Curried turkey legs and wings

Having had the vindaloo shrimp on Monday, I wasn’t sure I wanted another Indian-spiced dish on Wednesday. We had garam masala, which has a lot of the same ingredients as the vindaloo. What to do? Peter wanted to use yet another Indian mix, chat, which goes really well with potatoes.

I looked in my “Food Lover’s Companion.” In the back is a list of suggested spices and flavorings for various foods. Curry and mustard were included under the chicken or turkey category. Oh, I didn’t mention that the whole deal here is to prepare the legs and wings from that honking big turkey we got last week.

So, here’s what I did. Made a paste using mustard, oil, Thai curry sauce and water. I had to adjust it so the hot curry paste wouldn’t totally dominate.

Curried turkey legs and wings
2 turkey legs, brined for 2-3 hours
2 turkey wings, also brined, tips removed
Spice paste*
2 tbsp olive oil
1 tbsp butter
black pepper
chicken stock

Preheat the oven to 400 degrees.

Use a sharp knife to remove the sheath that runs up one side of the legs. Run your fingers along the various muscle components of the legs to open up spaces where you can rub in the curry paste. Make a few slits through the skin of the wings, again so the paste can get inside. Cut a slit into the meaty part on each side of the legs.

Rub the curry paste all over and into the turkey pieces. Pull the skin of the legs up (you’ll have had to pull it down to rub in the paste). Place the legs and wings on a wire rack over a baking pan. Add chicken stock to the pan and cover tightly with foil. Bake 1 1/4 to 1 ½ hrs. This can be done ahead of time. Then the turkey can be reheated.

*spice paste: mix 2 parts curry sauce (mine is from Hong Kong) with 1 part grainy mustard, 1 part olive oil, and 1 part water; stir to combine. Since you probably don’t have exactly the curry sauce I have, futz around with curry powder and the other ingredients until you get something you like.