1/2 cup flour
11/2 pounds veal (scaloppini cut), pounded thin with mallet
6 ounces (11/2 sticks) butter, melted (clarified preferred)
3/4 cup Florio sweet Marsala wine
2 ounces Grand Marnier
1 pound mushrooms, cleaned, sliced, and sautéed (see Note)
Juice of 1/2 lemon
1/4 teaspoon white pepper
Flour veal on both sides. Heat butter in frying pan (do not burn). Shake off excess flour and sauté veal on both sides, lightly, over medium to low heat. Remove veal and set aside. Pour wine into saucepan and stir. Then add Grand Marnier, stir, and ignite to burn off alcohol. After flame dies, cook sauce until condensed to half the amount, put veal back in saucepan, and cook for another 5 minutes, stirring occasionally. Stir in the sautéed mushrooms, lemon juice and pepper and serve. Serves 4 to 6.
Note: To sauté mushrooms, clean and slice them and sauté them in 1/4 pound melted butter. Add 2 ounces sweet sherry and cook over low flame for 20 minutes, stirring occasionally.
“Joey, Joey, how do you get the sauce so sweet?” Skinny Bobby wanted to know.
“The Grand Marnier does it,” I told him. “I burn out all the alcohol, though.”
I sat back and watched everyone eat. They were gobbling up the food like it was their last meal. You would have thought they were all going to the chair. After dinner they all leaned back and made vulgar noises while I went to the kitchen to put coffee on.
“What the hell is this,” I screamed, running out of the kitchen with ajar of pickles. Inside, nestled among the gherkins, was a human index finger. I threw it on the table and everyone started laughing.
“Oh, that’s Frankie’s finger,” Tommy Agro said at last. “He used to tend bar for me. Whenever I open up a new joint I put that jar behind the bar, where all the people who work for me can see it. Then I put up a small sign that says, This is Frankie s fin-gen It’s here because he stole from his boss. That way, any____ who works for me will think twice before stealing. If I catch him a second time, they lose their hand. So far I got only one of those. It’s home in my freezer in New York. Want me to bring it down next time I come, Joey?”
“Marrone, no!” I shook my head, and edged back into T.A.’s kitchen, on the lookout for any more body parts.