Turkey Schnitzels

Living on a student budget doesn’t mean you actually have to eat like one. Recently, all of the newspapers and particularly the radio (that’s right Radio 4, I’m listening) are obsessed with Jack Monroe. Obviously, she is a bit of an inspiration, having gone through hard times and actually used food banks rather than just waffled on about how important they are (and oh-my-goodness I just googled her and we’re the same age..). Nevertheless, having read her G2 articles, a lot of her recipes don’t exactly jump off the page, especially if Felicity Cloake has something ultra-ritzy with cream and white wine sharing the same page.


On Woman’s Hour last week for example, Monroe made chickpea and carrot falafels and though Jenni Murray was wowed by them, they didn’t sound that hot to me. Basically, I’m a bit concerned that the Guardian and others are only featuring Monroe’s articles because it makes them look as if they ‘understand’ financial hardship, rather than because her recipes are delicious. I have a reasonable amount of free time on my hands at the moment so I’m in the lucky position of being able to haunt the local supermarket reduced aisles like a buzzard, on the look-out for anything potentially delicious. Now, I’m not saying I could beat Jack Monroe on price, but everything you see on the plate was on sale and when it comes to flavour these schnitzels certainly delivered.

Serves 2

Ingredients:

1 packet of turkey escalopes

2-3 slices of stale bread

1 egg

2 tablespoons plain flour

Salt and pepper

Olive oil

Method:

1)      First of all, analyse your breasts (turkey, that is). Turkey escalopes do tend to be on the huge side, and mine were rather thick, so I decided to use only one and cut my chop in half lengthways to thin it out to around 1cm thickness. This is easy if you have a sharp knife: all you need to do is secure your chopping board by placing a damp tea towel underneath it before pressing down in the breast with your left hand, and delicately slicing through the meat with your right, staring at your fingertips and finishing at the base of your palm.

2)      With your turkey breasts now averaging at 1cm thick, use a meat mallet or any other prescribed basher to thin out the meat a little more.

3)      The schnitzel process requires a bit of an assembly line, so deposit the plain flour in a large shallow bowl and season well with salt and pepper. Beat your egg in a similar dish. Finally, blitz the stale bread into crumbs and place in another shallow bowl or plate (lots of bowls to wash up, yes, but it’s worth it).

4)      Get a large pan big enough to hold two of the breast slices and warm at a medium heat on the hob.

5)      Now for the assembly line: first, dip the escalopes into the seasoned flour and pat off any excess. Then give them a dunk in the beaten egg before heading straight for the breadcrumbs.

6)      Once the breasts are coated, put a generous slug of olive oil into the pan and fry on a medium to high heat for around five minutes on one side. You need to wait for the breadcrumbs to be crispy and golden on one side before flipping the schnitzel; they don’t colour very well otherwise. Once you achieve your required crispiness, flip and cook for another five minutes.

Always serve with a lemon wedge to cut through the (delicious) richness. I went for a carb-less option this time round but this would taste great with some boiled new potatoes.