Think On It

Cutlets with lemon-cream sauce “Cotellette alla crema di limone” (from cooking class)

September 1st, 2007

This can be made of thin, lean slices of veal, (the original) pork, chicken or turkey. We used turkey. We cut the slices from a boneless turkey breast of just under 1 kilo to serve 8 people. As I explained to the class, every dish in an Italian meal is as important as the others, so we don’t say something is a main course, signifying that the others are less important. The antipasto was an exceptional cheese served with a very nice fig jam, then the cozze with pasta was important, and now we have a meat course. So we’re not planning on everyone eating a huge amount of meat and just a little of this and that on the side. This was served with a dish of sautéed bietola, or Swiss chard.

For 8 people:

1 kilo mild, lean meat, not beef, cut in thin slices– usually you can buy them sliced here. Graeme cut ours because he said the pre-cut ones looked like they’d been cut with a dull ax. Using a sharp knife, he pressed down with his hand and sliced horizontally, which is a good way to get the meat to behave and not quiver with fear when it sees the knife. Partially freezing it helps, too.

Some good olive oil

1 glass (here meant to be about 4 ounces liquid measure) of white wine

grated peel of two lemons

125 g or 4 oz. of butter

1 glass of heavy cream

juice of two lemons

salt to taste

100 g or 3 ounces of Parmigiano Reggiano, grated fine

If you bought a batticarne when I told you to, here’s a chance to use it. If you didn’t, you’ll have to use the bottom of a bottle or the side of a meat mallet, but don’t use the spiky sides!

One by one, put the cutlets on a board and flatten them with the batticarne, then put them aside. We used layers of baking paper to separate the layers, but in the US I would have used waxed paper. You can do this way ahead, even the day before, then refrigerate them.

A few minutes before you want to serve, heat some oil in a wide frying pan over medium-high heat and start frying the cutlets a few at a time. It takes less than a minute per side if you’ve gotten them thin and well-beaten. Turn, salt a bit, cook the second side and put on a plate. Continue until they are all done. You don’t want to brown the meat, just make it opaque from its translucent beginnings. You may have to add a bit of oil once in a while.

When the cutlets are all cooked, turn the heat up and add the wine, stirring a bit. Then add the cream and the lemon rind and let boil furiously for a few minutes. It gets quite bubbly. Add the lemon juice, stirring constantly, then taste. Stir in salt and taste again. You have to balance the lemon and the salt– it should be very spritely and citrusy, but not too acid, which is what the salt does; it dampers the lemon juice. Reduce the heat to low.

When it is perfect, put the cutlets back into the sauce and turn them to coat them. Using tongs, arrange the cutlets on a platter being very artistic, and dump the rest of the sauce over them. Scatter the Parmigiano over the dish and serve.

The sauce is very good with bread, and leftovers are welcome even here in leftover-haters house. Because it is a very pronounced flavor, I like to serve gentle vegetables with it.

Entry Filed under: Food, Italy, kitchen stuff, meat, turkey, lemon, secondo