I ate at a nice Italian restaurant named The Chef, ordering a dish named Veal and Shrimp Roberta. It was stunningly good! I puzzled over the excellent and somewhat thick sauce, then realized it was a thick Marsala wine and brandy reduction sauce, sans mushrooms. I started to wonder whatever happened to my memory! I made pork or veal Marsala numerous times in the distant past, but my sauce was never prepared to be as thick (or as tasty), nor was the meat I cooked in it as tender and juicy.

In any event the chef did an outstanding job of combining lightly coated and sautéed veal cutlets and shrimp over pasta, everything coated lightly with a rich reduction sauce. It was delightful. I noted one of his fine methods was to barely cook the veal so that it remained juicy and very tender. Interestingly, so was the shrimp. And the egg batter coating on the veal and the shrimp was moist and soft at serving time ... perfect with the Marsala wine and brandy reduction sauce over it.

For whatever reason the next few times I ordered that dish it arrived with a sad attempt to make a decent sauce. It was like someone had mistakenly introduced a lot of water into the sauce. So much for depending on the restaurant. I suspect they changed chefs and/or became careless.

Thus, I decided to try to replicate this fine entree at home with the addition of some porcini mushroom slices and other sauce variations and this recipe is the result. I could tell that some of the rich sauce flavor from the original recipe at The Chef came from putting a very small amount of porcini mushrooms (they have intense flavor so don't overdo it) into the sauce (see below) so I've added that ingredient to the recipe.

Note that the richly flavored thick sauces served with this dish take some time to prepare as you will be concentrating the ingredients by slowly boiling the sauces and reducing the volume by half or more.

I decided to use pork instead of veal as the pork is literally superior to veal in taste and tenderness. If you are averse to eating veal you can pound 1/2" thick slices of lean pork loin to a thickness of 1/4" with a kitchen mallet and use them as a substitute for the veal. Be sure to cut away and discard any fat from the pork slices. You want only lean meat.

Optionally you may want to serve an appetizer before the meal. If so, I suggest making a dozen Tasty Ladies hors douvres using the Food Nirvana recipe, and serving them along with a small bowl of club crackers and a chilled bottle of Pinot Grigio wine.

Make a Caesar Salad per the Food Nirvana recipe, keeping the main ingredients separated, and serving it prior to the entree, along with a bottle of chilled white wine and warmed Italian Ciabatta bread and butter.

Note that this meal is best served with a chilled medium dry white wine, like a Pinot Grigio or a Pinot Gris. Avoid sweet wines. You can also really enjoy some warm, crusty Italian Ciabatta bread. Buy a loaf of the bread and heat it in the oven at 350 degrees F for ten minutes immediately before serving the meal. Put the bread on a wood cutting board. Cut it into eight thick slices with a serrated bread knife. You might serve it in a napkin lined basket. Be sure to have soft butter and/or an olive oil and herbs mixture to serve with it.

For dessert serve small bowls of gelato or ice cream with a few simple cookies like Pepperidge Farm Chessmen® tucked in with the gelato/ice cream, and cups of hot, freshly made coffee, perhaps with just a touch of Amaretto DiSaronno® added.

Ingredients: (makes four adult servings)

For meat and seafood cooking:

2 sticks of butter for sautéing the egg battered pork cutlets and shrimp

2 lb. or more of 1/2" thick slices of lean pork loin (fat removed) pounded on a wood cutting board with a knurled surface kitchen mallet to be 1/4" thick

1 lb. of peeled, raw, vein removed, extra large fresh shrimp

6 extra large or jumbo eggs for making an egg batter

2 tbsp. of flour as a batter ingredient

1/2 to 3/4 cup of cold milk as a batter ingredient

1 cup (or more) of all purpose flour for dredging the pork and the shrimp before coating them with the egg batter

Salt and pepper to taste on the pork slices prior to dredging them in flour

For the pasta sauce:

6 ounces of Asagio cheese, shredded

1 cup of dry Marsala wine (do not use sweet Marsala wine!)

1/4 cup of good brandy (like Remy Martin® or Courviosier® cognac)

3 cloves of garlic, thinly sliced

1/2 cup of beef broth

1 cup of heavy cream

1 tsp. of sea salt

1/2 tsp. of black pepper

1 tbsp. of olive oil

For the reduction sauce to coat the cooked pork and shrimp:

1 tbsp. of olive oil

1 tbsp. of butter

2 cloves of garlic, minced

1 cup of dry Marsala wine

1/2 cup of of good brandy (like Remy Martin® or Courviosier® cognac)

2 tsp. of Better Than Bullion® roasted beef flavoring

2 tbsp. of cornstarch, mixed into 1/2 cup of beef broth

1 large shallot, thinly sliced

3 fresh rosemary sprigs

6 fresh thyme sprigs

1/4 cup of dried porcini mushrooms softened in 1/2 cup of beef broth

Remaining ingredients and other meal items:

Freshly chopped parsley, to be used as a garnish when serving the entree

1 lb. of linguine or fettuccine, cooked and kept covered, moist and warm until serving time

1/2 lb. of Parmesiano Reggiano or Pecorino Romano cheese, freshly grated, to serve at the table

1 loaf of Ciabatta bread and 1 stick of soft butter, and/or some olive oil with herbs for dipping

2 chilled bottles of medium dry white wines like Pinot Grigio or Pinot Gris or Sauvignon Blanc

Optional appetizer course of Tasty Ladies, a small bowl of club crackers and a third bottle of chilled white wine

Caesar salad made using the Food Nirvana recipe, keeping the primary ingredients separated until they are served

Gelato or ice cream plus some simple biscuit type cookies for dessert, like Pepperidge Farm Chessmen®, along with freshly made coffee

Directions:

This delicious but apparently simple meal, in terms of number of served items, takes some time to prepare so allow for three hours of preparation before meal time. Believe me, it is well worth the time spent as you the chef will get lots of applause.

Make a Caesar salad per the Food Nirvana recipe, keeping the different components in separate bowls, refrigerated. The salads will be made later individually at the table by each guest at mealtime. Remember to serve a small dish of anchovies for guests who enjoy them in Caesar salad.

Preheat the oven to 180 degrees F.

Put your serving bowls and individual serving dishes into the warm oven to pre-heat them. That will keep the food hot and delicious when served, and for a while after serving, which is most pleasant. Also, put your salad bowls into the refrigerator so they are cold when you serve the Caesar salad.

Prepare the dredging flour by using a one gallon Ziploc® freezer plastic bag and putting in the cup of flour.

Cut the pork loin into 1/2" thick slices, cut away and discard any fat, then pound both sides of each slice so the pork has a final thickness of 1/4". Each piece will be fairly large so cut the pieces in half for easier handling during sautéing, and more attractive serving later.

Season both sides of the pounded and cut pork slices/cutlets lightly with salt and pepper, rubbing it into the surface of the meat.

Remove the shells from the shrimp and rinse them, then lightly dry them.

Dredge the pork cutlets and then the shrimp a few at a time in the flour mixture, by closing and shaking the bag, then put them on separate dinner plates in preparation for battering and frying.

Prepare the egg batter:

Separate the whites from the yolks, putting the whites into the electric stand mixer bowl. Keep the yolks in a separate bowl. Mix the whites on medium speed for two minutes, then on high speed for five to ten minutes, until the egg whites are stiff enough to hold a shape.

Continue mixing on high speed, adding the yolks one at a time, about one per minute. When the last yolk has been added, mix for two more minutes and then slowly add the flour while mixing. Then add one half cup of the milk slowly while mixing. Mix for a final two minutes. If the batter is too thick then add in the remaining 1/4 cup of milk slowly and mix for two minutes. The egg batter is now ready to use. Note that when the batter is put on the pork or the shrimp it should be a thin layer no more than 1/8th inch thick. That is why the thickness of the batter is adjusted, if necessary, before using it.

Heat the two sticks of butter in a thick bottom 12" to 14" diameter skillet over medium-high heat until the bubbling ends. Reduce the heat to medium. Adjust the heat up or down to maintain a moderately high temperature during the next sautéing step, but not hot enough to turn the butter brown in color.

Dip dredged pieces of the pork cutlets into the egg batter one at a time with tongs or two dinner forks, holding each over the batter to let excess batter fall off, then place that cutlet into the hot butter. Continue until the inner skillet surface is about half covered with the pork cutlets. If you have worked quickly (do that) it is time to use a spatula and a fork to turn over the cutlets, gently, starting in the same order in which you put them into the skillet. That should provide them with about two minutes of sauté time on the first side.

Turn the cutlets over in the butter using a spatula underneath and a fork pressed into the middle of the cutlet on top. Sauté the pork cutlets in the heated butter 1 1/2 to 2 minutes on the second side. Then remove them with a spatula, let them drain for a few seconds, then place them on parchment paper on a baking sheet.

If you have remaining pork pieces waiting to be sautéed then repeat the above steps for those pieces, finally putting a layer of plastic wrap top of the cutlets.

Keep the pork cutlets warm in the preheated oven.

Repeat the above steps of dipping into the egg batter and sautéing the pieces for the dredged shrimp, doing about half of the shrimp in each batch. Sauté them two minutes per side, using tongs to turn them over once, gently, during cooking and also to remove them to a paper towel covered dinner plate after they have cooked on the second side. When done then cover them with plastic wrap and put the plate of shrimp into the preheated oven.

Set the skillet aside and allow the hot butter to cool. Next, you will cook the pasta and then set it aside while you make the sauce for the pasta.

Heat a gallon of water and a pinch of salt in a large pot on high heat to rapid boiling. Put the pasta into the boiling water and stir it until the pieces are well mixed (not stuck together) and under water. Cover the pot with a lid and turn off the heat. The pasta will be perfectly cooked thirty minutes later, at which time you simply drain it lightly in a colander and put it into a large bowl, cover it with plastic wrap and put it into the warming oven. Do not let the pasta stay in the water in the pot longer than thirty minutes.

Now make the sauce for the pasta ...

Mince the garlic cloves with the salt.

Heat the tablespoon of olive oil in a second (non-stick) skillet over medium heat, and sauté the minced garlic until it is fragrant. That should take about one minute.

Increase the heat to medium high, and stir in the Marsala wine, the brandy, one cup of beef broth and the pepper. Cook and stir the mixture for about five minutes.

Add the heavy cream and bring the mixture to a simmer or a low boil. Let the volume reduce to 1/2 of the starting volume on low heat.

Stir in the grated Asagio cheese 1/3 cup at a time until all of it is melted into the sauce.

Pour the completed sauce into a bowl, cover it with plastic wrap, and put it into the warming oven.

Now make the thick reduction sauce to coat the sauteed pork and shrimp:

Reconstitute the porcini mushrooms in 1/2 cup of beef broth by heating the mixture in the microwave oven for one minute. Mix and let sit for three minutes.

Make a mixture of the corn starch and 1/2 cup of beef broth.

Heat the butter and the olive oil in a clean, small non-stick skillet.

Sauté the shallot, garlic and the 3 sprigs of rosemary and 6 sprigs of thyme until the shallot slices are soft.

Mix in the Better than Bullion® beef flavoring and the cornstarch and beef broth mixture.

Add in the porcini mushrooms and the liquid they were heated in.

Add in the Marsala wine and the brandy.

Cook the sauce at a low boil on medium heat with occasional stirring until the sauce is thickened and reduced in volume to about one cup. This will take time as you are reducing the volume of liquid from about two and 1/2 cups to one cup.

Remove and discard the thyme and rosemary sprigs from the sauce.

Remove the sauce from the heat and pour it into a serving bowl.

Cover the bowl of sauce with plastic wrap.

If you have only a single oven, remove the warmed bowls and serving dishes and warmed foods from the 180 degrees F oven. If you have a double oven, keep those items in the warming oven while you use the second oven to warm the loaf of Ciabatta bread. Also put the covered bowl of warm reduction sauce into the warming oven with the other items.

Preheat the oven to 350 degrees F and then heat the Ciabatta bread, uncovered, for ten minutes at that temperature. Then turn the oven off. Serve the bread on a wood cutting board or in a napkin lined bread basket after cutting the bread into eight thick slices.

If you have only a single oven, then keep the hot oven door open when you remove the bread and put the warmed entree items and serving bowls/dishes back into the oven to keep them warm while the guests eat the Caesar salad and the Ciabatta bread.

Serve the chilled Caesar salad ingredients with the chilled salad bowls, one bottle of the chilled wine, and the warm Ciabatta bread and some butter and/or olive oil with herbs for dipping.

Each guest will create and mix their own salad using the chopped romaine lettuce, Caesar salad dressing, grated parmesan cheese, optional croutons and optional filets of anchovies.

When the salad course is done, put the warm pasta into the four wide individual serving bowls and ladle about 1/2 cup of the Asagio cheese sauce over each pile of pasta and mix briefly. If the pasta is cooler temperature wise than you want then warm each bowl of pasta in the microwave oven for 30 seconds.

Put the warm pork cutlets and shrimp over the individual servings of the pasta.

Ladle 1/4 cup of the reduction sauce over the pork and the shrimp in each serving bowl and garnish the dish with the fresh parsley.

Serve the meal along with a side bowl of freshly grated Parmesiano Reggiano or Pecorino Romano cheese for the table.

Provide glasses of ice water as well as the other chilled bottle of wine.

Remember to serve the dessert and the coffee, about 15 minutes after the guests are done eating the main meal and relaxing.

Enjoy!