Thursday, July 16, 2020

Sweet and Spicy Turkey Skillet


  • 1 8oz turkey tenderloin
  • 1/4 C apple juice
  • 2 Tbsp bottled hoisin sauce
  • 1/2 tsp grated fresh ginger (see notes, below)
  • 1/8 tsp salt
  • dash cayenne pepper
  • 1/2 C thin, bite-size strips red, green, and/or yellow sweet pepper
  • 1 small onion, cut into thin wedges
  • 1 Tbsp cooking oil
  • 3 Tbsp cold water
  • 1 tsp cornstarch
  • 1 small apple or pear, peeled, cored, and cut into wedges
1.  Cut turkey tenderloin in half horizontally to form two 1/2 inch steaks; set aside.  In a small bowl, stir together apple juice, hoisin sauce, ginger, salt, and cayenne; set aside.
2.  In a large skillet cook sweet pepper strips and onion wedges in hot oil over medium-high heat for 4-5 minutes or until nearly tender.  Remove vegetables, reserving oil in skillet.  Add turkey to oil in skillet.  Cook about 4 minutes or until brown, turning once.
3.  Return cooked vegetables to skillet.  Add apple juice mixture.  Bring to boiling; reduce heat.  Simmer, covered, for 8 to 10 minutes, or until turkey is done.
4.  Using a slotted spoon, transfer turkey and vegetables to a serving platter, reserving liquid in skillet.  Cover and keep warm.
5.  Combine water and cornstarch; add to liquid in skillet.  Cook and stir until thickened and bubbly.  Add apple.  Cook, covered, about 3 minutes more or just until apple is slightly softened.  Spoon apple mixture over turkey and vegetables.

Robyn's notes: I was really exceptionally pleased with this, I thought it would be just "ok" for me and that he would really enjoy it, but turns out I liked it a ton.  I'd not used hoisin sauce before, but I was able to plan more recipes to use it, so keep an eye out for those, coming up.  I used ground ginger, because the weirdest things are selling out at this point in the pandemic (can't get frozen mango for love nor money around here, and I could get it easily three months ago, and Golden Delicious apples are an impossibility these days).  I measured generously, because ground herbs and spices are not as strong as their fresh counterparts.  I used a pear, just because apples are getting hard to come by and I wanted to use what I could get to make applesauce.  I did not cook as long as these instructions direct, because I was using my enameled cast iron skillet, which retains heat like crazy.  The turkey would have been bone dry if I'd cooked it for that long.  So I did about 3 minutes in the oil, turning once, and simmered about 6 minutes, at the most, slicing through to check for doneness.  I'm glad I pulled it when I did, it was perfect.  Thickness of the turkey will have a lot to do with this, I sliced it butterfly style so it was fairly thin.  

**** 4 Stars: Very Good. Enjoyed by us both, I will make this frequently
(Bonus: the Welsh for "apple juice" is "sudd afal")

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