Thanksgiving is my favorite holiday, because it's centered around food (not gifts and shopping), and because it's a holiday where everyone is welcome. You don't have to be a certain religion or culture to celebrate it -- it's about breaking bread and being with the people you care about.
I also love Thanksgiving because I love turkey -- it's one of the first dishes I learned to make, although since I grew up in Sweden it was the centerpiece of our Christmas celebration rather than the traditional American Thanksgiving dinner.
Every November, I'm amazed how all the food magazines have a turkey on the cover, and every year the turkeys get more golden and beautiful. How the turkey tastes is a different thing. It's very difficult, even for a chef, to make a moist, delicious turkey. In my new African-inspired cookbook, The Soul of a New Cuisine, I developed a full-proof turkey recipe, using only the breast so it cooks faster and doesn't dry out and roasting it with harissa, a fiery hot North African spice rub that works wonders on the rather bland turkey meat. Serve it with mashed pumpkin and Swiss chard for an unforgettable Thanksgiving feast. And the leftovers make a great turkey club the next day.
Harissa-Roasted Turkey Breast
1 6-pound turkey breast, bone-in, skin on
4 whole garlic cloves
2 cinnamon sticks
1/2 medium yellow onions, finely chopped
1 cup harissa
salt and pepper
1. Preheat the oven to 400ºF.
2. Rinse the turkey under cold water and pat dry. Sprinkle salt and pepper on all sides of the turkey and in the neck cavity. Stuff the garlic cloves, cinnamon sticks and onion into the neck cavity, and seal it closed with a wooden skewer or toothpick. Generously rub harissa over and under the skin. Place the turkey breast, skin side up, on a roasting rack in a roasting pan and cover with foil. Put the pan in the oven.
3. Roast the turkey breast, basting occasionally with the juices that accumulate in the bottom of the pan, until an instant read thermometer inserted into the breast reads 160ºF, or the juices run clear, about 90 minutes. Let the meat rest for at least 20 minutes before carving.
Text:
Copyright © by Marcus Samuelsson.
Recipe:
Reprinted from The Soul of a New Cuisine with permission of John Wiley & Sons, Inc.
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