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!

Corn Soup with Saffron

Recipe: Corn Soup with Saffron
Page: 56
Date Cooked: July 21, 2011

I love the time of the year where you walk into the produce section and see that large table full of corn. There are a number of items that make me think of summer and ears of corn happen to be one of them. With the inspiration of corn in mind, I immediately decided that this was the recipe to make. I don't think Waxman has many "purely" vegetarian recipes in this book, but this is one of them. Heck if you replace the butter and leave out the heavy cream - it's even vegan friendly.

Ingredients: Corn, dried red chile, parsley, garlic, sweet onion, butter, cilantro, saffron, heavy cream, salt, and pepper

The soup stock was purely corn. It consisted of the corncobs, the dried red chile, parsley, and garlic. I placed all these items into a pot with some water and let it simmer for a few hours. After it was done, I strained the stock and placed it on a side.

Corn stock - corn cobs, dried red chile, parsley, and garlic.

With the stock done and out of the way, I proceeded to focus on the other components of the soup. I thinly sliced the onion and cooked it with half the corn kernels and some butter just until the onions were tender. I placed all the stock (except for about 1/2 cup) into the pan with the corn and onions. Finally, I added cilantro and let the whole thing simmer.

Left: Onions, corn, and butter
Right: Onions, corn, corn stock, and cilantro simmering

While the soup simmered, I combined the reserved 1/2 cup of corn stock and a few saffron threads into a small pan and it simmered for a few minutes. I then removed it from the heat and let it cool completely. With the aid of an electric mixer, I beat the heavy cream until soft peaks were visible. Then on a lower setting, I slowly drizzled the saffron stock into the cream mixture. The saffron cream was then placed in the fridge.

From Left to Right: 1.Saffron stock 2.Heavy cream + saffron stock 3.Saffron cream

I put the remaining corn kernels and some butter in a skillet to cook over medium-low heat. The kernels were seasoned with salt and pepper.

Corn kernels cooking on low heat

Finally, I pureed the soup with an immersion blender and strained it into a clean saucepan. The cooked corn was added to the soup and the entire thing was brought to simmer and seasoned with additional salt and pepper. I placed the soup into a bowl and topped it with the saffron cream.

Corn Soup with Saffron

The verdict...it was good...not great, but good. The recipe took some time and had I made the stock in advance the whole thing may not have felt soo tedious. Having said that, I have to acknowledge the fact that I think the corn stock is THE reason why the corn flavor is soo intense in the soup. You consistently taste corn and not only that but multiple dimensions of corn flavor. Layer one is the corn stock. Layer two is the soup itself. And layer 3 are the additional cooked kernels of corn in the soup. It just keeps coming back to you and your taste buds. When I ate the leftover soup the following day, I thought the flavors accentuated even further.

What about the saffron cream, you ask? Well that was pretty amazing! Not sure how you can go wrong with heavy cream and a saffron infused stock. For me, saffron immediately brings to mind Indian cooking, so I somewhat felt that the soup was a strange infusion of Southwest America + India. But it worked.

All in all, it felt a bit tedious. I'm not sure if I would make the recipe again in its precise form...but it definitely gave me a few good ideas.

Enjoy!