Yet Another Saltimbocca Variation, and Whipped Potatoes

Sunday July 13

We seem to keep coming back to saltimbocca, whether made with pork or sole; prosciutto, ham, or lox; provolone, mozzarella, or no cheese at all. The only unvarying ingredient is fresh sage, since we happen to have a bush of it right outside our back door.

Today's variety began with four thin medallions of pork topped with sage leaves and then slices of Schad's ham. We fried them in butter and oil, first ham side down, then up; this was Holt's ingenious idea to make the ham stick to the pork, and it worked. After both sides had browned, we topped the ham side with a slice of fresh mozzarella and a further sprinkling of chopped sage, and let it steam a bit covered, making the cheese melt just a bit. So these were open-face saltimboccas.

In the meantime, we'd been boiling up a pot of cubed Yukon Gold potatoes. When they were done, we whipped them up with butter and cream and salt in the Kitchen Aid. Holt cannot think of mashed potatoes without crater gravy, so once the saltimboccas were out of the pan and on their warmed plates, he deglazed the pan with white wine and scraped the brown bits into a nice pork gravy. Not canonical for an Italian meal, but satisfying anyway.