As soon as you hear the words “Bernard Matthews” your thoughts immediately turn to turkey! For as long as I’ve been a mum (coming up for 16 years!), I’ve been buying from the frozen range of breaded turkey products as a quick and easy food to cook for my son, Liam. I even remember my mum cooking us turkey drummers when we were kids!

When Liam was a little boy he LOVED dinosaurs, so Turkey Dinosaurs were a favourite of his – they were fun to eat and he could pretend to make them roar as he ate his dinner!

No one ever really grows up, so even though he would still eat a pile of Turkey Dinosaurs if I put them in front of him, I wanted to create a more grown up meal that we could all enjoy as a family. I was inspired by a dish Liam had eaten when we were on holiday in Orlando. We ate at a restaurant where the waiter suggested Pollo alla Milanese – basically, chicken covered in a tomato sauce and topped with melted cheese. He really enjoyed it, so I re-created that at home using Bernard Matthews Turkey Golden Drummers.

It went down REALLY well with all the family – and took no time at all to make. I made a short video showing you just how easy it is to make my Turkey Golden Drummers alla Milanese, which you can view below or on my YouTube Channel

Turkey Golden Drummers alla Milanese

Serves 3 – 5 (depending on how many Drummers you want each!)

Ingredients

• One pack of Bernard Matthews Turkey Golden Drummers
• 250g of tomato pasta sauce
• 300g mozzarella, sliced
• 40g parmesan, grated
• your favourite type of pasta (twists, shells, spaghetti, I usually cook 50g per person)
• chicken stock cube (optional)
• chopped fresh flat leaf parsley (optional)
• side salad (optional)

Method

1. Place the Turkey Golden Drummers onto a baking tray and cook according to the package instructions. I found in my oven that they took a little longer than the 20 minutes stated.
2. Meanwhile, put the paste on to boil – I often crumble in a chicken stock cube for more flavour.
3. Warm up the pasta sauce.
4. When the turkey is cooked, transfer to an ovenproof dish.
5. Pour over the tomato sauce.
6. Lay the slices of mozzarella over the top, and sprinkle on the parmesan.
7. Pop under a hot grill for a few minutes until the cheese is melted and golden.
8. Sprinkle the parsley over the top if you like (or leave it out if the kids are fussy).
9. Serve with pasta. We also had a side salad with ours.

Whilst I love to cook meals from scratch, there are times when a quick fix is necessary, and that’s why I love having some cook from frozen products in the freezer to pull out and get dinner on the table in 20 to 30 minutes.

When I made this, I used half a large jar of ready-made tomato pasta sauce – I was going to make my own tomato sauce, but time has this habit of disappearing on me, and I had hungry boys to feed!

My Turkey Golden Drummers alla Milanese went down really well with both my son and husband (and me!) – I’ve not seen such clean plates so quickly!

Bernard Matthews’ turkeys are reared on British Farms (farming over 7 million turkeys each year!) and their breaded turkey products have no artificial colours, flavours or preservatives.

As well as Golden Drummers, some of the other great products in the range include Mini Kievs (my favourite!), Dinosaurs, Burgers and Numbers. With them being great value for money, they’re perfect for stocking up the freezer.

I love the numbers and the dinosaurs – you can have real fun with them on a plate – perfect for younger children. Mini Kievs just feel and taste so delightfully retro every time you bite into one of those tasty balls of turkey filled with a cheesy, creamy sauce – perfect for us older kids! And the turkey burgers, well, funnily enough, they remind me of my school days – turkey burgers were on the menu everyday, and were the food of choice for my friends and I!

Do you buy Bernard Matthews breaded turkey products? Which are your family favourites and how do you serve yours? Let me know in the comments section below this post!

Disclosure:  Collaborative post in association with Bernard Matthews and BritMums.

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