Turkey Piccata

Piccata is one of those dishes where the name refers to the method of its preparation. In this case where meat is sliced, coated, sautéed and served in a scant sauce. Of course it originated in Italy using veal (veal piccata) whereas in the US where it is also very popular the best-known variant is chicken piccata.

I chose to use turkey escalopes, primarily, if I’m honest, because flattening a turkey escalope is a bit easier that butterflying and then tenderising a chicken breast but feel free to use chicken if you like.

A note on flattening whichever you use: it is by far the easiest way to lay your butterflied breast or escalope between two sheets of grease-proof paper / parchment on a wooden chopping board then pounding with a heavy implement. I use a wooden rolling pin but you can get special meat mallets for the job too.

This is one of my favourite ways of cooking poultry outside of curries and the like: the piquant sauce is an absolute delight and it is so very quick and easy to make it wins all round.


Turkey Piccata
serves 2

2 turkey breast steaks or escalopes, pounded until ¼" thick
sea salt and freshly ground black pepper
2 tbsp flour
30g unsalted butter
1½ tbsp olive oil
125ml dry white wine
125ml chicken stock
½ lemon, thinly sliced
½ lemon, juiced (or to taste)
20g capers, drained
2 tbsp chopped parsley

Season the turkey quite generously with salt and pepper and dredge in flour, shaking off any excess.

Melt half the butter with the olive oil in a frying pan over medium-high heat. Add the turkey and cook, turning once, until golden brown, about 3 minutes a side. Transfer to a plate and set aside.

Pour the wine into the pan and cook, scraping any bits off the bottom of pan until it is reduced by half, about 3 minutes. Add the stock and lemon slices, and bring to a boil; simmer until reduced by half, about another 8 minutes.

Add the remaining butter, the lemon juice (if required - taste first to see how much you want), capers, and most of the parsley, and season carefully with salt and pepper to taste.

Put the turkey escalopes on two plates, pour over the sauce, sprinkle with a little extra parsley and serve immediately with vegetables (or pasta) of your choice.