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Back story…..If you’ve read the start of the week you’ll know that I have just £5 a day for 5 people. This is day 5.

So guys I think tonight I hit the wall. I was mooching around the going off isle feeling pretty uninspired…. I feel like a giant steak or yummy take out or just a big ass box of roses (I am hormonal, can u tell?) . NOT what is on offer here… a lank bag of lettuce, a piece of day-glow  yellow fish, two strawberry trifles (they are ALWAYS here) and….. two large piece’s of turkey.

I am not a turkey fan, it always goes dry and it has no flavour. I have to say if it wasn’t  for you guys and your fantastic comments so far and the fact that I keep looking at bigger houses on rightmove as frugal inspiration I would have  given up, but no….that turkey was whispering to me….. take me, take me….I can be delicious.

And then inspiration hit, I saw the barefoot contesa do something simular (but with chicken, and more posh) on the cooking chanel the other day. So here it is, turkey escallops Parmesan with tomato pesto pasta ! Or if your explaining it to the under 10′s its like a giant cheesy chicken nugget and tomato pasta twirls…that should keep everyone happy! Oh and by the way it was actually amazingly good, I think my fav of the week in fact, I am a reformed turkey hater….yay me!!! ;D And if your still with me…yay YOU!

Turkey Escallops Parmesan with Tomato Pesto Pasta -

400g of turkey breast, 2 breasts (£1.89 in the going off soon section)

1/2 a packet of pre-grated Parmesan cheese around 25g’s (50p)

Cooks notes… feel I should tell you, until now I would not ever have used this stuff, only the proper wedges you grate yourself, (food snobbery)  but its fine for this and also really convenient if you have a cute little baby type person yanking at your leg while your cooking.

1/2 a bag of pasta shapes (25p) they are on offer at rainbow at the mo.

1/2 a jar of salca red pesto (50p) also on offer at the mo.

1/2 a bag of lettuce (50p)

3 tomatoes (50p)

Store cupboard-

1 egg

1 piece of white bread

salt and pepper

pinch of paprika or chilli powder

First take the two large turkey steaks and hammer them flat with either a meet tenderiser or if you don’t have one of them, you can bash away (gently though ;D ) with a rolling pin, we are aiming for two thin steaks that we can cut lengthwise into 4 large strips.

Then prepare the coating. In one bowl beat an egg. In another bowl add most of the Parmesan cheese (keep a little bit by for the pasta) bread crumbs ( I do this by whizzing up the bread in my trusty cheap hand blender, you could also use a food mixer but they are a bit annoying and bulky to wash afterwards;D) with the salt, pepper and a pinch of paprika.

Put a large frying pan on to heat, on a medium flame while you do the next bit……

Once you have the 2 bowls and the giant turkey strips, you get to the fun part! You quickly dip the turkey in the wet egg mixture and then into the dry breadcrumb mix and then straight into the sizzling pan, do the same with all 4 pieces of  escallops .

Note-  You must make sure the pan is hot enough to sizzle other wise it won’t brown nicely, in the same respect we are going to cook these puppies for 15 mins so if they are browning to quickly turn the heat down just a touch. Turn them 2 or 3 times throughout cooking for a really lovely even crispy texture.

While that’s happening put  boiling water in a pan and start the  pasta (usually takes around 12 – 15 mins)

Once the pasta is cooked, drain and stir in the pesto, sprinkling the rest of the Parmesan cheese for extra flavor.

Then take out the yummy Parmesan escallops and serve  on a bed of lettuce and tomatoes with a side dish of yummy pasta… Really good!

Tags: cooking for kids, family food on a budget, Italian recipes, tomato pesto, turkey escallops recipe

This entry was posted on Sunday, February 21st, 2010 at 7:22 pm and is filed under Misc, family life, food. You can follow any responses to this entry through the RSS 2.0 feed. You can leave a response, or trackback from your own site.