Parmesan-Italian Pork Chops

One word... num.



Through Meal Planning Monday I stumbled upon a recipe for pork chops. Since we buy in bulk (it's cheaper that way), and there's only 2 of us, we have at least 2 more meals of pork chops in the freezer, and I've been looking for ways (other than our traditional Italian Pork Chops and the mushroom/onion soup version) to enjoy them. Boy, did I stumble onto a keeper!

This recipe from the MotherLoad called for sage as a seasoning on the chops, but low and behold, when I went to make them tonight, I learned we actually don't have sage in our spice rack. Improv time. I modified the recipe a bit, and it turned out amazing (in my humble opinion)... my hubby thought so too (but he might be biased -- I invite you to try it out for yourself). As a plus, they were super easy to prepare!

Parmesan Italian Pork Chops - Modified by Snow White from The MotherLoad
3/4 bread crumbs (I made my own from our homemade wheat bread)
1/4 C grated Parmesan cheese
1 T Mrs. Dash salt-free Italian Seasoning
1-2 tsp. lemon juice
1 egg, whisked
2 heaping T flour, seasoned with pepper and salt (if desired)
2 T butter
1 tsp. olive oil
4 pork chops (we used thin sliced without the bone)
fresh parsley, if desired

In a bowl, mix together bread crumbs, Italian seasoning and grated Parmesan cheese.



Spoon flour onto a plate and season with salt and pepper, as desired (I used almost no salt, and a dash of pepper). Combine lemon juice and egg and mix well. Create an assembly line positioning the pork chops, flour, egg mix and bread crumbs next to one another (can you tell I'm a type-A?). Meanwhile, over a medium flame, melt butter so that it coats the bottom of a frying pan. Add olive oil.




Coat the pork chops in the flour mix, and then dunk the pork chop into the egg mix. Then, dip into the bread crumb mixture. Place the chops in the frying pan with the butter and oil, and brown the chops on both sides (about 3 min/side). While pork chops are browning, preheat your oven to 425 degrees F.




When browned, transfer the chops to the oven. If you have an oven-proof skillet, you can place the skillet directly in the oven, if not, transfer to a glass baking dish. Bake for about 20 minutes (depending on the thickness of the chops) or until a meat thermometer reads 150 degrees. Our chops, being super thin, were almost cooked before we put them in the oven... but we did anyway, and got a great baked-in flavor and tender chops!



mmm, mmmm, good.




The original recipe calls for lemon rinds to be grated and mixed in with the bread crumbs and Parmesan cheese, as well as for lemon juice to be squeezed over the top when they are done... we didn't do either this round (due to the fact that I didn't have a lemon), but I believe the lemon would be delicious!