Frank Davis New - Full Recipe

	They’re nothing more than turkey drumsticks, trimmed and skinned and cut into three pieces crosswise to form bone-in shanks. So if you’re an osso bucco kinda person and you like veal shanks, German pork shanks, and beef shanks. . .wait till you try these, especially slow-cooked in a spicy, white wine-flavored brown gravy over brown rice with green peas.
Ingredients:
1/4 cup vegetable oil 12 pieces skinned turkey shanks 3 tsp. Frank Davis Poultry Seasoning Salt and black pepper as needed 1 cup onions, diced 3/4 cup celery, diced 1/2 cup bell pepper, diced 1 cup mushrooms, sliced 2 Tbsp. garlic, minced 2 Tbsp. minced parsley 2 bay leaves 1/4 cup all purpose flour 2/3 cup chicken stock 1/2 cup white wine 1/2 cup heavy cream (optional) 1 tsp. red pepper flakes 1 tsp. Kitchen Bouquet 1 Tbsp. butter to smooth Green onions for garnish
Instructions:
First, in a heavy 6-quart cast iron Dutch oven, heat the vegetable oil over a medium-high flame. Then while the oil is coming up to temperature, lay out the turkey shanks in a single layer on several sheets of freezer wrap and liberally season them with the salt, black pepper, and poultry seasoning, making sure all sides are coated to ensure a uniform flavor. Next, drop the shanks into the Dutch oven and brown them all over to seal in natural juices. When they’re ready remove them from the pot and set them aside momentarily. You’ll notice that some sticking will have taken place in the bottom of the pot—that’s mostly seasoning coming off the shanks, so don’t be concerned. This will form the base for a rich brown gravy later in the recipe. Once all the shanks are out of the pot, drop into the pot the onions, celery, bell pepper, garlic, mushrooms, parsley, and bay leaves. At this point, immediately reduce the heat to low and vigorously stir in the seasoning vegetables—this is where the temperature falls and the pot becomes "deglazed" (which means the crust stuck on the bottom loosens up and becomes part of the flavoring. Note: this won’t happen while the heat is turned up—the temperature will have to drop to "loose" the debris. It’s right about this time that you also stir in the flour. To keep it from "lumping," I suggest you sprinkle it in a little at a time and thoroughly mix it into the vegetables as you go. Then add the chicken stock, the white wine, the cream, the red pepper flakes, and the Kitchen Bouquet and combine everything into the base gravy. All that’s left now is to put the shanks back into the pot, submerging and basting each one with the brown gravy as they’re dropped in. Then when all the turkey is in the Dutch oven, either (1) reduce the heat to low, cover the pot, and simmer it on the stovetop for about and hour and a half, or (2) cover the pot and slide it into a 350 degree oven for about two hours. Finally, about ten minutes before you’re ready to eat, stir in about a handful of green onions as well as the tablespoon of butter. The onions will top off the flavors and the butter will "smooth" the gravy. Gotta tell ya’, this recipe is best served ladled over buttered brown rice (gravy and all), alongside green peas and diced purple onions, and a accompanied by a stack of hot biscuits right from the oven. -------------
Chef's Notes:
1. To convert a turkey drumstick into "turkey shanks," first skin the leg. Then ask your butcher to run it crosswise through the bandsaw to cut it into three pieces.
2. Turkey shanks are good the day they’re cooked; but like red beans, jambalaya, and gumbo they’re always much better the next day after all the flavors have married!
3. This same recipe can be used to fix pork cubes, beef round steak, venison backstrap, or anything else your imagination conjures up.
4. Remember to use a good table wine—Piesporter, Chablis, Chardonnay, Chenin Blanc, etc.—in this dish. How much to use? As much as you need to your taste—you can start with the half cup the recipe calls for, or add another half cup, or use most of the bottle! It will depend upon how "soupy" you want the final gravy to be. Just cook the wine so that the harshness is eliminated. Oh…and do not use what is commonly referred to as "cooking wine!"
5. Take care not to make the original gravy base too watery at the outset. You have to remember that renderings will come from the turkey to liquefy the gravy as the recipe cooks.
6. If your local supermarket doesn’t stock turkey legs outside of the holiday season, you can call Glenn Mistich at the Gourmet Butcher Block at 504-392-5700. He keeps them in the coolers most of the year.