Cookbook:Turkey with Plantain Stuffing (Pavo Relleno de Mofongo)

Turkey with Plantain Stuffing (Pavo Relleno de Mofongo)
Category	Puerto Rican recipes
Time	5 hours
Difficulty

Cookbook | Ingredients | Recipes | Cuisine of Puerto Rico

This recipe for pavo relleno de mofongo was submitted by Brenda Ortiz Valle, who said the following:

"This recipe is my mom's, Aida E Valle, special Turkey recipe. The best I have tasted in my life!!"

Ingredients

Filling

• 3 medium to large green plantains
• 2 cups canola oil
• 1 large tomato, diced
• 1 red bell pepper, cut into ½-inch squares
• 1 green bell pepper, cut into ½-inch squares
• 2 cloves of garlic, minced
• ¼ cup olive oil
• 2 tbsp adobo

Turkey

• ½ cup olive oil
• ¼ cup red wine vinegar
• 2 tbsp adobo
• 2 tbsp oregano
• 1 tbsp salt
• 1 tbsp of ground pepper
• 2 packages of ground "cubitos" (Cubitos en polvo—chicken bouillon cubes)
• 2 packages of uncolored sazon (sazon sin achiote—uncolored seasoned salt. Goya is a typical brand.)
• 4 large cloves of garlic, minced
• 1 whole turkey (15 lbs)

Procedure

Filling

1. Peel plantains and slice into 1-inch chunks.
2. Add 2 cups canola oil to a medium-size frying pan. Set stove to medium-high and heat the frying pan for about 5 minutes.
3. Add plantains and fry until they are golden brown. Drain them on paper towels or brown paper bags.
4. Squash plantains one-by-one using a mortar, and place into a medium size bowl.
5. Add, tomato, red and green pepper, garlic, olive oil, and adobo to the bowl containing the squashed plantains, then mix.

Turkey

1. In a small bowl mix olive oil, red wine vinegar, adobo, oregano, salt, ground pepper, "cubitos", "sazon", and garlic.
2. With a sharp knife, make incisions in different places of the turkey.
3. Use seasoning mixture to season whole turkey, inside and out. If you need more seasoning mix, repeat first step.
4. Cover turkey with aluminum foil and refrigerate until it absorbs the seasoning, at least 2–4 hours, preferably overnight.
5. Preheat oven to 350°F (175°C).
6. Fill turkey with plantain filling. Cover, the turkey filling opening with kitchen thread.
7. Cover turkey with aluminum foil and place turkey in preheated oven.
8. Leave turkey within the first 2 hours without removing aluminum foil. After 2 hours, remove aluminum foil and turn in ½ hour intervals for two hours. Use the turkey drippings to moist turkey while cooking.
9. Set oven to broil for 20 minutes each side.