AFresh Look

LAST week I visited Paris and Euro Disney and couldn't help but notice that many of the restaurants had dindon, or turkey, on their menus.

June is Quality British Turkey Month - aimed at promoting turkey to caterers who seldom use it at this time of year, but with its low fat advantages (3.6%) and its amazing versatility and low cost, perhaps we should consider it more. I have to admit, I took some convincing but I created four very different dishes with surprisingly interesting and successful results.

TURKEY RILLETTE

After nearly eight hours of simmering about 10 turkey legs in fat with loads of garlic, star anise, ginger, bay leaves, etc, the meat started to fall nicely off the bone. The rillette is easily prepared by blending the tender turkey meat in a food processor with some of the fat/juices of the confit.

Turkey legs and thighs can currently be purchased for around 45-50p per lb.

HOME-SMOKED TURKEY BREAST

You can smoke your own meat and fish very easily by putting the shavings (dust) of beech or oak into a thick-bottomed saucepan, topping it with a tightly fitted colander and a lid. When the shavings burn, they smoulder and create enough heat to cook and smoke your chosen meat or fish.

I used a fillet of turkey for this dish which can be purchased individually from most butchers at about £3 per lb. The advantages of the fillet is that it is small, easy to handle and is also very moist. A whole turkey fillet will take about 15 minutes to cook, but will need to be turned half way through cooking.

I chose to produce a salad of turkey with pink grapefruit segments, ripe avocado and a citrus dressing made with orange juice, lime juice, lemon juice, olive oil and icing sugar to sweeten.

STEAMED FILLET OF TURKEY WITH ROSTI

Steaming the fillet of turkey wrapped in clingfilm with herbs proved an excellent way of retaining its moisture, flavour and texture.

Once covered it can then be sliced into neat roundels and fanned around crispy potato roti.

I served it with a rich Madeira jus made from turkey stock (you can usually get turkey bones free) with a little veal jus to help give the sauce the glaze it needed. I garnished it with a pile of caramelised baby onions cooked in Cassis with red wine to absorb the colour and sweetness.

MEDITERRANEAN TURKEY CASSEROLE

With the trend of Mediterranean food still increasing I could not resist this casserole of breast and thigh meat braised with peppers, red wine, black and green olives, plus shallots and finished with plenty of chopped basil and tomatoes.

The Mediterranean flavours really work well with turkey which seemed to absorb the pungency of the peppers, red wine and basil.

Market Prices

MEAT

English spring lamb is still decreasing in price with good availability and quality. Prices have fallen from the recent price of £1.08 per lb to around £1.45 per lb.

Forequarter of beef is still increasing in price and sirloins are costing around £3.50 per lb, a large increase in comparison with prices a month ago. Chuck steaks are about £1 per lb, shins and neck are about 75p per lb down from £1.40 per lb.

English veal is of good quality and coming through a lot finer than Dutch at the moment which is currently dry and slightly tough. Expect to pay around £6.60 per lb for topside and £3.60 per lb for loin on the bone.

Venison prices are stable as always, expect to pay about £4.20 per lb for saddle and £3 per leg.

Over the past two months pork has increased slightly by around 12p. Legs are around £1.20 per lb shoulder and belly is currently around 67p per lb. Due to increased demand for curing ham prices have risen from £1.15 per lb one month ago to around £1.44 per lb.

POULTRY

Chicken has stabilised in price at about 56p per lb for any size. Gressingham ducks are currently costing around £1.65-£1.85 per lb and 80p per lb for farm ducks.

Pigeon is currently in short supply although the shortage is only expected to last for a couple of weeks, prices have increased dramatically from 90p each to around £1.32 per bird. Quail is in good supply and is fetching around £1.20 each for large birds.

FISH

Lobster is costing around £5.50 per lb, and crab is around £1 per lb. Scallops are about £4.25 per dozen. Red mullet is still worth steering clear of as supplies are very limited and costs are still high at around £4 per lb. Lemon sole is of very good supply and quality and cost at around 90p per lb for a medium fish. Cod is also an excellent buy at £1.80-£2 per lb. The cost of plaice has eased and will be costing around £1.65 per lb for whole fish. Squid is very limited in supplies at the moment. It is currently around £2.50-£3.50 per lb.

VEGETABLES

English leeks are now coming to an end and French ones are making an appearance onto the markets, but due to poor weather and the French national holiday they are very expensive at around £7 per box compared with the normal price of £4.50-£5 per box.

Spanish courgettes are now finishing and are poor quality and expensive prices at £6.50 per 11lb box. Dutch yellow are currently of good quality, but coming through at the more expensive price of £8.50-£9.50 per 11lb box.

Yellow and green peppers from Holland are now decreasing in price to about £9.50-£10.50 per 8-9lb box. Red peppers from Holland are slightly more expensive at £10 per box.

English onions are low in availability, as we come to the last of our stored stock and are expensive at around £10 per bag. Spanish ones are becoming available at £8-£9 per bag although they're not at their best just yet. Chilean onions are available but at a cost - £11 per bag.

English spring onions are of good supply and still cheap at 22-25p per bunch.

FRUIT

All soft fruits are now readily available and of very good quality. Spanish new season plums costing about 75-90p per lb depending on their size. Nectarines are currently very good value and quality at £6 per tray. Peaches are fetching about £4.50 per tray. French summer cherries have come down slightly in price to £1.10-£1.20 per lb.