Pork Scaloppine Marsala with Sugar Snap Peas and Ham

Monday 25 June

A bag of sugar snaps had been left, lonely and forgotten, in the fridge for a week, so they were were a little tougher than needs be. So we strung 'em high and treated them as a stir fry. Fried up in a pan, added little cubes of first-cut ham, then a dash of wine, lowered the heat, covered and cooked till tender. (Holt's benchmark for beans will always be his grandmother Nonnie's beans, done in a pressure cooker with a ham hock for company. Cornbread to mop up the pot likker. Heavens!)

Meanwhile, the porklets (which we generally cut off as thin slices when we buy a big pork tenderloin, and freeze 5 or 6 together for a meal) were patted with thyme, kosher salt and pepper, then fried in oil and removed to a hot plate. The pan was deglazed with the marsala, then got a final monter au beurre. While making the sauce, we removed the lid from the sugar snaps and cooked off all the liquid, which left the ham cubes slightly browned. Sure we dirtied two pans, but everything was just right - and besides it was Barbara's night to do the dishes.