Tarragon turkey with salsify roots

Have you ever eaten salsify? It's called salsifis [sal-see-FEE] in France, and it's known by the names "black salsify" or "Spanish salsify" — among others — in English. It was something CHM wanted to eat while he was here. He remembered his family cooking and eating salsify when he was growing up in Paris back in the 1930s and '40s (if I understood correctly).

Salsifis in a tarragon cream sauce with sauteed mushrooms

I've eaten salsifis several times over the years, but I've never used the fresh vegetable. It's the root of  plants in the sunflower family. The root has a thick black skin that has to be removed either before or after the salsify is cooked by boiling it in water. Salsifis have a mild taste and are cooked served with melted butter, or in a white sauce made with cream and, say, mustard or fresh herbs. They are also good battered and fried, or cooked as fritters.

Turkey legs and thighs browned and then braised in the same tarragon cream sauce
 (Thanks to CHM for this photo)

We bought a can of cooked salsify roots at the supermarket the other day, and we had them with turkey legs and thighs that I cooked in a creamy tarragon sauce. It's easy to get turkey leg/thigh sections here in France, and I enjoy them slow-roasted in the oven with various sauces, including tomato, red wine, or cream. In this case, we wanted the flavor of tarragon, and we used it in its dried form.

Turkey legs and thighs marinating in white wine and vinegar with onion, garlic, and dried tarragon leaves

The first step was to marinate the turkey legs and thighs in white wine and vinegar. I chopped up a small onion, a fairly large shallot, and a big garlic clove. I put all that along with about three heaping tablespoons of dried tarragon on the turkey pieces in a big bowl and then poured about a quarter-cup of tarragon vinegar and three-quarters of a cup of dry white wine over all of it. The only other ingredients in the marinade were salt and pepper. I covered the dish with plastic wrap and let the meat marinate for about three hours.

Put the turkey pieces into a hot oven, uncovered, to brown with vegetable oil and butter.

When it was time, I took the turkey parts out of the marinade and used the back of a knife to scrape the onion and tarragon mixture off each leg and thigh — not throwing it away but putting it back into the marinade dish, the contents of which was going to be the cooking liquid. But first, I wanted to brown the turkey parts in a pan in a hot oven, with some canola oil and butter.

The first stage of the cooking process is to brown the turkey pieces slightly in a hot oven.

As soon as the turkey legs and thighs were slightly browned, I poured the marinade over them and covered the pan I was cooking them in. They went into a 180ºC (350ºF) oven for about an hour. While they cooked, I got the rest of the sauce ingredients ready. I had three-fourths of a cup of heavy cream, about half a cup of chicken broth, and a teaspoonful of potato or corn starch. Dissolve the starch in a little cold liquid before you add it to the hot liquid in the pan with the turkey.

Oven-braise the turkey in the marinade, covered, for 90 to 120 minutes in all.

When the turkey has been in the oven for an hour or 90 minutes, pour the cream and the rest of the sauce ingredients into the pan and stir them into the cooking liquid. Spoon some of the sauce over the turkey pieces and cover the pan. Let it cook for another 30 to 45 minutes in the oven. A good addition to the sauce is a few sauteed mushrooms.

 Serve the braised turkey, mushrooms, and salsify roots glazed with tarragon cream sauce.
 (Thanks to CHM for this photo)

Heat up the salsify roots in a pan on top of the stove with a little butter or oil. When the turkey is done, spoon some of the creamy tarragon sauce over the salsifis and serve the turkey and vegetables with the sauce. It's delicious. The tarragon, wine, and vinegar give the sauce a slightly tart flavor that complements the otherwise slightly bland flavors of the turkey meat and salsify roots. A green salad with vinaigrette dressing is a good second course.