Breadcrumbed Turkey Steak with Pesto Pasta

This is one of my favourite ever dishes, which I could eat all the time. It's a quick and easy meal, and by deep frying the turkey, you not only get a nice even golden colour, but the breadcrumbs are particularly crispy and the meat is melt-in-the-mouth succulent. If you don't have a deep fat fryer, you can use a frying pan with 1cm of oil in the bottom and shallow-fry it - you may need to scrape out any loose breadcrumbs that are left in the bottom of the pan, or else you'll end up with black, burnt breadcrumbs stuck to your turkey. I would also highly recommend using Panko (Japanese breadcrumbs) instead of regular breadcrumbs as they are much crispier and give a nicer, flakier texture. You can get them at many supermarkets now, as well as at Asian supermarkets, and they're well worth it.

This recipe gives you a lot of pasta, so it's ideal if you're catering for several people. If not, then you can either reduce the amount of pasta and pesto, or, alternatively you can cook the full amount and have the pasta cold for a nice lunch. It's also worth noting that if you're only cooking up one or two turkey steaks, you will only need 1 egg.

Ingredients: 500g Dried Pasta Shapes (I like to use Cavatappi) 1 Portion Fresh Pesto Thin Turkey Breast Steaks (as many as required) Flour Salt and Pepper 2 Eggs (Beaten) Panko Breadcrumbs

Method:

1. Add a generous pinch of salt to a saucepan of water and bring it to the boil. Tip in the dried pasta and cook until tender.
2. Drain the pasta and return it to the empty saucepan. Tip in the pesto and mix thoroughly. Place into a large serving bowl and set to one side.
3. Take the turkey steaks and lightly bash them with a tenderising mallet so that they are nice and thin.
4. Take three large plates and line them up. In the first plate sprinkle some plain flour and season with a little salt and pepper. In the second plate, put your two beaten eggs. Finally, in the third put a generous handful of Panko Breadcrumbs.
5. Pick up one of the turkey steaks and dust in the flour. Then dip into the egg and finally into the breadcrumbs. Once coated, immediately place the steak into a deep fat fryer set at 190C and cook until golden brown. Remove from the fryer and put on a plate lined with kitchen roll to soak up any excess oil before placing onto a lined baking tray.
6. Repeat with the remaining steaks, if you run low on flour, egg, or panko, just replenish the plate as necessary. Transfer the baking tray to a low oven to warm through while you reheat the pasta in the microwave. When both are hot, serve and enjoy!