Lemon & turkey ragu - by Clare de Boer
If you like the crisp edges of lasagne, the soaked croutons, the whipped cream that gets icy around the chocolate scoop - you’re in the right place.
Hello! This week I’m sharing a turkey ragu that demands little and makes me very happy. It’s luxurious and unusual but made with basic ingredients and minimal effort. On days when I can’t cook cook, I put myself in the capable hands of alchemy: milk and lemon turn defrosted ground turkey into something dazzling. We eat the ragu tossed with tagliatelle and handfuls of arugula or spooned into baked potatoes. “Overdelivers” is overused. But in this case, we really do get more from our efforts than we have any right to expect. The ragu that results from nothing more than the peels of two lemons, a cupful of sage leaves, some garlic and milk, seems almost conjured by magic.
The tradition of cooking meat this way comes from Emilia-Romagna, where milk and pork are a pair. Pigs raised for prosciutto are fed whey, meatballs are 1/3 ricotta, and whole shoulders and loins of pork are simmered for hours in milk split with lemon and flavored with sage. I use the same sage, lemon and milk combo for this ragu, but with ground turkey instead of pork, as it’s lighter, quicker to cook and eminently more weeknightable. I also think it benefits more from the treatment.
Dairy is a famous tenderizer, but the special effects here come from the lemon peel. The acid in the peel curdles the warm milk, splitting it into curds and whey—essentially ricotta. The curds cling to the ground meat, making something with the texture of a ricotta-ed meatball. After the peels have done their trick, they dissolve, leaving a mellow lemonyness that lifts the sage and balances the sweet curds.
For anyone that thinks the recipe is strange or sacrilege, I remind you that Marcella makes her bolognese with milk.
It’s hard to go wrong with this recipe, but if you want it to go very right, use dark, fatty meat (96% lean is fatty for turkey) and more sage than you think is reasonable. The process looks gnarly, so look away until it’s cooked—and then you will taste and understand.
Serves 4
4 tbsp olive oil
Peel of 2 large lemons
1 cup sage leaves, packed!
6 cloves garlic
2 lbs dark meat ground turkey (96% lean—I used this)
6 cups whole milk
1/2 -1 tbsp kosher salt
Pour the olive oil into a medium saucepan. Smash the garlic cloves with the side of your knife’s blade, peel and add these to the oil. Bring the oil to a shimmer over medium heat. Using a peeler, peel thick strips of lemon zest into the oil. After a minute or so, when the peel begins to smell like sherbet, add the sage leaves. They will absorb the oil and darken slightly as they infuse. Add the turkey before the sage crisps. Stir to move the sage and peel away from the bottom of the pan so they don’t burn. Season with 1/2 a tablespoon of kosher salt. Turn the heat up high and continue to stir, breaking clumps of mince and cooking until the meat is no longer translucent.
Pour over the milk and stand by for it to boil. When it bubbles up, turn the heat down so it doesn’t boil over—it should split, not scald. At this point the ragu will look strange, but have faith.
Simmer uncovered for 90 minutes or until the turkey is tender and the whey has reduced to sit just below the line of the mince. If yours reduces below the mince before the turkey becomes tender, add a splash of water. Taste for seasoning and add more salt if necessary (I added another 1/2 tablespoon).
Toss with the noodle of your choice and some olive oil (not butter) and top with lots of parmesan and black pepper, maybe a handful of arugula.
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