Pork Marsala Saute

A few weeks ago, Jillian began working a new job that keeps her away from home for most of the evening, most notably during suppertime. I usually work at home all day while she takes care of Violet, and then in the late afternoons, I assume baby duty. My amazing parenting style usually amounts to sitting on the couch with the baby watching Judge Mathis together, while I try only half-successfully to keep her from eating the down feathers from the throw pillows. Needless to say, she absorbs nearly one hundred percent of my attention, and because I am terrible at planning ahead, the evening meal has of late become a ridiculously informal affair. With the baby scurrying around at my feet and only myself to feed, I can usually manage to rustle up some frightening combination of leftovers from the fridge, which I pile into a saucepan, heat up, and then tilt down my gullet while Violet occupies herself with whatever her latest sticky rice-cracker obsession is.

In an effort to continue eating at least somewhat like a grownup (the packed freezer full of frozen burritos and Pillsbury Toaster Scrambles notwithstanding), I’ve been working on a collection of easy-to-prepare, comforting dishes. The criteria? They should be relatively inexpensive, comforting, and take less than a half an hour to whip up, with as little danger as possible to a baby who is suddenly everywhere all at once. And if there will be awesome leftovers that I can eat straight out of the saucepan later in the week, all the better.

With this in mind, I whipped up this easy riff on Pork Marsala, a pork and mushroom mixture flavored with onions, garlic, and sweet fortified wine. Serve it over buttered egg noodles, because when you’re at the end of your rope and counting the minutes until Mom gets home, nothing will make you feel better than buttered egg noodles. Except maybe bourbon.

Pork Marsala Saute
Serves 4; Adapted from a recipe by Cook’s Country

Ingredients:

• 6 thin-cut boneless pork chops, halved and cut crosswise into 1/4 inch pieces
• Salt and pepper
• 1/4 cup all-purpose flour, divided
• 3 tablespoons unsalted butter, divided
• 8 ounces white mushrooms, quartered
• 1 small onion, finely chopped
• 2 cloves garlic, minced
• 3/4 cup sweet Marsala wine
• 1/2 cup beef broth
• 2 teaspoons lemon juice
• 1 tablespoon chopped fresh parsley

Method:

Cut pork chops in half lengthwise, then cut crosswise to create 1/2 inch pieces. Season with salt and pepper, then toss with three tablespoons of the flour to coat evenly. In a large saucepan over medium high heat, melt two tablespoons of the butter. Add pork, and brown on all sides. Remove from pan and set aside.

Melt remaining tablespoon of butter in hot pan, and add mushrooms and onion. Saute until mushrooms start to brown, about six minutes. Add garlic, and cook for about a minute more.

Add remaining flour, and cook, stirring constantly, until flour begins to brown.

Add Marsala wine and beef broth, and bring to a simmer. Cook until thickened, about 2-3 minutes more. Add the reserved pork, and cook until heated through, about a minute. Add lemon juice and parsley, stir to combine, and serve over hot buttered egg noodles.

Tagged as: egg noodles, marsala, pork

About the Author: Malcolm Bedell

My first memories of cooking start in Maine at six years old, when I wore a yellow rainslicker to avoid getting spattered by the bacon I was frying in a skillet. My interest in both Mexican cooking and recreating classic New England dishes from scratch developed while living in Mexico, on a steady diet of pork and habanero peppers. You can see more of my writing and photography online on Serious Eats, the Huffington Post, BlogHer, and Foodista, as well as in print for Downeast, Indulge, and Cigar Snob magazines.