When we plan our meals, ingredients like fresh herbs, freshly ground spices, zippy chiles and bright citrus are all healthy and nutritious flavor enhancers for our aging and often less sensitive palates. The distinctive, earthy-sweet flavor of Marsala wine is one of these taste-saving food accents that can wake up our flavor receptors.
As for the pork replacing traditional veal or chicken in the dish, this is just me being obstinate. I had planned to use a favorite German recipes for our Aging & The Loss Of Taste episode. It's pork medallions, sauerkraut and applesauce "en casserole," but Libby nixed it because of the high sodium content in fermented kraut. I'll sneak this recipe into the lineup sometime, somewhere - with a sodium warning of course - but for now I used the pork for the Marsala dish just to be fickle. Chicken and pork are interchangeable when you've got other flavorsome ingredients like Marsala in command.
There's one other non-tradition to this recipe. Cutlets in Marsala sauce are usually dusted with flour before they are sautéed, both to add a slight crust to the meat, but also to act as a sauce thickener. For this version we've eliminated the flour. It means the finished sauce will be lighter and more liquid, but the taste is all there without the added carbohydrates from overly refined white flour.
The pork Marsala is being served with a modest portion of whole-wheat pasta. If you prefer to serve it alone, with just some sautéed spinach and no pasta, then you may dust the cutlets and enjoy a thicker sauce. Food Over 50 is all about little compromises like these that add up to big dietary improvements.
Prep Time | 15 Minutes |
Cook Time | 20 Minutes |
Servings |
4 People
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- 1 lb pork loin or tenderloin
- 1 large shallot
- 4 garlic cloves
- 3 Oz sliced mushrooms
- 3 Tbsp olive oil
- 1 Tbsp butter
- .5 cup sweet Marsala wine
- .5 cup low sodium chicken stock
- 1 pinch salt
- freshly ground black pepper
- 1 lb whole-wheat spaghetti
- 1 handful fresh spinach
- 1 Tbsp chopped parsley
Ingredients
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- Cut the pork loin or tenderloin across its natural grain into approximately two ounces slices. Then pound the portions into thin cutlets, seasoning lightly with salt and black pepper.
- Slice the mushrooms, mince the shallot, mince the garlic, chop the parsley and reserve.
- If you wish to accompany this dish with pasta, pre-cook the whole-wheat spaghetti in unsalted boiling water to an "al dente" consistency while you prepare the pork Marsala.
- Over medium heat, add 1 tablespoon of the olive oil to a large sauté pan. Add the pork cutlets and sauté approx. 2 minutes per side, over a medium heat, until they are almost, but not quite cooked through. At this stage remove cutlets from the pan and reserve.
- In the same pan add another tablespoon of olive oil, the butter, garlic, shallots and sauté briefly. Add the sliced mushrooms. Sauté until the mushrooms have sweated down. Increase heat and add the Marsala and the chicken stock. Simmer to reduce and concentrate the sauce, but retain a reasonable volume with which to dress the cutlets.
- Add the pork medallions and finish in the sauce, over low heat, for another couple of minutes.
- Over medium-high heat in another pan, rapidly sauté one minced clove of garlic in another tablespoon of olive oil. Quickly add the drained spaghetti before the garlic goes too brown. sauté for a minute, then add a big handful of spinach leaves, a pinch of salt and pepper and keep the pan moving until the pasta and semi-wilted spinach have married. This should only take two or three minutes total.
- Plate a modest portion of the pasta and spinach, or alternately sautéed spinach alone, with a pair of the 2-ounce pork cutlets. Top the cutlets with plenty of mushrooms and drizzled with the light Marsala sauce. Finish with the chopped parsley.
Again, we haven't dusted the cutlets with flour, so the sauce won't thicken much. If you're not serving the pork with pasta, then go ahead and use the flour for a thicker Marsala sauce if you prefer.