Pork Marsalaaaaa!

I've never made a marsala dish before and never really thought of it ever, but now I'm getting Cook's Country (an off shoot of Cook's Illustrated) in the mail. What the hell does that have to do with anything? Well, along with super rad recipes, they also have super rad 30 Minute Supper recipe cards in the middle of each issue, which you can tear out and keep. This was one of them, and I am so delighted I tried it.

Thanks Cook's!

Pork Marsala Saute

Serves 4 

1lb thin-cut boneless pork chops (about 1/2" thick), halved and cut into 1/4" strips

Salt and pepper

1/4 cup flour

3 tbsp butter

8oz white mushrooms, quartered

1 small onion finely chopped

3/4 cup Marsala wine (the sweet kind, not the dry)

1/2 cup chicken broth

2 tsp fresh lemon juice

1 tbsp chopped fresh parsley (optional, considering I totally forgot to buy some)

So here's what the pork looks like after all chopped up:

And here are my onion and mushroom:

The recipe said "dredge pork in 3 tbsp flour, shaking off excess" but I was not going to dredge all those pork bits a little at a time, so I used a ziploc bag, shook them up, and then dumped the whole mess out into a sieve to shake off the extra flour:

Melt two tbsp butter in a skillet over medium high heat and add pork.

Look how pretty! They sort of look like sour patch kids:

Sort of? Maybe not. Anyways, cook until browned, about 2 minutes a side. When it looks like this in your skillet...

Transfer to a plate:

Now, let's add the rest of the butter, melt it, and then add the veg:

Add some more salt and pepper, and cook until browned, about 7 minutes or so. In the meantime, don't forget to cook up delicious egg noodles!!

Stir in remaining flour (I never measured my flour so it's not omg rocket science, though the geniuses at Cook's would probably slap the shit out of me for saying so), and cook til the flour is golden, about 1 minute. Whisk in the Marsala and broth and simmer until slightly thickened, like 2 minutes. Add in your pork plus any juices rendered, lemon juice and parsley, and simmer another minute or two.

YUM! So, to add a bigger dose of veggies, I placed some frozen mixed veggies in the bottom of a colander, and when the pasta was done, I drained the noodles over the veggies to cook them through.

Stir that good stuff up with some delicious butter and plate it up. Or shall I say, bowl it up?

Now top with your pork-mushroom-sauce goodness from the skillet and toss to coat. It won't look super glommed up with sauce, which is how I like it. Instead, it's a nice silky texture that is a perfect balance of richness with subtlety.

I was very delightfully surprised with this dish! I enjoyed it immensely. It made a welcome change to our regularly-scheduled weeknight meals. I hope you enjoy it as well!