Recipe

April 14, 2023

Turkey and Wild Rice Blanquette with Bannock Biscuits and Tarragon Butter

Recipe: Spencer Watt

This blanquette comes from chef Spencer Watts, the host and producer of nearly 100 food-themed TV episodes.

“Humble ingredients coated in a rich, velvety velouté and served with fresh warm biscuits and butter — this is the kind of comfort food that makes people smile at the dinner table.” — Spencer Watt, Chef, host and producer of Gusto TV’s Fish the Dish and Watts on the Grill, Vancouver

Ingredients

Turkey Blanquette

  • 1 tbsp vegetable oil
  • 3 cups turkey or chicken stock
  • 1⁄2 cup white wine
  • 8 oz.turkey breast, cut into 1″pieces
  • 1⁄4 tsp salt
  • 1⁄4 tsp black pepper
  • 1 cup onion, diced
  • 1⁄2 cup celery, diced
  • 1 tbsp chopped garlic
  • 1 cup sliced leeks
  • 1⁄2 cup carrots, diced
  • 2 tbsp unsalted butter
  • 1⁄4 tsp dry thyme
  • 2 bay leaves
  • 2 tbsp flour
    1⁄2 cup cooked wild rice
  • 1⁄2 cup cream
  • 2 tbsp fresh chopped parsley

Tarragon Butter

  • 1⁄2 cup butter softened
  • 1 tbsp tarragon, chopped
  • 1 tbsp shallots, diced
  • 1 tsp garlic, chopped
  • 1 tsp lemon zest
  • 1⁄4 tsp salt

Bannock Biscuit

  • 2 cups flour
  • 2 tsp baking powder
  • 1⁄4 tsp salt
  • 1 cup water
  • 2 tbsp vegetable oil
  • Olive oil, for garnish

Directions

Yield: 4

Make Turkey Blanquette

  1. Heat vegetable oil in heavy-bottomed stockpot on medium to high heat. In separate sauce pot, add stock and wine, and warm on medium heat.
  2. Season turkey meat with salt and pepper, and add to stockpot to brown on all sides, about 3 to 4 minutes, then remove from pot and reserve.
  3. Add onion, celery, garlic, leeks and carrots to stockpot and sauté until vegetables turn translucent, about 4 to 5 minutes. Add butter, thyme and bay leaves, and stir into vegetables. Add flour and mix to make roux. Cook for 1 minute, stirring gently.
  4. Add warm stock mixture 1 cup at a time while stirring. Once soup is thick and creamy, add another ladle of stock and turn heat down to medium- low. Gently simmer for 5 to 8 minutes, stirring occasionally. Add cooked wild rice, browned reserved turkey meat and finish with cream. Cook for additional 2 to 5 minutes, until turkey is fully cooked. Finish soup with chopped parsley.

Make Tarragon Butter

  1. In small bowl, combine all ingredients, mix well and reserve at room temperature.

Make Bannock Biscuits

  1. In medium bowl, add all dry ingredients and mix together. Add water slowly, making thick, wet batter.
  2. In large skillet, heat 1 tbsp vegetable oil on medium heat. Ladle 1⁄4 of batter into pan for each bannock and cook two at a time. Once bannock is golden brown on bottom and has puffed up, flip and cook for another 60 to 90 seconds. Remove bannock from pan, wipe pan clean, add last tbsp of oil to pan and cook last two bannocks using remaining batter.

Plate And Serve

  1. Divide soup evenly into bowls and soup with drizzle of olive oil. On separate side plate, serve bannock with side ramekin of room temperature tarragon butter. Dunk and dip until bowl
    is clean.
Photographer:

Photography by Chris Roussakis (Spencer’s portrait)/Steph Brown (soup)