Cuisse de Dinde (Turkey Leg)

Cuisse de Dinde sounds so much better than Turkey Leg, doesn’t it? But that’s what this recipe is about. Cuisse actually means “thigh” and is pronounced ‘queese.’ And dinde is turkey, and is pronounced like dandy. Except the vowel is more the sound you make when you think something is just so-so. eh. Queese de Dehnde.

Alright, now that we’ve gotten that out of the way, on to the recipe. Do you see turkey leg sold outside of Thanksgiving? I don’t remember that from the States, but we have them a’plenty here. It’s a pretty common thing to cook in France.

I got my recipe from Marmiton and I basically just translated it for you. Nothing original in my recipe here. Except it’s probably unique outside of France, which is where an English translation probably comes in handy. Handy for your Dehndy.

Okay. I need a nap.

My cuisse was just over 3 pounds. 1.5 kilos. I got it from the butcher, and the friends who saw it joked about it coming from a horse or a wild boar. This sucker was big.

I cut 2 large cloves of garlic in slivers.

I pierced the meat all over and pushed the garlic in until it was almost completely covered.

I salted and peppered the meat, then smothered it with 4 heaping tablespoons of Dijon mustard, and sprinkled it generously with herbes de provence.

Then I made the marinade. I could have soaked it overnight, but I didn’t look for a recipe until the minute I needed it. So that was that. I combined 2 Tablespoons of soy sauce with 2 tablespoons of honey and a tablespoon of olive oil.

Pour that over the meat, and into the oven it goes. You will have preheated to 180°C, of course.

Every 15 minutes or so, take it out and ladle the sauce over the meat. Add more water if you need to. There should be enough sauce to pour over rice or noodles, or whatever you serve the turkey with.

And then, after about an hour (an hour fifteen for mine) the turkey is done.

Cut in slices, pour the sauce over the top, and serve hot.

It is so amazingly good, you cannot go wrong with this recipe.

Unless your guest is a vegetarian.

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I want to tell you about two people who wrote a book review of A Lady in France. The first is my friend Stacey of the blog Is There Any Mommy Out There. Stacey is such an exceptional writer it’s hard to pick just one thing to direct you to. I almost think I could close my eyes and pull a post out of a hat and it would be exceptional. I mean, let’s just take, for instance, this one. You see what I mean, don’t you? I read every single thing she writes and I love every one.

I identify with Stacey so much. Sure we have our religious differences, which we sort of celebrate – as it rather connects us as opposed to distances us. But she’s an adoptive mommy and a foster mommy (like the household I grew up in). And she loves to travel and she’s lived overseas. And she has a Bohemian spirit I completely relate to, not to mention her abhorrence of cold and crafts. We’re kindred spirits. And she wrote about my book here. I loved her review and I love her.

Tracie (who blogs at From Tracie) has also written a review. Tracie was faithful in reading my memoir when I was still publishing it a chapter at a time on my blog. And then she did me the honour of buying a copy and reading it again! How could I not ask such a sweet friend if she would talk about the book on her blog?

Tracie’s favorite color is yellow, which – I suppose – is insignificant in and of itself. But it’s not insignificant to me because yellow represents cheerfulness and hope. And Tracie is a survivor of child abuse. In fact, she is an advocate for other survivors and that is no small thing. Tracie’s survival story is here. To me, she is a hero, and I say that with a lump in my throat because no one should have to go through what she did.

She also had a miracle birth with her daughter who is close to Juliet’s age . It’s not that it was hard for her to get pregnant – you just have to read the story here to see for yourself. Tracie is an avid reader and we identify so much in our shared tastes in literature. I’m very honoured to have Tracie review my book, and the review is found right here.

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I just want to mention one more thing. With marketing the book and my blog schedule (even if it is self-imposed) and my additional teaching hours, I don’t have time to respond to your comments right now. I’m sorry about that, but I read and treasure every one. 🙂

If you’d like to see more recipes, click here for my recipe page!

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