Gratin, Grazie

I was very happy to find a package of Turkey breast tenderloins at my local grocery store the other day. Unfortunately for me, though turkey cuts are becoming more common at the grocery store, the cuts available in the stores vary from week to week and sometimes I find that no turkey is to be found at all. Sometimes it sucks to be me.

At least this time I was able to find a different cut of turkey and I even had a dish in mind.

A couple of weeks ago my local Sam's Club was giving out samples of their jarred pesto. Now I am a sucker for pesto and as my basil has suffered along with my tomato plants in the unseasonably cool and rainy weather this summer, I knew I wasn't going have enough basil to make my own pesto. I did check out the ingredient list on the jar and I was pleasantly surprised to find that the ingredients were all natural, with no preservatives or hard-to-pronounce things lurking inside. Okay, I could get this with no guilt involved.

I also have sliced mozzarella cheese and sliced ham.

I cut down the center of one of the tenderloins until I was about 1/2-inch from the bottom edge.

Plastic wrap covered the tenderloin and I proceeded to gently pound the meat down to a 1/4-inch thickness.

Mission accomplished.



Though not necessary, I opted to remove the vein from the center of the tenderloin. Just slide the knife underneath the vein and then slide it along the length of the vein until it has released from the meat.




The pesto has been spread evenly on the turkey.

Then some slices of ham go on top of that.

And finally some mozzarella cheese goes on top of that. Then, beginning on one long side, tightly roll the entire thing into a neat roulade.

Lay this seam-side down.

This went back into the refrigerator for several hours. Remember, there is little need to secure the roulade with bands or toothpicks or twine if the meat has had a chance to rest in the fridge for some time before it cooks.

Heat a tablespoon of extra-virgin olive oil in an oven-safe pan on the stove. Salt and pepper each side of the turkey roulade and sear over medium-high heat. Place in oven for about 20 minutes to continue cooking or until internal temperature reaches 150 degrees. Cover with foil and allow to rest for 10 minutes.

And now it's time to move on to one of the side dishes for tonight's dinner. This is a dish that Melissa D'Arabian demonstrated in her The Next Food Network Star pilot episode. The thing that I really like about this recipe is that I can make each person's gratin to their personal tastes. For instance, the Foodie daughter only likes mozzarella cheese and my husband doesn't like rosemary. Uh-oh, if you clicked on the link above, you've already noticed that I've changed the recipe. Was there ever any doubt?

At any rate, the mise en place consists of:

heavy cream

grated mozzarella cheese

grated English white cheddar cheese

red-skinned potatoes

fresh chopped rosemary

fresh chopped chives

black pepper

sea salt

After spraying the muffin tins with non-stick cooking spray, I began layering the cups with potatoes that had been sliced with a mandolin.

Chopped chives were next.

Then cheese. The layers were repeated until the cups were filled.

A splash of heavy cream and some black pepper and salt on each cup finishes off the dish. The oven was preheated to 375 degrees. Following recipe directions, the muffin tins were covered with foil for the first half of the cooking process and then the foil was removed. After 40 minutes the potato gratin cups were removed. Or, if you are like me and forget to cover the muffin tins with foil at the beginning, you can cover them at the end and call it even. Whatever. Hey, it's not rocket science.

Run a table knife around the edge of the cups and carefully invert on a plate.

While I worked on the meat and the potatoes, my husband took care of the peas. He was more than happy to oblige as I am apt to overcook peas. Go figure.

The potatoes were good. I happen to love rosemary with my potatoes, and I got to have rosemary with my potatoes without bothering anyone else with my 'weird' tastes.

And this turkey is just too good for words. Moist, succulent, flavorful. The pesto gives a good punch to this mild-tasting meat.

As it was, I got resounding accolades for this dinner. Sometimes it pays to play loose with the rules.

Gathering Around the Table

Once again I searched for recipes for a particular cut of meat, only to end up making up my own recipe. I guess that is par for the course with me.

I had a rough plan for a turkey tenderloin that had been waiting in the freezer. I had prosciutto on hand for another dish, so I pulled that into play. I also had homemade pesto in the freezer, so I think I have the beginnings of a plan. Salt and pepper round out the ingredients for my on-the-fly recipe. Please ignore the white wine and homemade turkey stock as I opted to not use those things in this recipe.

The first step was to carefully cut the turkey tenderloin almost all the way through so that the meat could be opened like a book. This is called butterflying the meat.

The next step was to cover the meat with plastic wrap and then pound it into a uniform thickness.

A thin layer of pesto coated the tenderloin.

Then the buttery slices of prosciutto covered that.

My daughter was nice enough to pick up the camera so you could see the rolling process. I used the plastic wrap to help roll the meat.

I worked away from me in order to get a tight roll.

A bit of salt and pepper were sprinkled on the outside of the roll. The roulade was sealed in the plastic and put in the refrigerator for a few hours. This will help the roll keep its shape when cooked.

The roulade went into a hot pan and was allowed to sear. After the sides were nicely browned, the pan was placed into the oven so that the meat could finish cooking. A meat thermometer confirmed that the internal temperature had reached 155 degrees.

After resting, the roulade was sliced.

Marinara sauce added a nice component to the pesto and prosciutto. I think I have a winner here.

Roasted green beans with shallots and bacon and homemade mashed potatoes round out the dinner. See, I really do make homemade mashed potatoes; it's just that my daughter likes store-bought mashed potatoes better. Guess I need to get a potato ricer so that my mashed potatoes won't be lumpy.

Now, if you recall, I had the prosciutto on hand for something else. This was that something else...

Cantaloupe and prosciutto. The sweet melon combined with the buttery, salty prosciutto was just sublime. What a nice way to round out this Italian-inspired dinner.

Let's Talk Turkey - Roulade

I finally broke down and bought a real meat mallet and I was itching to try a recipe that actually required the use of said mallet. But what to make? Well, we haven't had turkey in a while, so I bought some turkey cutlets that I could play with.

As often happens, I simply could not find a recipe for turkey roulade that I liked, so I made up my own recipe. Come along and watch the fun.

Let's see: we have three turkey cutlets, some Dijon mustard, 2 pesto portions, thinly sliced deli ham, and provolone cheese slices. Since my daughter loves her mozzarella cheese, I used that for her turkey roulade.

Place a turkey cutlet between plastic wrap.

Then pound away. See how letting a bit of aggression out works?

Spread some Dijon mustard on the cutlet.

Add the ham slices...

Next, the nice pesto...

And finally add the cheese.

Roll tightly and place in the refrigerator for a couple of hours. This helps the roll to hold its shape and I didn't need to tie the roulade.

Now we cook. I seasoned with salt and black pepper before searing the roulades on all sides.

At this point, I put the pan in the oven and let the turkey roulades finish cooking. Once the internal temperature reached 165 degrees, I pulled them out of the oven and covered for 5 minutes. Notice that the turkey roulades stayed in a nice roll all through the cooking process.

I think we have a winner. The pesto and Dijon mustard added a nice bite to the roulades, while the ham and cheese added more flavor to the turkey.

Meanwhile, I got busy with a side dish. I had been wanting to try a turnip dish, but knew I would have to sneak it into my unsuspecting family's dinner.

Clockwise from left we have a turnip, red potatoes, a carrot, a russet potato, vidalia onion, some freshly dried rosemary and the remaining red onions from my garden (they were supposed to grow up to be scallions, but they apparently decided to skip that step).

This was also a great way to clear out my produce bin.

What a colorful mix. Add salt and pepper and toss with olive oil. Bake for one hour in a 350 to 375 degree oven.

After 30 minutes I added some sliced crimini mushrooms and returned the pan to the oven.

Hee, hee. No one even asked about the turnips. I'm good, oh yeah.