Slow Cooked Turkey with Haricot Beans

I love my slow cooker.  It even gets used throughout the summer for filling but summer friendly dishes like chillis but in autumn, winter and colder days of spring is where it comes into it's own.

For years I was stuck in a rut of only cooking cheap beef cuts in mine, I ventured into lamb and mutton (curried this is fantastic) and had brief and delicious forays into pork but poultry is not something I've tried much.

When shopping one day I saw a pack of boned turkey thigh.  Is there anything more comforting than turkey?  It just makes me think of lying on the sofa, cosy watching TV after Christmas lunch.

So I gave it a go using beans to add a bit of interest but also a great source of fibre and one of your five a day.

Turkey and haricot bean stew - Makes approx 4 portions, freezes well

Ingredients

450g, 1lb Diced boneless turkey thigh
1 tsp olive oil
Glass white wine
2 cloves garlic
1 small onion
1 carrot
1 can haricot beans (240g, 8oz drained weight)
2 bay leaves
Parsley, plus extra to serve
A low salt stock cube
200ml water

1 tsp cornflour / cornstarch (optional)

Method

Dry fry the turkey or add a little oil until starting to brown, this is important as it adds flavour (Maillard reaction).  Put into a slow cooker.  Return the frying pan to the heat and fry the garlic and carrot until starting to soften.  Put into the slow cooker with the chopped garlic.

Deglaze the pan using the white wine and pour into the slow cooker.

Add in the drained haricot beans, water, bay leaves and stock cube and the chopped stems of the parsley.

Cook for approx 4 hours, lowering the heat to low after 1-2 hours or until the meat is soft.

(Optional) for a thicker sauce, put the heat of the slow cooker up to high, mix the cornflour with water and mix into the stew.

Serve sprinkled with parsley.

I've linked this up to recipe of the week.