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Monday, 28 December 2015

Leftover Rampage, Turkey Tonnato

There were mountains of leftover turkey this Christmas. There were lots to feed, and the bird was pretty big and fruitful, so I can't really explain how there was more than half of the breast meat left and almost all of the brown meat (you need the white meat here in clean slices, but I'll get to the slightly uglier brown stuff later) leftover. However, I relished in this as it gives me an opportunity to feel thriftily smug and housewifey (a quality of mine that has worried both of my parents) and I got very creative with what to do with the leftovers. I'm dreadful at art and just rip-off other people's music with the sax, so the kitchen is really the opportunity I get to feel creative. And I say feel, because slicing up cold turkey and chucking on a sauce is hardly real creativity.
I lied too, the fantastic Nigella Lawson was the creative brains behind this particular operation- I must admit I hadn't even hear of Tonnato until I read it in her 'Express' book I got for Christmas. Traditional Tonnato is slices of veal, but this is a festive and scrimpy alternative that really helps to moisten and re-flavour the cooked breast meat, which goes as dry as sawdust, and has about as much flavour as it after a day or so in the fridge. The moistener in this case, is a fishy, smooth cream sauce that can be made from stuff kept in store.
Admittedly, adding all this stuff and possibly even having to buy more ingredients is much less economical than throwing it away or giving it to the dog, and that's what they'd do in a restaurant, but this is an everyday kitchen, and we're cooks not chefs (if you're a chef then I don't know what the hell you're doing here) and it seems incredibly wasteful to throw something away; if you can pick it up and give it a rewiz with some new ingredients then it will bask in all its former glory. It doesn't work in the music industry, but it works with food.
1)This recipe is insanely simple, and all you need to do with the meat is slice it moderately thinly, about 2cm thick and arrange it on a serving platter.
2)In a blender (the smoothie one not a food processor) blitz one tin of drained tuna, 150g mayonnaise, about 50ml double cream, 1/2 tsp paprika and the juice of a small lemon until you have a smooth sauce. Tinned tuna can blend smoothie. It's already long-since dead so it gives up in it's penultimate end in the blender.
3)Pour your sauce all over your turkey, leaving some meat poking out the edges and dredge it with a tablespoon of capers. Nonpareille ones look nicest, but any will do. Add 8 halved anchovy fillets, I didn't bother to have any pattern but one thing you should make sure not to do is have them curled as then they end up looking like worms. Serve cold.

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