Festa Italiana alla Pilollas – Oliva d’porco Scaloppine

So this is another of the recipes for the Italian Feast Menu. This dish was borrowed from the cookbook, “Italy, The Beautiful Cookbook”, and modified for our taste. The original recipe calls for red pepper flakes, but we weren’t sure everyone coming would appreciate the rising heat in the back of the throat, so we left that out. Suzanne loves capers, so we doubled the amount called for.

The dinner that evening was an event. Starting around 6pm, it stretched and meandered its way all the way to 2am the following morning. The entire 6 course evening was inspired by my love for the people we invited and the desire to express that in the best way that most Italians do, through food and wine. Oh yeah, we had 4 different wines throughout the feast, ending with Cappuccino and after-dinner drinks.

When we got together that evening we had known everyone for about 5 years. Our neighborhood was one of those filled with YUPPIES of the 80’s and 90’s. We had all taken vacations together, watched each others kids growing up, shared similar professional experiences, supported each other through personal troubles, cheered one another and slowly became an extended family. It had been a very long time since I felt that kind of closeness, so I really wanted the evening to be special.

This dish was part of the Secondi, or main course. Suzanne and I waited table and brought this out, already plated, preceded by Pollo Alla Romano and followed by Melanzane Alla Parmigiana. Of course, you can serve it all at once, sharing plate space for each dish. We just wanted to stretch things out, have plenty of wine and talk through the evening.

Since this is one of six courses, the recipe will serve 8 to 10 people. If it’s the only course, being served with pasta, it will serve 4 to 6.

Prep time: 15 mins. – Cook time : 20 mins.

Ingredients

Making the Magic

First, take a sip of wine and relax.

Add Olive Oil to a large, deep pan and heat over medium.

Slice the Pork Tenderloin into 1″ thick medallions. Pat dry.

Once the oil is swirling in the pan, carefully place the medallions. There will be some splatter.

Turn the medallions after 4 minutes or so.

After browning both sides of the medallions, move them to the side of your pan.

Drop in the shallots and saute for about 2 to 3 mins. Lean over the pan and smell the aroma as the shallots begin to release their oils and acids into the hot olive oil. They are chemically changing and the flavors will mingles with the rest of the ingredients.

Now add the chicken broth and the wine. Stir and scrape the bottom of the pan. As the liquid begins to boil it will help the bits stuck to the bottom of the pan to release into the sauce you are creating.

Next add the Olives and the Capers. Stir and coat them with the broth and wine.

After a minute or so, slide the pork medallions back into the middle of the pan, spreading them around.

Reduce heat to low, cover and simmer for 10 minutes.

Return the heat to med-high and add your Butter roux or corn starch mixture to thicken the sauce. An easy butter roux is 1T softened butter thoroughly mixed with 1T flour. It makes a soft paste that you can drop into and sauce you want to thicken.

Once your sauce has thickened, it is ready to serve over your favorite pasta as a main course or one or two medallions with just the sauce, as part of a beautiful Italian feast!

Variations To Keep It New

Consider adding fresh button mushrooms to this. Also, a hand full of raisins will make a nice sweet/savory change of pace.

I love trying different pastas and YES, the do taste different!

Wines We Love With This

Any light red or a dry white wine.

Goditi il cibo, la famiglia e l’amore! Mangiare!