Giada's Holiday Handbook - Baked Turkey Parmesan

My Italian Thanksgiving is in full swing with a menu that celebrates the best of Italy and America. Every year, one of my secrets for success is to keep things exciting with a new twist on the turkey. This time, I'm turning the holiday bird into something cheesy, saucy, and Italian. Instead of doing a whole turkey, why don't I take something that people love, like chicken parm, and turn it into something that is more Thanksgiving. So I did a baked turkey parmesan, and it's so good. So giant, too, because the breasts are much bigger than a chicken. So it's really impressive. It's a very decadent way to enjoy turkey. So we're gonna do a little bit of salt, a little bit of oregano, and season our breadcrumbs. Basically, I have a breading station here, and because the turkey cutlets, scallopini, whatever you wanna call them, are larger, it's much easier to do them in a baking dish than it is to do them in a bowl. And I'm gonna add just a little bit of red pepper flakes. And so we just wanna mix that all together. And I've got a little bit of flour, and some eggs that I beat with a fork. And now I'm ready to go. So we've got the turkey cutlets. It's Thanksgiving. And remember, the breading is important, because it's what gives it that crust. And then some eggs. You wanna let the egg mixture sort of drip off the turkey. And it's fun. Okay, so now I've got all the breadcrumbs on the turkey, and my pan is nice and hot. Using some regular vegetable oil in the pan. Okay, I think I can fit one more in here. Yeah, there we go. These guys are ready to flip. Look how golden brown they are. Look at that. Really what you wanna do is get a nice golden crust. You don't have to worry about the turkey being cooked all the way through, because we're gonna bake it later on. So they'll be cooked through for sure. But look at that. All right, so these guys, I'm gonna leave them to cook a couple more minutes, and let's continue breading the rest of the cutlets. All right, so it's time to layer my turkey parm. And what I like to do, just like I do for a lasagna, is put a little bit of tomato sauce right on the bottom of the dish. I buttered the dish as well, so nothing sticks. We're gonna take our turkey cutlets, and I let them cool so you can handle them. And we're just gonna place them in the dish. It's gonna be about five cutlets per layer. Do that. It's kind of like a jigsaw puzzle, honestly. Just gotta figure out how it all works. Next layer, some more tomato sauce right over the cutlets. So basically, it's the same idea as doing a layer of lasagna, only it's turkey parm, and how festive and fun for Thanksgiving. Kind of a little different. Next, mozzarella. Just some shredded mozzarella, because it melts beautifully. Then a bunch of parmigiano, grated right over the top. It is called turkey parm after all. We need the parmesan on every layer. And then we put some basil. You could chop the basil, you could layer the basil, you could rip the basil, you could do anything you want with the basil. I'm just gonna leave pretty little leaves all over the top to make it look pretty. Next, more cutlets. Over that. And again, kind of like a puzzle.