The vegetarian was craving a loaded baked potato. And it turns out that a tomatillio and corn salsa recipe, that I had previously made for crab cakes, goes really well on top of aforementioned baked potato. I just needed something to come up with something Carnivorey (I just coined this term, look for it in next years Webster Dictionary) to go with the starch and salsa.
I cook pork chops all the time, but I always do them about the same way. Pan sauteed with a pan sauce. This time, I wanted to bread them, but also keep them light. One of the golden rules to a golden crisp crust is the dry-wet-dry method. I used to just dip in egg and then into bread crumb mixture. I was clearly doing it wrong. With a little help from Cooking Light, I made my own little three phased dipping bowls.
You want to have three shallow bowls. The first has flour. The second has egg. The third has the crusting agent. In this case, I actually used matzo meal. To spice them up, I tossed in some Dijon mustard with the egg, and fresh chopped parsley, salt, pepper, and Parmesan cheese with the matzo meal (you can use bread crumbs). The result was a crispy pork chop that was a perfect temperature inside.
Ingredients:
Loosely Based on Cooking Light recipe
Makes 4 pork chops
4 boneless center cut pork chops (~4-6 oz each)
1/2 cup all purpose flour
1/2 cup matzo meal (or unseason bread crumbs)
2 tablespoons parsley, finely chopped
2 large egg (or 2 egg whites)
1/2 tablespoon Dijon mustard
1 tablespoon Parmesan cheese (finely grated)
1-2 tablespoons cooking oil – Vegetable/Canola etc.
salt
pepper
Combine matzo meal/breadcrumbs, cheese, sage, pinch of salt, and a bit of pepper in a shallow bowl. Place flour in another shallow bowl. Mix mustard and egg in another shallow bowl until combined.
One at a time, dredge pork in flour on all sides (including edges) and shake off excess. Dip into egg letting any extra drip off and then finally coat pork in matzo mixture, on all side. Set aside. Repeat with remaining three pork chops.
Heat a large skillet over medium heat. Add oil to pan. You want heat to be high enough to brown chops, but not burning them. Add pork; cook 3 minutes on each side and then using tongs, quickly cook the edges. Pork should register about 140 degrees internal temperature. They will cook slightly more as they rest.