Ingredients
Serves 2 for Turkey. Serves 10 for SnapperCrumbed Turkey with Roasted Nectarines
200g turkey breast
100g soft white bread crumbs
100g grated parmesan
1 egg
100ml milk
2tbsp flour
75ml olive oil
Salt and pepper
Squeeze of lemon
25g butter
For nectarines:
2 ripe nectarines
50 ml Frangelico
2 tbsp blanched almonds
½ vanilla pod
1 star anise
½ cinnamon quill
1 piece mace
25g butter
Squeeze of lemon
The Delia’s Christmas Snapper
2 x 1kg fillets of snapper – bones and scales removed
3 cloves of garlic peeled and smashed
4 tbsp olive oil
2 tbsp Turkish chilli flakes
3 tbsp ras el hanout
1 lemon - zest and juice
Pinch of salt to season
Vine leaves to wrap fish
Rice Filling:
2 cups baldo rice (Turkish Arborio)
1.4lt fish stock - hot
¼ cups toasted pine nuts
¼ raisins
¼ bunch chopped coriander
¼ bunch chopped mint
Salt and pepper to season
Method
Crumbed Turkey with Roasted Nectarines
As displaced Anglo Saxons many Australians cling to the notion of an extravagant and heavy lunch. The traditional roast bird went out the window on my first Christmas in Oz. A friend’s invitation to enjoy a BBQ and dessert of fresh peaches and raspberries in his garden in the Dandenong’s changed my English ways forever. Indelibly printed on my brain 17 years ago, sipping a glass of 1986 Paxton chardonnay, chatting to friends and listening to the bell birds. Gary Mehigan
Cut the turkey into neat palm sized steaks. Season the flour with salt and pepper, break the egg and whisk. Dip the steaks first into the flour the egg and lastly the parmesan and soft white breadcrumbs.
Heat a little olive oil in a good non stick pan and add the turkey piccata.
Cook gently for 5-6 minutes on either side until golden. Add a knob of butter and foam around the turkey baste with the butter and add a squeeze of lemon.
Cut the nectarines in half and remove the stone. Place a knob of butter in a heavy based pan that can be place into the oven. Heat gently and add the spices, place the cut half of the nectarine face down into the bubbling butter, add the almonds and place into a moderate oven for 10 minutes.
Turn add a squeeze of lemon a dash of Frangelico and baste. Allow to sit for a few minutes.
To serve, place the turkey onto a plate with two halves of nectarine, drizzle with the juice from the pan, almonds and spices. Serve with a crisp summery salad or buttered green beans.
The Delia’s Christmas Snapper
To make rice filling:
Place rice in pot, cover with just enough stock to submerge the rice, cook until all the stock has evaporated. Add more stock gradually until the rice is cooked.
Add the remainder of the ingredients and place in the fridge to cool. Season.
Place just enough on fish fillets to cover evenly.
To prepare fish:
Pre heat oven to 180°C
Mix, oil, garlic, ras el hanout, chilli flakes and lemon in a bowl. Rub all over fish fillet.
Lay out foil. Line with vine leaves so the fish doesn’t stick.
Place cooked rice mix on the inside of the fillets of fish. Reassemble the fish so it looks whole. Wrap tightly in foil and bake at 180°C for 20 minutes or until cooked.