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By Wolfgang Puck, Tribune Media Services
Despite the fact that many great cold-weather dishes do simmer, roast, or bake for an hour or more, not all great autumn dishes have to cook forever. In fact, some of the best can take just minutes to prepare.
I learned that lesson at the Park Hotel in Villach, Austria, as a 15-year-old apprentice chef. While slaving away in the kitchen, I soon discovered that nothing I helped to cook won as much approval among our guests as a menu item that our waiters made tableside in chafing dishes.
That specialty was Schweines Geschnitzeltes, a traditional dish that translates as "sliced pork." And while that name does reflect the simplicity of preparation, it doesn't do justice to the satisfying, complex-tasting results.
The pork slices in question are, in fact, strips of lean pork tenderloin. In a hot saute pan, they cook through and turn a flavorful golden brown in just minutes. All that remains to do afterwards is saute chopped onion and garlic in the pan; brown sliced mushrooms; add cream, spices, and herbs; simmer briefly until a thick sauce forms; and return the pork to the pan before spooning the dish over noodles or rice.
At home, of course, you don't need to wheel a chafing dish up to your dining table. Just heat a large skillet on the stove, making sure it's good and hot so the ingredients cook quickly and turn an appetizing color rather than steaming and becoming grayish. Have all the ingredients cut up and arranged within easy reach next to the stove, and your dinner will be ready to serve in little more than a quarter of an hour.
Rich and earthy with autumn flavors, the dish can be as elegant or down-to-earth as you like. For a special occasion, substitute veal for the pork and use golden trumpet-shaped chanterelle mushrooms, trimmed and cut lengthwise in halves. If you prefer an everyday poultry version, try it with boneless, skinless chicken breast or turkey breast.
Whatever ingredients you use, it's a dish you can easily put together even after a long, hard day of work. And, unless someone keeps you company in the kitchen, no one has to know that you didn't spend an hour or more at the stove.
Serves 4 to 6
Ingredients - Sauteed Pork Tenderloin Strips in Paprika-Mushroom Cream Sauce
4 tablespoons vegetable oil
2 pounds pork tenderloin, well trimmed and cut into strips about 1/4 inch by 2 inches
Salt
Freshly ground black pepper
1 pound dried wide egg noodles
3 tablespoons unsalted butter
1 onion, finely chopped
3 garlic cloves, minced
1 pound cultivated or fresh shiitake mushrooms, trimmed, wiped clean, and cut into 1/4-inch slices
1 cup heavy cream
1 teaspoon sweet paprika
1/4 teaspoon hot paprika
1 tablespoon minced fresh marjoram leaves
2 tablespoons minced fresh parsley leaves, plus extra for garnish
2 tablespoons creme fraiche
Preparation - Sauteed Pork Tenderloin Strips in Paprika-Mushroom Cream Sauce
Bring a large pot of lightly salted water to a boil.
Meanwhile, heat a large, heavy saute pan over high heat. Add the oil. When it swirls easily in the pan and is very hot, add the pork strips and saute them, stirring frequently, until they are uniformly golden brown, 5 to 7 minutes. Season to taste with salt and pepper. With a slotted spoon, transfer the strips to a strainer set over a mixing bowl. Set the meat aside, reserving the juices that collect in the bowl.
When the pot of water boils, add the noodles to the pot. Cook until al dente, tender but still slightly chewy, following the manufacturer's suggested cooking time.
Meanwhile, return the saute pan to high heat and add the butter. When the butter starts to turn brown, add the onion, garlic, and mushrooms. Saute, stirring frequently, until all the liquid given up by the mushrooms has evaporated, 5 to 7 minutes. Stir in the heavy cream, sweet and hot paprika, and the juices from the pork. Simmer briskly, stirring occasionally, until the sauce has thickened slightly. Stir in the reserved pork strips, marjoram, and 2 tablespoons of parsley, and adjust the seasonings to taste with more salt and pepper. Stir in the creme fraiche.
When the noodles are done, drain them and mound them on individual serving plates. Spoon the pork, mushrooms, and sauce over the noodles, garnish with parsley, and serve immediately.
(c) 2008 WOLFGANG PUCK WORLDWIDE, INC. DISTRIBUTED BY TRIBUNE MEDIA SERVICES, INC.
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Wolfgang Puck's Kitchen by Wolfgang Puck
The world-renowned chef with an extraordinary passion for food now shares that passion in Wolfgang
Puck's Kitchen. Puck makes great cooking easier than you ever imagined. He reveals how to turn common ingredients into uncommon masterpieces. Each feature includes both an expert tip and an easy recipe-exactly what you need to transform your home cooking from acceptable to delectable. Moves with color photos.
About Wolfgang Puck
Wolfgang Puck, in the eyes of food lovers and experts alike, is one of the most famous chefs in America and arguably the world. He has spawned a culinary empire that includes a fine dining group of 12 internationally acclaimed restaurants in Beverly Hills, Hollywood, Santa Monica, Las Vegas, Chicago, San Francisco, Palo Alto, and Maui; an extensive catering & events business with bases in Hollywood and Chicago, famed as official caterer to the Governors Ball following the Oscars; as well as Wolfgang Puck Worldwide, Inc., a corporation that controls, licenses, and franchises the Wolfgang Puck brand in a wide variety of business activities, including casual Wolfgang Puck Cafes, fast-casual Wolfgang Puck Expresses, consumer packaged foods, cookware, book publishing, television, and the Internet.
For the first time, Puck shares his expert, easy-to-master approach to cooking in the newspaper arena through WOLFGANG PUCK?S KITCHEN, a newspaper column syndicated by Tribune Media Services.
The Austrian-born Puck began his formal training at age 14, inspired by his mother, Maria, a hotel chef. He left Europe for America in 1973 at the age of 24, having already worked in the master kitchens of three-star French restaurants. In 1975, Puck moved to Los Angeles, and soon was both chef and part-owner of Ma Maison. It quickly became a magnet for the rich and famous, with Puck as star attraction. Since then, he has changed the way Americans cook and eat by fusing formal French techniques and Asian and California influenced esthetics with the highest quality ingredients.
After the 1981 publication of the first of his five cookbooks, Puck, in partnership with designer Barbara Lazaroff, opened Spago. Located in West Hollywood on the Sunset Strip, it was an instant success and culinary phenomenon from its opening day in 1982. Although the original location closed in 2000, three years after the successful opening of Spago Beverly Hills, Spago Hollywood today is remembered internationally as a legendary haven for entertainment, political and social luminaries.
In 2000, Puck developed his own "Wolfgang Puck" television show, which began airing on the Food Network in January 2001. The show features Puck sharing his cooking expertise with a studio audience who joins him in his kitchen, along with field documentary segments in which he explores the vast and diverse world of food, from farms to artisan workshops to restaurants, and visits with such luminaries as Julia Child, Robert Mondavi and Paul Bocuse. "Wolfgang Puck" was awarded a Daytime Emmy for Outstanding Service Show in 2002.
Puck also appears regularly on ABC's "Good Morning America," sharing his latest creations. He has been a guest on a multitude of other shows, including "The Late Show with David Letterman," "The Tonight Show with Jay Leno," "Entertainment Tonight," "ABC News with Peter Jennings," "CBS Evening News with Dan Rather," "Politically Incorrect with Bill Maher," "Frasier," and "The Simpsons." In 2001, the A&E Network featured Puck's life on its popular "Biography" series.
Puck and partner Barbara Lazaroff are actively involved in many philanthropic endeavors and charitable organizations, including their own Puck-Lazaroff Charitable Foundation, established in 1982, which supports the annual American Wine & Food Festival to benefit Meals-on-Wheels.
Puck lives in Beverly Hills. He and Barbara Lazaroff have two sons, Cameron and Byron.
(c) 2008 WOLFGANG PUCK WORLDWIDE, INC. DISTRIBUTED BY TRIBUNE MEDIA SERVICES, INC.
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