Anchovies, gherkins, lemon, capers and butter, all my faves!

The presumption tends to be that children prefer rather bland, predictable foods, especially if they're not green. Well tonight's meal goes completely against that theory. My children really gobble this meal up. The request is 'Please may I have the last stalk of broccolini?' or 'More gherkins on mine please.'.

This first recipe I have blogged about before it's the Mustard Caper Sauce recipe from Nigella Express. This time, it's served with broccolini, and this photo has omitted the capers, which are sitting in their sieve, almost forgotten until my 6 year old pointed out that her plate had no capers! Heaven forbid!

Now this next dish I have wanted to create for a long time, but sadly, turkey fillets are hard to come by. I could wait no longer for turkey fillets to appear, so I made it with chicken breast fillets. Seemed a perfect option, as if there is a meat that is sadly lacking in flavour, it's chicken breast fillets (I'm a thigh girl usually). I bought skin on fillets, and rendered the fat from the skins to help flavour up the breasts (and the crispy skin makes a delightful cook's and cook's assistants treat just quietly).

Now, there was a concern for me here, and I shall try to be as delicate as I can with this information. Last year I became ill, not from anything I ate, but sadly the last thing I did eat, was, well the flavour I remember from that time. Hope that is clear enough. The dominant flavour was dill. I haven't eaten dill since. That is, until today. I gingerly added a sprinkling of dill. I felt very brave. I am glad I was easy on the dill, as I did find it brought back (but not up) memories of an unpleasant time. Apart from that though, these flavours are incredible. Again I can say my children ate this enthusiastically, even asking for extra sauce. Delicious and a great dish for when time is short, but a desire for flavour is big.

Turkey (or chicken) Fillets with Anchovy, Gherkin and Dill

5 anchovy fillets
2 15ml tbs olive oil (or for real decadence chicken fat as above)
3.small turkey (or chicken) breast fillets, beaten as thin as possible*
2 tbs vermouth
2 gherkins, finely chopped
2 tbs chopped fresh dill

Heat anchovy fillets and oil in a large frying pan, stirring with a wooden spoon until the fillets begin to melt.

Flash-fry turkey in same pan, cooking for a couple of minutes each side. Remove the meat to a warm serving plate.

Add vermouth and chopped gherkins, and let the liquid reduce and sizzle for a minute or so.

Pour over the plated turkey (or chicken) and sprinkle with dill.


* Rather than bash the chicken about, I just sliced the breasts horizontally and cooked the inner fillets on their own.

As Nigella suggests, I served all this with some simple steamed potatoes, perfect for dipping in either of the two sauces.

Yummy, yummy, yum yum! I just adore these flavours! How grateful I am then, that my family like them too.