Turkey rolls with gherkins and ham

Today I was going to make a classic breaded turkey cutlet. And I did. For Ninka. The plan was to make myself exactly the same thing. But then I thought, how hard could it be to make something with a bit more “wow”?

I wouldn’t say these rolls are particularly “wow”, since they’re a fairly classic variation. What I want to show with this recipe is that little changes like this are neither difficult nor terribly time-consuming. It was really a spur-of-the-moment idea: what could I tuck inside that piece of turkey I’d bashed thin? I had some lovely smoked ham I’d just bought, some gherkins, and I always have pickled jalapeños. That’s all it takes.

I’ll admit that if you love beef roulades (basically the same filling, apart from the chillies), the turkey version might not impress you much. But if you like poultry the classic way (i.e. breaded), want something quick and fancy a slight change, I recommend it.

You’ll need a meat mallet, of course, but what self-respecting primitive kitchen hasn’t got one?

Sorry the photos are even worse than usual. My phone battery was running low so I had to take them without the flash. And I’m not one to postpone eating until my phone has charged :p

At a glance: 

Preparation time: 20 minutes

Serves: 2 (obviously you can always make more)

Calories: meat in breadcrumbs fried in olive oil. Sadly, yes, there are calories. Kilocalories.

Ingredients for a decent batch of turkey rolls:

• 250 grams of turkey breast fillet (I bought a piece weighing nearly a kilo and cut two thicker cutlets from it that I could bash thin. If your pieces are small it’s hard to flatten them nicely)
•  2 slices of smoked ham (good quality, ideally with a little fat)
• 4 little gherkins (two larger vinegar-pickled cucumbers would do just as well)
• 4 pieces of pickled jalapeño (leave out if you don’t like heat)
• olive oil
• breadcrumbs (enough to fill a bowl big enough to hold a whole roll)
• 1 hen’s egg
• salt
• ground black pepper

Recipe (hardly any more work than turkey strips):

I got the meat ready. In other words, I washed it thoroughly and cut 4 cutlets from it (2 for Ninka and 2 for the rolls). I gently flattened each one with a meat mallet through a plastic bag. You have to be gentler with turkey than with pork loin, for example. Otherwise it can fall apart or get holes in it, which makes rolling it up tricky.

I seasoned the meat with salt and pepper, put it in a bowl and left it in the fridge for 15 minutes.

I cut each gherkin into 4 strips and chopped the jalapeño pieces a little smaller. I cracked the egg into a bowl and beat it. Into another container went the breadcrumbs.

I laid the turkey out on a board and put a slice of ham on each piece. I arranged the gherkins and peppers at even intervals on the ham and rolled the whole thing up. I think chilling the meat helped it stick to itself quite well once rolled. I didn’t even need string or cocktail sticks.

I dipped the rolls in the egg first (coating them thoroughly), then rolled them in the breadcrumbs. I heated the olive oil in a frying pan and browned the rolls on all sides. Once they were nicely browned all over, I turned down the “heat” (from 5 to 3 on my scale of 1 – 10) and covered the pan with a lid. I fried them over a low “heat” for a few minutes. All done. I served them with potatoes and gherkins. Enjoy!