turkey steaks, help please.

[ilovetochat]

im a useless cook.
i have turkey steaks to cook for dinner and plan to cook in the oven but last time they were dried out.
i have a sauce to put them in, do i cover them in sauce and if so does this alter cooking time?
sorry for silly questions.

[nickschick]

yes cover them in the sauce and mix it round coating the turkey well,the cooking time will be indicated on the sauce packet or if you have made your own sauce just cook til theyre cooked probably about 45 mins chopped up on a medium heat.

[ReddyMealsAreNotWorthIt]

Turkey steaks will cook quickly - 45 minutes is way too long! Overcooked is what dries them out.

I'd brown them in a hot frying pan (season them first), for just a minute on each side, then put them in the sauce (heat this up first) and cook in the oven for no more than 20 minutes.

[nickschick]

well it works for me ........

I like the turkey to taste of the sauce and not just be coated, kind of slowly braised.

[ilovetochat]

i wasnt going to chop the steaks up, is that necessary?
so i have to preheat the sauce and brown the meat first.
i think i overcooked last time.

[Overmydeadbody]

45 minutes is too long I agree!!

As readymeals said, flash fry them in a (already hot) pan for a minute each side, then cover with sauce and cook in preheated oven for 20 minutes max.

If you want to oven bake them with out sauce without drying them out wrap them in foil.

I wouldn't say oven baking is the best way of cooking turkey steak though

[Overmydeadbody]

No you don't need to cut them up.

What sauce is it though? What are you serving it with?

[ilovetochat]

they can be friedn but i hate the smell of frying.

[ilovetochat]

its a shop bought sweet and sour sauce, serving with potatoes, carrots, parsnips and beans and have some mushrooms.

[Overmydeadbody]

me too, I hate frying smells

How about under the grill? much quicker than oven and less likely to be dry and over-done.

[Overmydeadbody]

Ok, in that case, why not do a stir-fry?

Slice the turkey into thin slivers, stir fry it in a very hot wok or pan with thinly sliced onions and carrots and beans cut into julienne and sliced muchrooms Add the sauce to heat through and serve with rice or noodles?

Stir-frying should take no more than 4 minutes and doesn't smell like frying

Much more authentic than oven baking whole with the sweet and sour sauce and potatoes.

I really don't think potatoes go with sweet and sour sauce. Or parsnips

[SomeGuy]

Yes stir fry is the best. You could marinate the turkey in soy sauce, crushed ginger and garlic before cooking.

Parsnips and potatoes just don't go with sweet+sour.

[ilovetochat]

i dont have ginger, garlic or soy sauce, as i say i dont cook.
dd oves spud at the moment so eatc it with everything but she does love noodles/rice so thanks.
i cany grill, oven is broken and only grills for 3-4 mins then turns off and whole cooker stops working for ages.

[ReddyMealsAreNotWorthIt]

ilovetochat - here's a really simple recipe, if dd loves noodles/rice, for the next time!:

Cut your turkey steaks into strips about half an inch/a centimetre wide, and put them into an oven dish/plastic box/plastic bag (whatever you have to hand

Add to the turkey:

2-4 cloves of garlic, finely chopped (more/less depending on how much you like garlic!)

A piece of root ginger, peeled and finely chopped - a piece about half an inch to an inch long will do it

A good sprinkling of curry powder (you're not aiming to make it hot, just give it some flavour, so about a teaspoon should do it)

The juice of half a lemon

Some light soy sauce - probably around 4 tablespoons (sorry - I do all this by eye, so I'm guessing a bit!)

Mix it all together and then leave for 20-30 minutes to marinate.

Heat some oil in a wok/frying pan (if you have it, sesame oil is nice, otherwise just vegetable/sunflower oil is fine) and fry a finely sliced onion; when it is softened and turnin brown at the edges, add the turkey (without the marinade) and stir/cook over a high heat for about 7-8 minutes; add the marinade and cook for another couple of minutes, then serve over noodles/rice

[ilovetochat]

thank you, i will give it a try.

tonights dinner went well, i heated the meat in the pan first, then put in the oven dish covered in sauce and it cooked through in 30 minutes. we had potatoes and carrots with it but not in the sauce iykwim and it wasnt dry at all and dp and dd ate it all so thank you all.