Persian pomegranate walnut braised turkey legs

"Khoresh-e-fesnjoon," the iconic Persian stew, is made by cooking chicken in a rich walnut pomegranate molasses sauce. Here is my unorthodox version, made with fresh pomegranate juice and turkey legs. Contrary to the traditional stewed version, turkey legs are braised in a pomegranate walnut sauce. Furthermore, I brine the chicken for 24 hours to infuse the pomegranate flavor deep into the meat.

Ingredients:

2 turkey legs (about 4 pounds or 2 kg)

1 TSP salt

1/4 TSP white pepper (or balck)

1/4 TSP cardamom powder

2 large yellow onion, finely julienned

½ cup sour orange juice (or lemon), freshly squeezed
1½ cup pomegranate juice

3.52 Oz (~100 gr) walnut (or almond) meal (about a cup)

Pinch of saffron

Combine the salt, pepper, and cardamom. Using your fingers, poke a hole underneath the skin of each thigh. Rub the flesh with the salt mixture. Pour the sour orange and pomegranate juices in a bag. Add the chopped onions and then the turkey legs. Brine for 8 hours. Add the saffron solution (dissolve a pinch in a TSP of water) and brine for up to 24 hours. The long brining period is what makes this dish so special, do not skimp on it!

The next day, remove the onions and legs from the brine. Pat dry the thighs with paper towel and set aside for half an hour to reach the room temperature. Meanwhile toast the walnut meal until fragrant, set aside. In the same pan, brown the legs on both sides and set aside. 

In the very same pan, caramelize the onion slices (those from the brine). Pre-heat the oven to 375 F (or 190 C). Blend the brine liquid, caramelized onions, and toasted walnut meal and make a very fine puree (the finer you blend, the smoother the final sauce will be). Spread the thighs, skin-side-up, in an oven proof dish (definitely glass or ceramic and surely not metallic). Slowly pour the blender paste in the dish and make sure you don’t get any of the paste on the browned leg skin.  

Bake, covered with aluminum foil, for 90 minutes. Remove the foil and bake for another 30 minutes or until the legs are golden brown and the sauce is thick and rich. Garnish with toasted walnut or pistachio and serve with Persian rice.