Cafe Lula

This isn’t the prettiest of meals, but let’s not hold that against it. This is slightly poshed up turkey kiev and chips. And it was ace. You get to coat stuff in breadcrumbs! Does that make anyone else feel a bit clever? No? Oh.

Well, here’s the method anyway. First, you’ll make some bechamel sauce and season it with black pepper and nutmeg. Nom. Then, lay the turkey steaks out and on half of each one put a slice of brie, a slice of ham or parma ham and a dollop of bechamel sauce.

Then, once you’ve put the chips in to cook, you coat the turkey in flour, egg and breadcrumbs ready to…

Fry! For about five minutes per side until…

They look like this! And then…

Serve! If you are like me and have no shame, you can serve it with sweet chilli sauce. Om nom nom.

Turkey escalopes with parma ham and cheese, served with homemade oven chips

Turkey escalopes: inspired by a recipe from Apples for Jam by Tessa Kiros

Oven chips: learnt from Mum

Ingredients:

For the bechamel sauce:

10g butter

2 tsp flour

125ml milk

black pepper and nutmeg, to season

For the escalopes:

4 thin turkey breast steaks (total weight about 250g)

4 slices brie, about 60g total

4 slices parma ham (or gammon ham goes nicely too)

2 tbsp plain flour

1 egg

30g dry breadcrumbs

10g butter

1 tbsp olive oil

For the chips:

2 medium sized Maris Piper potatoes (about 350g)

2-3 tbsp olive oil

1 shallot, sliced

Preheat the oven to 200C.

To make the bechamel sauce, melt the butter over a medium-high heat and let it get nice and hot. Add the flour and stir well, cooking for a minute or two so that the flour is hot. Turn the heat down to medium and add the milk a little bit at a time, stirring well after each addition so that it is fully combined with the flour mixture. Once you have added all the milk, season with black pepper and freshly grated nutmeg. The sauce should be smooth and thick. If it is too thick, add some extra milk. Take off the heat and set aside.

Put a full kettle on to boil and start the chips. Pour the olive onto a baking tray and scatter the shallots over the tray. Put the tray on the bottom shelf of the oven. Peel the potatoes and slice into chips. Put them in a large saucepan on a high heat, pour in the boiling water, setting a timer for 7 minutes. Bring to the the boil, then lower the heat so the water is simmering. Drain the chips, remove the tray from the oven and tip the chips onto the baking tray. They should sizzle a bit. Season with salt and black pepper and cook in the oven for 20 minutes.

When you have put the chips in the oven, start the escalopes. Lay each turkey steak on a board and cover half with a slice of brie, a slice of parma ham and a dollop of bechamel sauce. Fold the other turkey half down and wrap it around so that it overlaps.

Put the flour on a plate and season with a couple of grinds of black pepper. Put the egg in a shallow bowl and the breadcrumbs on another plate. Carefully cover the turkey in flour, then dip in egg and then cover in breadcrumbs.

Heat a frying pan over a medium-high heat and fry the olive oil and butter until sizzling. Add the turkey escalopes and fry for 5 minutes on each side.

Rest on a plate for a minute or two to allow any excess oil to drain off, then serve with the oven chips.