Pork Milanese

Oh Pork Milanese, where have you been all my life? I made this delicious recipe last night and fell in love. The pork tastes kind of like an Italian schnitzel. And I love me some schnitzel. The crunchy outer coating is so great and then with a squeeze of lemon it is just... swoonworthy. Mmmmm. My whole family loved it. My kids especially loved squeezing the lemon slices over the pork. It made me proud that they appreciated the added freshness and zip the lemon juice gave the pork. I served it with roasted red potatoes and corn on the cob. I modified the recipe slightly from Steak N Potatoes Kinda Gurl - a fabulous food blog.

Pork Milanese

3/4 cup flour
1 cup panko bread crumbs
1/2 cup freshly grated Parmesan
1/2 teaspoon dried oregano
1/2 teaspoon dried basil
1/2 teaspoon garlic powder
1 teaspoon salt
freshly ground black pepper
2 large eggs
1 tablespoon water
6 boneless pork chops, pounded to 1/3 inch thick (cut off excess fat)
1/2 cup extra virgin olive oil, divided
lemon slices for serving

Place flour in a pie plate (or shallow bowl). In another pie plate beat 2 eggs with 1 tablespoon water. In another pie plate combine panko, Parmesan, oregano, basil, garlic powder, salt, and some freshly ground black pepper. Mix well. Take each flattened pork chop and first dredge in the flour, then egg letting excess drip off, and then dredge in the bread crumb mixture, patting to coat both sides well. Place on a cooling rack placed over a cookie sheet and let breaded pork chops rest for 5 minutes.

Preheat oven to 400 degrees and cover a cookie sheet in foil and then spray with cooking spray. Set aside.

Meanwhile heat 1/4 cup of olive oil in a large skillet. Once oil is very hot place 3 pork pieces in the skillet and let cook until browned (a minute or 2), flip and then cook until browned on the other side. Place these fried pork pieces onto the foil lined cookie sheet. Repeat process, putting 1/4 cup more oil in the skillet, let it heat up and then brown the remaining 3 pieces of pork on both sides and put on the cookie sheet as well. Put in the oven and bake for 5-8 minutes, or until internal temp. of the pork reads 165 degrees. Transfer pork to a platter and serve with lemon slices squeezed over pork.