Scaloppe di tacchino al forno con funghi e mozzarella

So the other night for my dinner date with Ben and Rachel, I wanted to do something I hadn’t done before, so browsed through Biba Caggiano’s Trattoria Cooking and settled on a recipe from Cannavota a Roma. It’s a ridiculous twist on a chicken marsala, made with turkey instead, and baked briefly in the oven with mozzarella cheese.

Brown 4 turkey breast slices in a pan with a few tablespoons of hot butter and oil,  then set aside. Cook about half a pound of sliced  mushrooms in the same pan, then add a bit of marsala and a few tablespoons of cream and salt to taste. Place the turkey in a baking pan, pour the mushroom marsala over it, and top with sliced mozzarella and bake, until melted.

Was this dish a hit? Ben really liked the cheese, and the flavor of the mushrooms was good, but the turkey chops were dry and tough. It may have been because we did not “serve at once” as the recipe says, but the more likely cause is that there is simply not enough fat in the turkey breast to render it juicy. Had we eaten it with the suggested Pinot Nero from Alto Adige, would anything have changed? 😉

In either case, I’m thinking that this dinner has marked the end of my vegetarian summer. While I love beans, greens and cheese, I’ve grown somewhat bored with eating them all the time. I think the real reason the turkey was dry is that I’m simply out of practice! I’m glad cooking season has arrived again.