Mediterranean Turkey
This is a bit of a departure from me, sort of…. Whilst I prefer to cook as much from scratch as possible, sometimes you need to bring something together quickly and need the assistance of the pantry. Now, that is not to say that you can’t have made and preserved the pantry ingredients yourself! In the future, I plan to have recipes to explain how to make some of the common ingredients that I like to use, but until then, I too will grab the pre-made versions.
I love the strong, brightness that many Mediterranean dishes can have when they include an acid like lemon juice or vinegar. Growing up a frequent dish for dinner was “Lemon Chicken”. It was an easy meal for my mother to make with a vert picky, non-red-meat-eating child as well as the tastes of my father and grandmother who lived in our home. Actually, it is still a comfort dish for me if I ask my mother to cook. The only difference is the swap of turkey for the chicken due to my allergy. I think back to my teenage and college years and all the issues I have with food taking its incredible slow journey down my esophagus, at times getting stuck for a bit, into my belly. Despite mentioning that it would happen all the time when we had chicken and rice, it never dawned on me or anyone that I was actually allergic to it! It actually wasn’t until 2017, at 40 years of age that things clicked and testing took place. Since removing it from my diet, things got a lot better with swallowing, but now even a tiny spec of chicken will make me have a full allergic reaction, hives and all.
Thankfully, turkey has been a great substitute but, it does have a different texture and can be a bit drier. Enter sous-vide cooking! It is a game-changer as I was missing the tenderness and juiciness of chicken breast. Admittedly, when I made this dish last for my family, I didn’t actually follow my own recipe instructions! Why? Because I wanted to try to sous vide the turkey breast to see if it made a difference. I can easily say that it absolutely did! While, yes, it technically took 3 times the amount of time to prepare, it was passive time. My actual time at the stovetop was cut to only 15 minutes, which is a huge positive for me, coupled with perfectly cooked poultry.
If you wish to jump to the quick recipe you can click here, but if you would like to read about my alteration and using a sous-vide method to cook the turkey, please, continue!
One thing about sous-vide cooking is that it takes a moment to wrap your head around temperatures. We know that poultry generally needs to be cooked to 165℉ to be safe from the various pathogens. However, that guidance is based on holding it for 10 seconds at the temperature. In sous vide cooking, we can bring it to lower temperatures and holding it for a specific period of time, depending on the thickness and type of meat, and get the same safety. This is a benefit in sous-vide poultry as you only need to heat it between 134.5℉ and 152℉, depending on the texture you want, because you’re going to hold it at that temperature for a longer period of time. If you want to learn more about times and temperatures for sous-vide cooking for poultry, this sight is a wealth of great and scientific information.
I used 4 turkey tenders which measured 3/4 of an inch at their thickest part and seasoned them the same as the recipe calls for. I sliced one of the shallots into medallions and placed everything plus a splash of olive oil into an appropriate storage bag and vacuumed the air out and sealed. I placed it in the preheated water set at 147℉ and cooked for 1 hour.
When it was completed, I removed the turkey from the bag and blotted them with a paper towel to dry the surface, reserving the liquid and shallots. I did a quick sear on each side, (roughly 30 seconds each) removed them, and continued on with the recipe, using the shallots from the bag as well as the freshly sliced ones. I then followed the recipe steps through step 10 but instead of water, I added the reserved juices from the sous-vide bag. I then only cooked it for roughly a minute to wilt the spinach and served.
This recipe can be served with your choice of grain. If you’re looking for expedience, Mediterranean couscous is a great choice as it’s ready in less than 5 miniutes. I chose to pair it with a lightly lemon flavored millet. Whatever you choose, this meal can be ready in 30 minutes and can be enjoyed by the whole family.
Recipe Card
Note: I highly suggest having a digital scale in your kitchen. It takes the guesswork out and makes baking recipes a lot more successful. All of my recipes are written in metric weights. If you do not have a scale and need to convert a recipe or ingredient to volume, you can use the buttons to the right and copy /paste the recipe into the handy recipe conversion tool or the single ingredient conversion.
Mediterranean Turkey Breast with Artichokes, Sun dried Tomatoes and Spinach
Ingredients
Method
- Take the Turkey breast pieces and pat dry with a paper towel. Then liberally season them with 1 tablespoon of the
- Mediterranean Spice Blend.
- Chop the sun-dried tomatoes into small uniform pieces.*
- *Heat a skillet on high with 2 tablespoons of the reserved oil from the sun dried tomatoes. Sear the turkey breasts for 3 minutes on each side, remove from the skillet, and reduce the temperature to medium heat.
- Add a tablespoon of olive oil.
- Add the shallots and sauté for 4-5, minutes to soften and begin to take on color.
- Deglazethe pan with about 1/2 cup of white wine and cook for 2 minutes.
- Add the artichokes, sun-dried tomatoes, capers, and lemon zest. Heat for 3-4 minutes as it combines with the wine and shallots.
- Add the turkey back into the pan and sprinkle the other 2 teaspoons of the Mediterranean Spice blend over the entire pan.
- Add the lemon juice, mixing to coat the contents of the pan.
- Place the spinach on top of the contents of the pan and 2 tablespoons of water and place a lid to cover.
- Cook for 5-7 minutes. The internal temperature of the turkey should reach 165 degrees Fahrenheit.
- Stir the spinach with the rest of the contents of the pan and serve.
* Notes (if you see an * please check here):
- This is roughly 1-1.5 pounds of poultry. You can use a breast and cut it into 4 pieces if you can not find them pre-cut. Alternatively, you can use thin chicken breast or tenders.
- You can certainly use your favorite prepackaged spice blend.
- The size of the tomatoes is your choice according to how strong of a presence you want them to have in the dish. I prefer pieces less than 1/4 of an inch.
- If during cooking you find you need more oil, use as little olive oil as you can whilst allowing the contents not to burn.