BREADED TURKEY ESCALOPE WITH CUCUMBER AND DILL SALAD

A breaded escalope (scallop) has been my favourite way to eat meat since I was a child. It appears that I’m not alone in this – it is so popular around the world that it’s difficult to pinpoint its exact origins. Some would argue that the discovery of the schnitzel came to Eastern Europe at the exact moment that Józef Radecki, a Czech nobleman and Austrian general, ate one in Milan in the 18th Century and mentioned the recipe in the margin of a military report as a sidenote; others would say that it’s origins lie with the Ashkenazi Jews from Germany. {Serves 5}

FOR THE CUCUMBER AND DILL SALAD

1 cucumber, peeled

1 medium shallot

1 tablespoon lemon juice

120 ml (4 fl oz/½ cup) soured cream

½ teaspoon caster (superfine) sugar

1 tablespoon freshly chopped dill

salt and white pepper

FOR THE ESCALOPES (SCALLOPS)

2 turkey breasts

1 garlic clove, crushed

2 eggs, beaten

1 tablespoon plain (all-purpose) flour

50 g (1¾ oz/¹/₃ cup) fine fresh breadcrumbs

2 tablespoons salted butter salt and white pepper, to taste

First make the salad as it needs some time to ‘bite together’. Slice the cucumber and shallot as thinly as you can. Pour the lemon over the sliced cucumber and shallot and season with salt and white pepper. Mix together the soured cream, sugar and dill and add to the cucumber and shallot; toss gently to combine.

Place the turkey breasts in a plastic food bag and bash them with a rolling pin to flatten them and tenderise the meat – you want them to be about 1 cm (½ in) thick.

Mix the salt and pepper into the crushed garlic to make a paste and massage this into the meat. Pour the beaten eggs into a wide, shallow bowl. Mix the flour and the breadcrumbs together and place them on a wide plate. Dip the escalopes in the egg then the breadcrumb-flour mixture.

Melt the butter in a frying pan (skillet) over a medium heat. Once it is sizzling, add the escalopes and fry them for 7–8 minutes on each side, until crisp and golden.

Serve with the cucumber and dill salad on top or on the side, as you prefer.

{Time: 40 minutes}