Turkey Marsala

I just knew that I had to recreate the dish that I had at Grazie! the other week.  

Unfortunately, veal can be difficult to find and expensive to boot.  I opted instead for turkey.  

I searched the Internet for a good recipe and finally found a springboard.*

*A recipe upon which I could base my interpretation

My ingredients are:

3 tablespoons unsalted butter

1 pound Crimini mushrooms, sliced

2 green onions, not shown

1 large garlic clove, grated

1 tablespoon fresh chives, minced

 1 1/4 pound of turkey cutlets, pounded thinly**

1/2 teaspoon sea salt

1/4 teaspoon black pepper

1/4 teaspoon dried thyme, crushed

1/4 teaspoon dried oregano, crushed

 2 tablespoons olive oil

2/3 cup sweet Marsala wine

1 cup beef stock***

**Pounding the meat is good for releasing tension.  Try it sometime.

***The recipe calls for beef or veal demi-glace, but these are almost impossible to find unless you have made them yourself.  A demi-glace is a stock that has been reduced  greatly and then combined in equal parts with an espagnole sauce.

First the Crimini mushrooms, the green onion and the garlic were sauteed.

The mushrooms, green onion, and mushrooms were removed from the skillet.

Then the turkey cutlets, which had been beaten into submission and coated with flour and seasoned with salt, pepper, dried thyme, dried oregano, were sauteed in the olive oil until just done.****

****Please, never, ever overcook meat.  Meat is not your enemy, so don't treat it as such.

Add the stock and the Marsala wine to the pan and turn up the heat to high.  Scrape up the tasty bits from the bottom of the pan.

Once the sauce has begun to reduce, return the meat to the sauce and reduce the security around the area.

Turkey Marsala is served.

Served over mashed potatoes; this dish is a hit.

I thought this rendition was better than the restaurant's as I often couldn't tell the difference between the veal and the breading.  

Unfortunately, my husband thought that it would have been better without the Marsala wine sauce.  

But still, I will be making this dish again.

Beef Stroganoff

Despite the fact that I have been working
out in the garden and the temperatures
have once again risen into the 80's,
I had a hankering for beef stroganoff.

But what recipe to use?

Isn't that always the question?

Of course I couldn't find just one recipe,
so I mashed two recipes together,
and even then I ended up tweaking this and that.

The first recipe calls for:
2 slices bacon, diced
1 pound stew beef
3/4 cup chopped onion
1 clove garlic, minced
3/4 teaspoon salt
1/4 teaspoon pepper
1-1/2 teaspoon fresh oregano
1/3 cup dry white wine
1 cup sour cream
2 teaspoons chopped fresh parsley
paprika

Mashing in the second recipe,
I added about a cup of sliced porcini mushrooms
and 1 cup beef stock.

The first step was to cook the bacon until browned.
Remove to a paper towel.

I browned the meat in the bacon drippings
and added a bit of flour
so that the stroganoff would thicken later.

After adding the chopped porcini mushrooms,
and allowing them to saute for a bit,
I added the diced onion and minced garlic.
Saute for another minute before adding
the bacon, salt, pepper, oregano, wine and beef stock.

Bring to a boil before turning down the heat
and covering the pan.
Simmer for 1-1/2 hours or until the meat is tender.

At this point the sour cream was added.
I decided that the sauce was too thin.
I made a slurry of corn starch and cold water
and added that to the sauce.
I then brought that back to a boil so that the cornstarch
could thicken the sauce.

Meanwhile,
I prepared a package of egg noodles
according to the package directions
and then tossed that with 3 tablespoons unsalted butter,
1 teaspoon salt and 1/4 teaspoon pepper.



Serve the beef stroganoff over the noodles and top
with the chopped parsley and about 1/4 teaspoon paprika.

The family liked this,
although my husband would have liked more sauce
and the Foodie Daughter thought it needed
three slices of bacon.

The next time I will add 2 cups of beef stock
and another slice of bacon
to the recipe.