Good morning, world! After just over two weeks of radio silence, I am back and ready to roll. For those of you who don't know, my wife and I just had a baby, so I took a bit of time off to adjust to that massive life change. For me, everything is different, but for you, things should mostly be the same. Some of my posts may appear a little later in the day than they normally would, and down the road, things may become a little more oriented to feeding a young family, but other than that, it is business as usual. Speaking of business, as usual, let's get to it.
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As I am just kind of easing back into work I thought it would be good to start with a fairly simple dish for 30 minutes or less. Don't let the long name confuse you. This is a simple dish that anyone can make and pretty much everyone will enjoy. Pork schnitzel is essentially a breaded pork chop, pan-fried until golden and crispy, then served with a quick brandy mushroom sauce that comes together in the same pan. Let's take a look.
This is...
6:20 pm - Potatoes
It was 6:20 pm when I started cooking last night, and the first thing I had to get going on was the potatoes. I took 4 small-ish russet potatoes, peeled them, diced them, rinsed them in cold water until the water ran clear, then covered them with hot salted water and cooked them on high until they were tender. With the potatoes on the stove, which took about 4 minutes in total, it was time to focus on my sauce ingredients.
6:24 pm - Sauce Prep
The sauce for this dish is what is known as a pan sauce. All that means is that the sauce is made in the same pan as the main protein, usually incorporating drippings from the protein. We aren't going to really have any drippings, but we are going to use one pan to cook the schnitzel and the sauce. If you're interested in learning more about sauce techniques, my sauce-making guide goes into much more detail.
The first thing I did was peel and thinly slice one shallot. If you don't have shallots, half a small onion would work. Next up, I removed and discarded the stems from four cremini (brown) mushrooms, and thinly sliced them. The last thing I sliced was 2 cloves of garlic. To the sauce ingredients, I added 2 sprigs of thyme.
6:28 pm - Broccoli
I set the sauce ingredients aside, which took about 4 minutes to prep, then I got to work on some broccoli. I really like long spears of broccoli and I find cutting broccoli this way leads to less wasted stem. To do this cut off the bottom third or half of the broccoli stem. I cut the bottom half off because my pot wasn't big enough to hold longer stems. Then cut the broccoli into 6 pieces lengthwise.
After the broccoli was cut I put it in a pot with just about 1 inch of water. The goal here is to steam the broccoli rather than boiling it. I set the pot aside until I was ready to cook it.
6:29 pm - Breading Pork Schnitzel
Finally, it was schnitzel time! To make the schnitzel I used what is known as the standard breading procedure. You start with flour (I used potato flour because it's what I had on hand), then a beaten egg, then bread crumbs. The idea is that the flour sticks to the meat (or vegetables), the egg sticks to the flour, and the bread crumbs stick to the egg.
Really, all I did here was beat 1 egg, and season the potato flour with salt and pepper. I used "fast fry" pork loin chops so I wouldn't have to pound them out with a meat mallet. I dipped them in the flour, then the egg, then the bread crumbs and set them aside.
6:35 pm - Cooking Pork
As I was finishing breading the pork I turned my pan on to medium-high heat. Once the pan was hot I added in 1 tablespoon of butter, then the pork. I cooked the pork for 2-3 minutes per side then removed it from the pan. I wiped the pan out with a paper towel and put it back on the heat.
I also turned the broccoli on high at this point.
6:37 pm - Parsley
While the pork was cooking, I chopped up about 2 tablespoon of parsley and set it aside.
6:41 pm - Sauce
At this point the broccoli had started boiling. I turned the heat off and left the lid on the pot.
I added 1 teaspoon of olive oil into the pan I cooked the pork in along with the mushrooms, shallots, garlic, and thyme.
While the sauce vegetables were cooking I drained my potatoes, heated up 1 tablespoon of butter, 2 tablespoon of cream, and mashed the potatoes into it. I put a lid on the potato pot and set it aside until I was ready to eat.
I cooked the mushrooms and onions for about 4 minutes then added in 2 tablespoon brandy. This got cooked for 1 minute then in went the beef stock and a pinch of salt and pepper. I added the pork back into the pan and cooked it for 1 minute per side before adding in a ¼ cup of cream. I cooked the sauce for 1-2 more minutes, seasoned with salt and pepper, added in the parsley and served.
6:49 pm - Plating
To plate the food I started with mashed potatoes, then the broccoli upon which I placed a pork chop and some of the sauce. Such a delicious meal!
This really is a great meal that you can make any day of the week. That breaded pork is also fantastic for pork parmesan, pork burgers, and lots of other things. It's become one of my favourite quick dinners and I think it'll become one of yours too.
Recipe
Ingredients
- 4 Fast Fry Pork Chops
- ½ cup Bread Crumbs Gluten-Free
- ½ cup Flour Or Potato Starch
- 1 Egg, lightly beaten
- 1 bunch Broccoli
- 4 Medium Russet Potatoes
- ½ cup Cream
- 2 tablespoon Butter
- 4 Cremini Mushrooms, Sliced
- 1 Shallot, Peeled and Sliced
- 2 tablespoon Brandy Or White Wine
- ½ cup Beef Stock or Chicken Stock
- 2 sprigs Thyme
- 1 tablespoon Parsley
- Salt and Pepper to taste
Instructions
- Peel, dice, and rinse the potatoes.
- Cover the potatoes with hot salted water and put on high.
- Cook the potatoes until tender, drain, warm 1 tablespoon of butter with ¼ cup cream then mash the potatoes and mix with the hot cream and butter.
- While the potatoes are cooking slice the broccoli into spears.
- Add 1 cup of water to the pot with the broccoli, bring to a boil and cook for 3 minutes with a lid on the pot.
- Remove the broccoli from the heat and let sit with the lid on the pot.
- While the broccoli and the potatoes are cooking season the flour with salt and pepper then dip the pork in the flour, egg then bread crumbs. Heat a frying pan over medium-high heat with 1 tablespoon butter.
- Cook the pork chops for 2-3 minutes per side.
- Remove the pork from the pan, wipe out the paper towel, and in 1-2 tablespoon of olive oil along with the mushrooms, shallots, thyme, and garlic. Cook for 4 minutes.
- Add in the brandy and cook for 1 minute before adding in the beef stock and the pork,
- Cook for 1-2 minutes per side then add in the cream, salt and pepper, and parsley.
- Serve.
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