Experimental food corner: turkey piccata
Mar. 5th, 2004 09:33 pm![[personal profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/silk/identity/user.png){kind=small}
rivkaIt's been a looong time since I made an Experimental Food Corner post.
Tonight was definitely an EFC kind of night - it's been a long time since I've been to the grocery store, and I had no intention of going to the store before making dinner. So I knew that I'd be throwing dinner together out of whatever happened to be in the fridge.
I did have some meat: about a pound of "turkey cutlets," or slices of turkey breast meat about 1/4 inch thick. I formed a vague idea about the kinds of things that go into turkey piccata, started some rice, and began:
I mixed some flour, salt and pepper, and a handful of grated parmesan cheese in a shallow dish, and dredged the turkey cutlets in it as thoroughly as possible. Then I dropped them, two at a time, into a generous skosh of olive oil that was sitting in a skillet over medium-high heat. In contrast to my usual habit of anxiously turning food again and again, I let them sit in the oil until they were crisp and brown on one side, and then turned them. When they were crispy golden brown on both sides, and cooked through, I removed them to my toaster oven to keep warm.
Most of the oil cooked away by the time I finished the second pair of cutlets, so I dropped a chunk of butter into the pan - about a tablespoon and a half, I guess. I turned down the heat a little, but the butter melted and browned very quickly. I whisked in a handful of the leftover flour-and-parmesan-cheese mixture I had dredged the turkey pieces in. It didn't make a smooth paste, of course, because of the cheese pieces, but when I judged that the flour had dissolved I added a half-cup of chicken broth and two tablespoons of lemon juice. I let it boil for a few minutes, whisking, until the sauce was smooth and thick and the cheese was mostly melted. (There were still little concentrated nubbets of parmesan, though.)
Then I served up dinner: rice spread over the bottom of the plate, turkey cutlets on top, and some sugar snap peas blanched in the rest of the can of chicken broth, on the side. Just before eating we ladled some sauce over the top of the turkey.
It was really good. The sauce was a rich brown from the pan drippings, and had an intense lemon punch. The parmesan cheese in the sauce gave it a lovely rich mouthfeel, and the crunchy parmesan in the turkey cutlet coating was delicious. It was very satisfying for a quick weeknight dinner. (The total cooking time was just under half an hour.)
I've been interested in developing sauces and marinades for the last year or so, and I'm always really happy when I get a sauce right.
Tonight was definitely an EFC kind of night - it's been a long time since I've been to the grocery store, and I had no intention of going to the store before making dinner. So I knew that I'd be throwing dinner together out of whatever happened to be in the fridge.
I did have some meat: about a pound of "turkey cutlets," or slices of turkey breast meat about 1/4 inch thick. I formed a vague idea about the kinds of things that go into turkey piccata, started some rice, and began:
I mixed some flour, salt and pepper, and a handful of grated parmesan cheese in a shallow dish, and dredged the turkey cutlets in it as thoroughly as possible. Then I dropped them, two at a time, into a generous skosh of olive oil that was sitting in a skillet over medium-high heat. In contrast to my usual habit of anxiously turning food again and again, I let them sit in the oil until they were crisp and brown on one side, and then turned them. When they were crispy golden brown on both sides, and cooked through, I removed them to my toaster oven to keep warm.
Most of the oil cooked away by the time I finished the second pair of cutlets, so I dropped a chunk of butter into the pan - about a tablespoon and a half, I guess. I turned down the heat a little, but the butter melted and browned very quickly. I whisked in a handful of the leftover flour-and-parmesan-cheese mixture I had dredged the turkey pieces in. It didn't make a smooth paste, of course, because of the cheese pieces, but when I judged that the flour had dissolved I added a half-cup of chicken broth and two tablespoons of lemon juice. I let it boil for a few minutes, whisking, until the sauce was smooth and thick and the cheese was mostly melted. (There were still little concentrated nubbets of parmesan, though.)
Then I served up dinner: rice spread over the bottom of the plate, turkey cutlets on top, and some sugar snap peas blanched in the rest of the can of chicken broth, on the side. Just before eating we ladled some sauce over the top of the turkey.
It was really good. The sauce was a rich brown from the pan drippings, and had an intense lemon punch. The parmesan cheese in the sauce gave it a lovely rich mouthfeel, and the crunchy parmesan in the turkey cutlet coating was delicious. It was very satisfying for a quick weeknight dinner. (The total cooking time was just under half an hour.)
I've been interested in developing sauces and marinades for the last year or so, and I'm always really happy when I get a sauce right.
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no subject
Date: 2004-03-05 07:17 pm (UTC)no subject
Date: 2004-03-05 08:21 pm (UTC)no subject
Date: 2004-03-06 06:05 am (UTC)no subject
Date: 2004-03-08 07:08 pm (UTC)The sauce is excellent, though there isn't enough of it. There never is:)
no subject
Date: 2004-03-08 07:16 pm (UTC)It's an awfully good sauce, especially considering the limited number of ingredients. Glad you liked it.
no subject
Date: 2004-03-07 04:51 am (UTC)no subject
Date: 2004-03-09 04:56 am (UTC)