Thursday, June 12, 2008

Turkey with Walnut Parmesan Sauce

We eat a lot of turkey in my household. Everyone likes poultry, and I can always get it. It's always easy to think up new ways to flavor poultry, also, since you start with a mild meat flavor. I was really excited when I found this recipe. You can use either turkey cutlets or slices from a raw turkey breast, which is what I did. While I cooked this in the broiler, for someone who isn't cooking for nearly one half ton of men (four between 205 and 235 - you do the math), it would work fine in a skillet. For me, I could have spent a couple of hours standing over the skillet; that isn't my idea of a great time.
TURKEY WITH WALNUT PARMESAN SAUCE

Turkey:
About 1-1/2 pounds turkey - 4 cutlets (I used 5 pounds, and multiplied this recipe a LOT)
1 tbsp. cooking oil
fresh ground pepper

Sauce:
1/4 cup walnuts
2 tbsp. butter
1 chopped onion
2 minced cloves garlic

1 pinch ground cloves
1 pinch ground cinnamon
1 pinch cayenne
1-1/2 tsp cornstarch
3/4 cup chicken broth
1/2 tsp lemon juice

1-1/2 tbsp. grated Parmesan
2 tbsp. chopped parsley
1 tbsp. chopped walnuts, optional

To cook the turkey under the broiler:


Pour the cooking oil in the bottom of the broiler pan, with the rack off the top; make sure it covers the bottom of the pan. Arrange the turkey slices in the bottom of the pan, grind fresh pepper over them, and broil with the shelf in the highest position and the d
oor open for about 4 to 5 minutes per side, turning once and peppering the other side of the turkey. Paula, I wish I had taken a picture of this "work in progress", but, of course, I didn't think of it until hours later. Incidentally, Paula, most stoves come with the broiler pan, but if you can't find yours, you can use a metal pan that's about 2" deep for broiling food like this. And this describes the broiler in an electric stove; the broiler in a gas stove is the bottom drawer, and you don't leave that open. (I'm not much good with gas stoves, having only lived with one for about 3 years.)

Meanwhile, prepare the sauce:

Grind the 1/4 cup walnuts to a fine powder in the food processor. In a sauce pan, melt the butter. Add the onion and cook until translucent, not browning it. Add the garlic and cook another 30 seconds. Stir in the cloves, cinamon, cayenne and cornstarch; whisk until smooth, then whisk in the chicken broth. Simmer until it thickens, about 3 minutes, and add the ground walnuts; cook a minute longer. Remove from the heat and stir in the lemon juice, parmesan and parsley. Pour some of the sauce over the serving platter and top with chopped walnuts, if desired. Pass the remaining sauce. I served this with parsleyed new potatoes, but white rice would work equally well.

1 comment:

Paula said...

Hi Marjie, Thanks for the helpful hints! I do have the broiler pan w/rack that came with my stove. The pan is great, but the rack is, well, less than fun to clean.

This recipe looks so pretty, and your turkey slices are perfect! I should eat turkey more often. It's relegated to Thanksgiving and deli sandwiches. I've got some thinly slice chix breast that would lend itself well to this recipe!