COURTESY PHOTO
Pictured is pork with Brussels sprouts, cranberries in a marsala cream sauce over fettucine; find the recipe below.
By ROSALIE HARRINGTON
Whether cooking for friends or for family, the compliments you receive are all the thanks you need. I often meet old friends, Rosalie’s customers, who like to share a story of a favorite meal or a favorite dish.
“I remember the Veal Georgio, it was my husband’s favorite so we had our wedding at Rosalie’s.”
Sometimes I get emails requesting a particular dish and very often it is Veal Georgio. I am struck that a simple combination of flavors gave people such pleasure, that they remember with such fondness a dish they had 30 years ago makes me feel happy.
Back in the day, when serving veal wasn’t punishable by severe guilt, I made veal all the time. Put yourself in my place for a moment, circa 1973. My butcher was Jack Savenor, whose Cambridge market was the favorite of any chef who knew good food prep. I had discovered his talent long before my restaurant opened. On a few occasions I had found myself waiting for an order alongside Julia Child, who was at the peak of her fame as America’s first celebrity chef. She and her assistant, Marion Morasch, would shop for her show. Of course, I was starstruck.
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I recall coming home from school in the early days of TV and watching cooking shows. I assigned to my poor brother Anthony, age 7, the sous-chef job. As a 10-year-old, I would pretend I had my own TV show and I would give him my list of necessary ingredients as I faced the pretend camera. He was such a good sport. I get warm and fuzzy just remembering it.
My mother was often irritated by my newfound passion. “What happened to all my butter?” Not one for a lot of compliments, she was more concerned about her costs. You see, I wasn’t pretending to cook for the camera, I was actually cooking for an imaginary camera, and my mother didn’t like that we were using up food and making delicious dinners when we were supposed to be peeling potatoes and setting the table.
Game birds, rabbit, ostrich, antelope and foods that were too foreign to me and most people back then, but Jack Savenor was early with the exotic cuts as a butcher. My Italian background was rooted in the Cucina Pauvre, the cuisine of the poor. We made delicious foods from organ meats like liver and brains, and we made our own sausages, using the lining of pigs’ stomach casings. No bones or carcasses were ever wasted. Sauces, soups and gravies became their resting place.
Out of necessity, the first immigrants, like my grandparents, with 10 children, had to be frugal. Though veal was my favorite meat, veal cutlets were so expensive. But Savenor pounded the hell out of pork to make a parmesan dish that usually used veal. Less-expensive cuts needed more cooking time but the results were also delicious.
My Italian grandmother, my Noni, used to make a dish using a veal breast in which she would make a pocket in the breast and stuff it. She never wrote anything down, but I remembered the stuffing as consisting of bread, pine nuts, raisins, fresh herbs, egg, prosciutto and Parmesan cheese. I know I have it right because I have never forgotten the taste.
At Savenor’s, Jack would prepare this veal breast for me so I could recreate this wonderful dish. This is why I can relate to people’s food memories and how powerful those memories can be. It’s also why I understand why Julia Child was using Jack Savenor as her butcher, along with me and others who thrive in the kitchen — it’s a privilege to work with people who know fine food and share your love of it.
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For my Noni, there wasn’t really a network of sophisticated foodies for her to tap into. She was a poor woman whose job was to create food for a big family and to stretch the family dollars. As a result, she learned to use every bit of what she bought, just as a good restaurateur must do. But Noni was a talented cook who carried a long heritage of food knowledge. Lucky for me, it was an Italian heritage in which she had been raised and trained, and that is a legacy rich in great flavors and traditions that the world seems to adore.
Today, when I make my meatballs, I add pine nuts, raisins soaked in Marsala, and fresh bread soaked in milk and squeezed out, not dry packaged bread crumbs. I know when I make a rice pudding that raisins and pine nuts are complementary, just like in the meatballs, whether you are trying to achieve a sweet or savory result.
Over the weekend, I was trying to decide what to make with ground pork, so much cheaper than veal. When I stuffed the Veal Georgio at Rosalie’s with sauteed onion and spread a little mustard and placed a sprig of rosemary and a slice of prosciutto on top those flavors were so good together. So I translated the dish into something similar, flavor-wise, but different prep.
These days, my husband Todd and I rarely eat meat but when we do I like to think of it as a celebration. I cheat a lot. But I am really enjoying challenging myself with new recipes built around vegetables. My advice to anyone who enjoys the excitement of preparing something new, remind yourself of what you liked about a dish and notice the combination of flavors that worked well. Creating a new recipe using some of the ingredients in new ways is so much fun. And you will enjoy the creativity and the compliments.
Pork with Brussels Sprouts, Cranberries in a Marsala Cream Sauce Over Fettucine
(Serves 2 to 4)
- In a heavy pan, heat 4 tablespoons olive oil. If you like, add a few tablespoons.of chopped prosciutto, a very Georgio thing to do!
- When the oil is hot add 1 pound of ground pork, 2 tablespoons chopped onion and 2 cloves garlic chopped. Saute until slightly browned all over.
- Add a sprig each of thyme and rosemary, 1/2 cup Marsala wine and 1/2 cup water or chicken broth and 1/2 teaspoon Dijon mustard. Simmer for 10 minutes. Set aside.
- In the meantime, wash and cut in half 2 or 3 cups of Brussels sprouts and toss with 3 tablespoons olive oil and a little salt. Roast in a 375 degree oven until browned slightly, turning occasionally.
- Place 1/4 cup each of raisins and dried cranberries in a glass. Cover with marsala wine.
- After 5 minutes, pour this over the roasted Brussels sprouts and toss well. Roast another five minutes.
- Add the veggies to the meat and pour 1 1/4 cup heavy cream to the pan. Simmer for just a few minutes to combine the flavors.
- Cook 1/2 pound of fettuccine noodles. Drain well.
- Pour the meat and sauce over the noodles and then spoon the veggies over that. Serve with grated Parmesan. Enjoy.