Turkey legs with Mlince from the oven

Ingredients for 4 servings:

• 2 turkey legs (approx. 1000 g per leg)
• 3 tsp sweet paprika powder
• 6 tbsp olive oil
• 1 ½ tsp salt
• ½ tsp pepper
• Olive oil + some for the baking pan
• 2 garlic cloves
• 1 tbsp butter
• 500 g flour
• 2 eggs
• 1 tsp salt
• 200 ml water, lukewarm

Instructions

Working time approx. 1 hour 30 minutes; Rest time approx. 2 hours; Cooking/baking time approx. 2 hours; Total time approx. 5 hours 30 minutes

Croatian style

Wash the turkey legs and pat dry. Mix the paprika powder with the oil in a cup, then add the crushed garlic, salt, and pepper and mix everything together in the cup. Now coat the turkey legs with the marinade and refrigerate for about 2 hours. Mix the flour, eggs, salt, and lukewarm water, knead into a dough, and let it rest for 30 minutes. (A hand mixer with a dough hook is ideal for kneading.) After the resting time, sprinkle the dough with a little flour, knead thoroughly again by hand, and stretch it lengthwise into 4-5 equal-sized pieces. Heat or preheat a large frying pan on the stove. (Do not use oil or any other fat.) Then sprinkle a large work surface with flour and roll out each piece of dough about 1-2 mm thick with a rolling pin, which should also be dusted with flour, and cut it into rectangles using a dough cutter. Once the dough has been cut into rectangles, bake them in the preheated pan (approx. 2-3 minutes), turning them several times. Place the baked mlince in a sieve to cool (they cool faster in a sieve). Preheat the oven to 180°C (top/bottom heat). Pour a little olive oil into a baking tray, roasting pan, or ovenproof dish and place the marinated turkey legs on top. Brush the meat with the marinade again if desired. Now simply place the butter in roughly equal pieces on the baking tray and roast in the preheated oven for a maximum of 2 hours. Turn the legs over frequently and baste with the cooking juices. Bring a pot of salted water to a boil, tear the baked mlince into smaller pieces, and let them rest at low heat for about 4-5 minutes. Drain the mlince and place them in a larger casserole dish or baking sheet. After 105 minutes of baking, remove the meat from the oven, place the turkey legs from the baking tray to the side on a plate, and pour the cooking juices from the baking tray through a sieve into a bowl or saucepan. Add most of the sieved cooking juices to the mlincen and stir everything together slowly. Add the meat and pour the remaining cooking juices over it. Bake everything together in the oven for another 10-15 minutes. Serve with a mixed or green salad. Note: Brief description so everyone knows what it’s about. Mlinci or mlince is a typical Croatian side dish, particularly popular in the Zagreb area, as well as in Slavonia (a region in Croatia), and Slovenia. Flour, salt, and water are used to make a dough similar to pasta dough. The dough is rolled out thinly and then baked on both sides on the stovetop or in the oven.