Turkey breast with sage and pine nuts

Ingredients for 4 servings:

• 1 kg turkey breast
• 20 sage leaves
• 20 g pine nuts, chopped (other nuts will work in a pinch…)
• 300g basmati
• 1 chili pepper(s), dried, for the rice
• 80 g smoked belly, in small cubes
• 1 onion(s), in small cubes
• 1 garlic clove(s)
• 3 tbsp tomato paste
• 250 ml red wine (e.g. Barbera or Carbernet Sauvignon)
• 1 tsp sauce thickener (e.g. starch)
• 1 tsp brown sugar
• olive oil
• salt and pepper
• butter

Instructions

Working time approx. 30 minutes; Total time approx. 30 minutes

with red wine sauce and chili rice

First, put the water on the boil for the rice. When it’s simmering, add 1 teaspoon of salt and the dried chili pepper, then add the rice. When it’s boiling again, turn off the heat and cover the rice, letting it simmer until ready to serve. Next, for the sauce, finely chop the onion and garlic, and cut the bacon into the smallest cubes possible. Sauté everything together in a small saucepan with 1 tablespoon of butter and a little olive oil. After about 1 minute, add the tomato paste and continue to sauté until the mixture begins to stick to the bottom and turns lightly brown. Then deglaze with about a third of the red wine and simmer for 5-10 minutes over medium to high heat. Then add the rest of the red wine and the cornstarch that you’ve stirred into a little of the red wine. Season the sauce with the brown sugar, salt, and cracked white pepper and keep warm, stirring occasionally. Meanwhile, cut the turkey breast into 4 pieces, following the grain if possible, and cut a pocket on each side with a small, sharp knife. Season with salt and pepper inside and out. Fill each pocket with 4-5 sage leaves and a quarter of the chopped pine nuts. Seal the pockets with toothpicks. Fry the pieces in a generous amount of oil with a little butter over medium heat for about 3 minutes on each side (visually check the cut pockets to see if the meat is cooked through). The beauty of this dish, in my opinion, is the different individual flavors of the chili rice, the robust sauce, and the fragrant sage/pine nut turkey, which harmonize beautifully together.