Turkey Tenderloin - Take 2

Continuing in the cleaning out of the freezer campaign and simply because I never remember to separate tenderloins before I freeze them, I needed two meal ideas this week using turkey tenderloins. In fact, most of what's left in the freezer is some form of turkey so hopefully the ideas keep on flowing and we don't get tired of it! For tonight's meal I decided to make some turkey scaloppine over angel hair pasta with asparagus. Scaloppine is a super easy & fast dish to make for a weeknight dinner and it's something you could also gussy up for guests. Likely you have the majority of the ingredients already, which makes it even better! Scaloppine is one of my favorite dishes and tonight's dinner didn't disappoint! For dessert I decided on roasted peaches with raspberries, since I happened to have both on hand and it seemed like a good dessert for a hot summer evening.

Turkey Tenderloin Scaloppine
1 turkey tenderloin
1/3 c. flour
1/2 tsp. salt
1/2 tsp. pepper
3 Tbs. butter
1 Tbs. olive oil
1/2 c. white wine
3 Tbs. lemon juice
2 Tbs. fresh Italian parsley, chopped
2 garlic cloves, minced
2 Tbs. capers


1. Cut turkey into 1/2 inch thick slices. Place between 2 sheets of heavy-duty plastic wrap; flatten to 1/8 inch thickness, using a meat mallet or rolling pin.

2. Combine flour, salt, and pepper, and dredge turkey in mixture.

3. Melt 2 Tbs. butter with oil in a large skillet over medium - high heat. Add turkey; cook, in batches, 1 1/2 minutes on each side or until golden. Remove from skillet, and keep warm.

4. Add remaining 1 Tbs. butter, wine, and juice to skillet, stirring to loosen bits from bottom of skillet. Cook 2 minutes or just until thoroughly heated.

5. Stir in parsley, garlic, and capers and spoon over turkey. Garnish, if desired with lemon wedges and fresh parsley. Serve immediately.

Note: Serve over hot cooked angel hair pasta, if desired.

Yield: 4 servings
Recipe obtained from: Southern Living - June 2002

What I did: the original recipe calls for 1 1/2 pounds turkey breast tenderloins. Scaloppine is one of those dishes where you really don't need to follow a recipe, though I include one for reference. Essentially you just add as much lemon, white wine and garlic as you like and you're good to go. My garlic was bad, so I used a lot of garlic powder instead and I didn't think about it until we were already eating but I should have added some crushed red pepper for some extra kick.




Vanilla-Roasted Peaches with Raspberries
2 Tbs. unsalted butter, melted
2 Tbs. fresh lemon juice (one lemon)
2 Tbs. sugar
1 vanilla bean, halved lengthwise and scraped, or 1 tsp. pure vanilla extract
4 firm, ripe peaches (1-1 1/2 lbs. total), halved and pitted
1 pint vanilla ice cream
1 package (5-6 oz.) raspberries

1. Preheat oven to 400. In a large, shallow baking dish, combine butter, lemon juice, sugar, and vanilla bean (seeds and pod). Add peaches, and turn to coat with butter mixture; arrange, cut side down, in a single layer.

2. Roast until peaches are tender and cooking liquid is syrupy, 15-20 minutes, brushing with cooking liquid halfway through. Serve peaches (warm or at room temperature) with ice cream and raspberries drizzle with cooking liquid.

Yield: 4 servings
Recipe obtained from: Everyday Food - July/August 2007

What I did: Since it was just the two of us and we ate this at 10pm, I thought it best to halve the original recipe. I didn't have a vanilla bean on hand, so I used the vanilla extract option. This was also a simple summery recipe that you could add any variation of fruit and or spices to. It would also be good with a sprinkle of granola on top or with yogurt instead of ice cream.

We were out of white wine and I was only stopping at Walmart, so their wine aisle had to do for this meal! Actually, Walmart doesn't have that bad of selection - they don't have a big selection but they do have a couple of solid & cheap choices. For the scaloppine I choose Monkey Bay Sauvignon Blanc ($11), which I'd never tried before. Someone told me about this brand recently and I figured I'd give it a shot. For a cheaper wine it wasn't that bad and blended nicely with the lemon juice and other ingredients.