Turkey Breast Milanese

Recipe: Turkey Breast Milanese
Page: 152
Date Cooked: July 23, 2011

Out of the 11 categories in "A Great American Cook," the one category I was least excited about was the poultry section. In my view, chicken and turkey aren't necessarily the most exciting things to cook. And also my love for seafood far exceeds how I feel about poultry. However, after making JW's "Turkey Breast Milanese" I may have to rethink the way I see poultry. Moreover, I am now a little more excited to see what else this section of the cookbook has in store.

To be called a Milanese, all one needs to do is dip the food into egg and breadcrumbs (sometimes Parmesan cheese) and then fry it in butter. So really...you can't go terribly wrong.

Ingredients: Boneless turkey breast, eggs, salt, olive oil, all-purpose flour, pepper, country bread, lemon, cherry tomatoes, basil, butter, mesclun, capers, green olives, and red wine vinegar

My grocery store actually sold turkey breast fillets, so I didn't have to go about removing the skin or even cutting it into fillets. I simply moved right on to pounding the fillets (wrapped in plastic wrap) until they were each about 1/4 inch thick.

Pounding turkey breast fillets until about 1/4 inch thick

I combined the eggs, salt, and olive oil into a bowl and beat those. I also then placed flour into a large bowl and seasoned it with salt and pepper. One at a time, I placed each fillet into the flour and then into the egg mixture. All the fillets stood like this in the refrigerator until time.

Turkey breast Milanese assembly line

While the fillets stood in the fridge, I turned my attention to the prep work. I placed the bread into a food processor to make bread crumbs, juiced the lemon, halved the cherry tomatoes, and cut the basil.

1. Bread crumbs 2. Halved cherry tomatoes 3. Lemon juice

I then proceeded to prepare the salad. I tossed the mesclun, tomatoes, basil, capers, and olives together. Furthermore, I whisked some olive oil, red wine vinegar, and salt together for the vinaigrette.

Mesclun salad

I then placed one fillet at time into the bag of bread crumbs, enough to coat the fillet thoroughly. In a large skillet, I combined butter and olive oil and then added the fillets to cook until golden brown on each side.

Frying up the breaded fillets

Once all the fillets were cooked, I wiped out the skillet and melted butter and then added lemon juice to create a lemon-butter. I poured the lemon-butter mixture onto the fillets and then proceed to plate by topping them with the salad (mixed with the vinaigrette). Apparently, topping the Milanese with the salad is traditionally how it is served.

Turkey Breast Milanese

I do not have a single complaint about this recipe. It was simple, straight forward, and delicious. The Milanese on its own (without the lemon-butter) tasted wonderful. Perfectly cooked and perfectly seasoned. And then of course the lemon-butter added additional fat and acid. However, the mesclun salad with the vinaigrette was amazing. I couldn't get enough of the salad. I actually had to make more later on because I caught myself just eating the salad on its own.

Yet, the two components together just sang. It was a wonderfully homey meal and yet completely refined. There is no doubt that I will be making this again. Heck, blogging about it now is making me hungry!

Enjoy!