"a little cornstarch instea of heavy cream" -vent
 

I work for a healthcare company, and they have some really nice employee wellness initiatives, Im quite lucky. Their competitive walking program, online through our email is really quite nice. And sometimes they have nice recipes. Then I read this, whilst nibbling my morning bacon:

"A little cornstarch gives the sweet and salty Marsala sauce for this pork dish the kind of body it would usually take a cup of heavy cream (rather than low-fat milk) to achieve. The recipe makes plenty of sauce, so you’ll want to serve it with some egg noodles or mashed potatoes to soak it all up. "

And suddenly Im desperately looking for a brick wall to smash my head upon. arrrcchhhhhhh!!!

The picture looks all glossy and bland. Part of me wants to send a letter to the editor: "For a healthier and tastier (meaning not tasteLESS) version, omit the cornstarch at the end, add the heavy cream and simmer for a few moments, do not boil. Serve the plentiful sauce with sauteed zucchini or spaghetti squash. "

Thanks for listening to the rant. it looked interesting enough to risk raising my blood pressure over. Heres the orginal if you can stand it. Its pretty obvious how to convert, ditch the starch and flour and milk, add the cream at the end and simmer for a few, then medallions back in pan to coat.

Yes, I know the marsala is hardly LC but there is all of a half cup in the entire recipe, perhaps worth it for the flava? What would YOU do with this recipe.

And note to self-no "health" articles before coffee.

***********************

Pork Chops with Creamy Marsala Sauce A little cornstarch gives the sweet and salty Marsala sauce for this pork dish the kind of body it would usually take a cup of heavy cream (rather than low-fat milk) to achieve. The recipe makes plenty of sauce, so you’ll want to serve it with some egg noodles or mashed potatoes to soak it all up.

Makes 4 servings
Active Time: 35 minutes
Total Time: 35 minutes
Course: Dinner

Ingredients
1/2 cup of Marsala (see Note), divided
2 teaspoons of cornstarch
1/4 cup of all-purpose flour
4 thin boneless pork loin chops (about 1 pound), trimmed
1/4 teaspoon of kosher salt
1/4 teaspoon of freshly ground pepper
2 teaspoons of extra-virgin olive oil
4 thin slices of prosciutto (2 ounces), chopped
1 small onion, halved and thinly sliced
3 teaspoons of chopped fresh oregano or 1 teaspoon dried
3 teaspoons of chopped fresh chives, divided
1 cup of low-fat milk
Directions
Mix 2 tablespoons Marsala and cornstarch in a small bowl; set aside.
Place flour in a shallow dish. Sprinkle pork chops with salt and pepper, then dredge in the flour.
Heat oil in a large nonstick skillet over medium-high heat. Reduce heat to medium and add the pork chops. Cook until well browned on both sides, about 2 minutes per side. Transfer to a plate. Add prosciutto to the pan and cook, stirring constantly, until browned, about 1 minute. Add onion and cook, stirring often, until it starts to soften and brown, 2 to 3 minutes. Add the remaining 6 tablespoons Marsala, oregano and 1 1/2 teaspoons chives and bring to a boil, scraping up any browned bits. Add milk and the reserved cornstarch mixture to the pan; adjust the heat to maintain a simmer. Cook, stirring occasionally, until the sauce has thickened and reduced slightly, 4 to 6 minutes.
Return the pork chops and any accumulated juice to the pan and simmer, turning to coat, until heated through, 1 to 2 minutes. Serve the chops topped with the sauce and garnished with the remaining 1 1/2 teaspoons chives.
Tip
Note: Marsala, a fortified wine from Sicily, is a flavorful addition to many sauces. Don’t use the “cooking Marsala” sold in many supermarkets—it can be surprisingly high in sodium. Instead, purchase Marsala that’s sold with other fortified wines in your wine or liquor store. An opened bottle can be stored in a cool, dry place for months.


Nutrition information
Per serving: 332 calories; 17 g carbohydrates; 12 g fat (4 g sat, 5 g mono); 30 g protein; 78 mg cholesterol; 1 g dietary fiber; 498 mg potassium; 526 mg sodium. Nutrition bonus: Nutrition bonus: Zinc (16% daily value).

Heavy cream fear is funny. And speaking of 'no health articles before coffee'..

This morning I had brunch with a friend and when ordering coffee I asked whether the cream was half and half or, you know, CREAM. The waiter's like, Oh, it's half and half. I don't think we have cream.. unless you want something like heavy whipping cream [this last part in a tone that conveys that this is clearly not something that anyone would actually want].. Imagine his surprise when I brightened up and said 'yes! I'll take that.'

A lot of places don't have it, period (because what sane person would voluntarily consume such a fattening product!?!!).. if only they knew :)

Ha, so did they have the heavy cream?

I was chatting with my boss about food (shes full-on martha) and I told her how I fixed a blah pot of soup by adding in a can of coconut milk. The look on her face was priceless. But she sure was sniffing in my general direction that day when I heated up my lunch!

Yeah, I just filled out my thingie for my insurance, too. I think the saving grace was they had options to avoid grains and gluten. I checked both, although I have no problems with gluten per se, just that it comes from grains. I think if I'd only checked I avoid grains it would have blown the system up. Oh, and I don't avoid the sun. I got a "bad girl" for that. Whatever, not like I'm going to take their advice anyway, but I get ten bucks off my premiums a month for filling out the survey. Whoo hoo!

Dh's company started having us fill out one of these several years ago, giving a discount if we did it. Then about 2 years ago they started using the "bad girl/boy" to charge us extra for our insurance! Scoundrels.

With things like this, it is easier just to roll with it, ignore it. If you get your back in the air every time you seem the old lowfat dogma like this, you will be really stressed out, ALL THE TIME.

Take care,
Robin

AKA "Getting it to stick so it all goes in your mouth in order for the combo to quickly kill you with an insulin surge."

Wow, scoundrels indeed! Now *that* would make my blood boil!

Yeah, I was thinking of that. Course, there was no place to put that honey and I each just lost almost 60lbs on our current horrible diet. I figure I'll start giving them the answers they want to hear next year, or I figured they'd up our premiums.

Yeah, I am not happy at all....it's a game. They pretended to offer help in the beginning. Thing is, I KNEW where it was going that first year, but then the second year I felt guilty about "lying" and answered honestly. Honesty is NOT always the best policy apparently. VERY sorry I'm saying that. VERY. We've always been honest and it's done nothing but cost us more and more money!



Well....on the important questions that they are charging us on they now want test results or participation in focus groups to "prove" we really have changed. It's a bunch of bs. The company is probably paying more to ensure we are insurance worthy than just paying for our insurance.

What P*SS*S me off is that if you are TOTALLY politically correct as far as health and diet then you're good to go...otherwise you're screwed.

It's society/government forcing people to do things. I HATE it.

Well, I got the last laugh.. Had surgery yesterday, and was chatting with my anesthesiologist about high blood pressure, and it turns out shes pro low carb too! We had this total moment of bonding over the literature the company cranks out, vs what real science says works.

Yep, I got one of those "health surveys" and I had a hunch it was just going to be used to ding me later. So I was right.

Scoundrels is too kind a word.