Turkey parmigiana with chargrilled pepper sauce
I’m dining solo tonight so to cheer myself up I decided to forgo the easy option of beans on toast and go all fancy pants on my ass because my body is a temple blah blah blah.
Now a while back, me and the boy were having a chat about cookbook recipes. If I remember correctly, I was having a night off from the kitchen and he had volunteered to make dinner. There was a whole lot of banging around and swearing coming from the kitchen. I tentatively popped my head round the door to see what was going on and was met with a scene of post apocalyptic chaos – every dish, every pot and pan in the house had been used. ‘You know whats missing from this recipe?’ he said frustratedly. ‘No, what?’ said I. ‘Some sort of scale telling you how much washing up and mess this recipe is going to create’. So there you have it, on the washing up scale (or ‘Jim-O-Rama rating’ as it will be known as henceforth), this dish scores badly. If you’re making it for more than one person, go for it. If you’re on your lonesome, stick to the beans on toast and give yourself the night off.
Ingredients
2 small turkey steaks
1 egg, beaten
100g plain flour
100g seasoned dried breadcrumbs
1 red pepper
1tbsp tomato puree
1 clove garlic, finely diced
2tsps sugar
1tbsp single cream
Salt
Pepper
Parmesan cheese, grated
Flat leaf parsley (for tarting it up for serving)
Method
Fist of all, you want to make your chargrilled pepper sauce. This bit is fun and will please the inner arsonist in you. Get your red pepper and spike it with a fork. Turn on the gas hob on your cooker and hold the pepper directly over the flame. Don’t be scared, you want that bad boy to go really black. Keep turning to get an even colour. Once the pepper is good and charred, pop it in a sealable plastic kitchen bag and set it aside for 10 minutes. This will allow the steam to loosen off the black skin. After 10 minutes, run the peeper under a cold tap, using your fingers to rub off all the black bits. Dice the pepper into strips and transfer to a pot along with a little olive oil and your garlic. Cook for a couple of minutes then add the sugar and tomato puree. Finally add in the cream and a tiny bit of water to loosen it up. Use a stick blender to puree to a smooth consistency.
Now on to the turkey steaks. Place them between two sheets of plastic wrap and beat the hell out of them with a rolling pin. Just pretend they’re someone you really don’t like. You want them to be around 5mm thick. Next set up your breading production line. Fist coat your steaks in flour, then transfer them to the egg wash then finally give them a good coating of breadcrumbs. Heat a little olive oil in a large frying pan and pan fry the breaded steaks for around 8-10 minutes, turning a couple of times throughout to ensure even cooking.
When your steaks are ready, serve them on a plate with a good serving of your chargrilled pepper sauce over the top. Give it a good sprinkling of grated parmesan and a sprig or two of parsley. Now triumph at your creation before gobbling it up in two minutes flat.
Serves 1