Oven Roasted Turkey Legs with Gravy and Mashed Potatoes…..

Good morning!

It’s a crisp -5 degrees today.  Wow, that’s cold!  Time to stay in and make comfort food!

I wanted to share with you something I made last night for dinner that was absolutely delicious!  Oven roasted turkey legs.  Why only enjoy turkey during the holidays?  It is quite economical to buy turkey legs and thighs throughout the year without having to deal with the entire roasted bird.  The added bonus here is that your kitchen will be warm from the oven and the smell of roasting turkey will waft through your house, nice!  If you have frozen turkey legs, be sure they’re completely thawed before cooking.  You won’t believe how easy this!

I would put the potatoes on the stove about 1 hour before the turkey is done.  Once you mash them just keep them tightly covered on the back of your stove until ready to serve.

Serve this dinner with a simple salad or vegetable and you’re good to go.  Make enough for leftovers for sandwiches or turkey pot pie!

Oven Roasted Turkey legs

4 medium to large turkey legs
1 tablespoon olive oil
2 teaspoons dried oregano
Kosher salt & pepper

Gravy

Drippings from roasting pan (about 1 cup, if you don’t have one cup add enough water to make it one cup)
1/2 cup water
2 Tablespoons cornstarch

1)  Preheat the oven to 325′.  Best to cook the legs in a roasting pan that you can cover.
2)  Coat the legs with olive oil with one hand and season generously with salt, pepper and oregano with your clean hand.  Place in roasting pan and add 1 1/2 cups of water to the bottom of the roaster.  Cover and place in oven.  Roast for an hour and check to be sure you have liquid in the pan.  Add enough liquid to cover the bottom of the pan.  Roast covered another hour.  Remove lid and roast another 30 minutes uncovered all the while making sure there is liquid in the bottom of the pan.
3)  Remove the legs from the roasted and place onto a plate, cover tightly with foil.
4)  For the gravy.  Pour the drippings into a fat separator if you wish or pour right into measuring cup.  Add water to get to 1 cup of liquid.  Pour drippings into small sauce pan.  Mix the cornstarch with the 1/2 cup of water and stir until completely dissolved, pour into the drippings.  Cook over medium heat stirring often until it comes to a bubble.  Taste.  Add additional seasoning if you wish.  Serves 5-6

Sour Cream Mashed potatoes

2 lbs. russet or yukon gold potatoes, peeled and sliced to 1/4″ inch
2 teaspoons salt
Water to cover
2 tablespoons butter
1/4 cup sour cream
1 cup (or more) milk, zap in the microwave for a minute so that it’s warm

1)  Peel and slice the potatoes and put them into a large pot.  Cover with water and add salt.  Bring to a boil and cook for 20-25 minutes.  Poke a potato with a fork while in the pot to be sure they’re tender.  Drain well and put the potatoes right back into the pot.  Add the butter, sour cream and warm milk.  Cover with the lid and allow to stand for about 5 minutes. 2)  Beat with a hand mixer for about a minute so that it doesn’t have large lumps.  Add additional milk if too thick.  Taste.  Add additional seasoning if necessary.   Cover with the lid until ready to serve.  Makes about 6 servings.

**if most of the drippings have evaporated from the roasting pan, add a cup of water to the pan and put the pan over medium heat.  Bring to a boil and scrape the bits off the bottom of the pan.  You now have drippings ready to use.

Stay warm and enjoy!

Angie