixed 3 cups of water with 3 teaspoons of the Better Than Bouillon base in the pot and whisked. I brought the stock up to a simmer then combined the 1/3 cup of yellow mustard, 2 tablespoons of brown sugar, 1 tablespoon of mustard power, and 2 teaspoons of chile powder. I would of used chipotle powder if I had some. Whisk until combined. Try your sauce and add extra salt, vinegar, or chili/ chipotle powder if needed. I added some extra salt and vinegar.

4. By now you turkey should be done resting. Dab off the extra moisture from the turkey thighs with a paper towl. The original recipe said to oil your pan first, which I did, but I would not do it again. I think the turkey thigh has enough fat in it for lubrication with a little help from a non-stick spray. Wait until your pan gets hot enough, then brown each of your turkey thighs for about 3-5 minutes per side. Make sure your pan is hot. Depending on how large your pan is, you'll have to do them 2 or 1 at a time. Once the turkey thighs are done, place them in your slow-cooker. Don't take the skin and bones off yet!

5. Saute your onions in the leftover turkey grease until they are translucent, which usually takes around 5 minutes. Pour the onions on top of the turkey in the slow-cooker.


6. Put the parsnips and carrots on top of the onions in the slow-cooker.

7. Pour enough of the sauce in to come  3/4 of the way up to the top of the solid ingredients. Save the rest of the sauce, if there is some, for later.

8. Put the slow-cooker on high for 6 hours. 4 hours in, place 6 chopped Yukon Gold potatoes in with the rest of your sauce. Do not bother peeling the potatoes. It is extra work and that is were a lot of the potato's nutrients lie.

9. Once 6 hours passed and your slow-cooker switches to warm mode, carefully take out the turkey thighs. They will be delicate and hot so use a couple of tools and possibly some rubber gloves to get them out in once piece without burning your hands. I would place the thighs on a plate. Take off and discard the bones and skin off and place the meat into a separate bowl. Once all the turkey meat is in the bowl. Shred the meat with a fork or your hands.

10. Stir in the 1/4 of a cup of whole grain mustard and your chopped greens. Stir in the turkey meat. Try a little bit and add seasoning as appropriate.

Post cooking notes: I would of doubled or tripled the amount of greens. Reduced the amount of turkey to 3 thighs. Also, taking  pictures while cooking is challenging especially when cooking alone. Many of the pictures came out blurring, so I didn't bother posting them. I will make sure to do a better job next time.

Thanks for reading. Stay tuned for the next post. I will be vacationing in New Orleans next week. I'll post about at least one of the restaurants I go to.