Prune, Sage and Armagnac-stuffed Turkey Escalopes
Prune, Sage and Armagnac-stuffed Turkey Escalopes

Prune, Sage and Armagnac-stuffed Turkey Escalopes

  • Prep time:

  • Cook time:

  • Total time:

  • Portion/Yield:

    Serves 6 as a main course

  • Difficulty:

    Intermediate

‘The British Larder – A Cookbook for All Seasons’ is celebrating its first anniversary. Wow! How quickly does time fly?? Well, I’ve had a tremendous year referring back to my cookbook as the seasons progress. I still find myself frequently referring back to my own recipes in the book, I love it and the book has become my own reference guide (I hope that doesn’t sound too big-headed!). For me, it’s a true and honest representation of the way I cook.

This recipe is a version of the recipe on page 422 of the cookbook – if you fancy making the delicious prune sauce, then you’ll need to refer to the book. The recipe in the book also gives you instructions on how to do this recipe with a whole turkey breast, preparing it as per a family-style roast that you can carve at the table.

These individual stuffed escalopes are great if you would like to serve turkey in a slightly more ‘upmarket’ way, for a special occasion meal or celebration. They can also be prepared a couple of days in advance and kept refrigerated until needed.Remember to buy the best turkey you can afford, I prefer Suffolk free-range bronze turkey for its superb taste.photo of Prune, Sage and Armagnac-stuffed Turkey Escalopes

Ingredients & Method

  • 5 whole cloves ½ teaspoon coriander seeds
  • 1 tablespoon unsalted butter
  • 80g smoked back bacon rashers, finely chopped
  • 1 small onion, finely diced
  • 50g celery, finely diced
  • 2 cloves garlic, crushed
  • 100g dried stoned prunes, chopped
  • 80ml Armagnac
  • 300g minced pork
  • 2 tablespoons chopped fresh sage
  • finely grated zest and juice of 1 lemon
  • 6 x 120–140g turkey escalopes
  • 12 rashers smoked streaky bacon
  • sea salt and freshly cracked black pepper

First, make the stuffing for the turkey escalopes. Heat a non-stick frying pan over a medium heat until hot, then toast the cloves and coriander seeds in the pan for 2 minutes, moving them constantly to prevent them from burning. Remove from the heat, then grind the warm toasted spices using a pestle and mortar. Set aside.

Return the frying pan to a medium heat, add the butter and once it is foaming, add the chopped bacon, onion, celery, garlic and ground spices and sauté for 8–10 minutes or until golden brown. Add the prunes and Armagnac and bring the mixture to a simmer, then simmer for about 8 minutes or until the Armagnac is completely absorbed, stirring occasionally.

Remove from the heat, transfer the mixture to a bowl and set aside to cool for 30 minutes. Once the bacon mixture is cool, add the minced pork, sage, lemon zest and juice and salt and black pepper and mix well. Refrigerate the stuffing whilst preparing the escalopes.

Preheat the oven to 190°C/Gas Mark 5.

Place each escalope in a small polythene food bag and use a wooden mallet or rolling pin to flatten each one to 7mm thickness.

Divide the stuffing mixture between the 6 flattened escalopes, spreading it out evenly over each escalope. Fold each escalope around the stuffing, then wrap each one in 2 streaky bacon rashers so that the main part of the escalope is covered.

Place the bacon-wrapped turkey escalopes, seam-side down, in an ovenproof dish and bake in the oven for 20–25 minutes or until the turkey is thoroughly cooked and the bacon is crispy. Remove from the oven, cover with foil and let the escalopes rest for 5 minutes before serving.

To serve, slice the escalopes into 2cm-thick slices and serve with warm carrot purée, whole braised carrots and red wine gravy.