Breaded Pork Chops

Lately I've had a hankering for breaded pork chops with applesauce, so we got a family pack of pork chops on sale at the supermarket last week. I wanted to make roasted potatoes to go with them, but it's just too hot for that kind of cooking. I opted for mashed potatoes, but I wanted to try this tip from a blog I've been reading. This woman in Australia makes garlic mashed potatoes by throwing a few cloves of garlic in when the potatoes are cooking and then mashes both together when they're done. But SP decided to be helpful and started the potatoes when he got home so by the time I arrived the potatoes were done cooking. Looks like that experiment will have to happen another time.

The pork chops were about an inch thick, which meant I would have to finish them in the oven if I didn't pound them thinner. I was going for something schnitzel-like (hence the breading and pan frying....all I would have needed for the proper schnitzel is a fried egg). I pounded the chops in a plastic bag with my trusty Death Blow hammer. I should take a picture of this thing sometime. It works so much better than a traditional meat pounder and was super cheap at the hardware store. Plus it's bright orange so it never gets lost in the drawer.

I beat two eggs in a pie plate and filled another pie plate with Italian seasoned bread crumbs. Once the chops were the right thickness (or thinness, as it were), I dipped the chop in the egg, then in the bread crumbs and then straight into a hot skillet. The chops cooked for maybe 3 minutes per side until the bread crumbs were golden brown.

I mashed the potatoes with about 3 tablespoons of butter, a few good pinches of salt, a lot of freshly cracked black pepper, a splash of milk and three good spoonfuls of sour cream. I threw in some chopped scallions at the end for some onion-y flavor.

We were supposed to have green beans, but the beans had been purchased over a week ago and were looking a little past their prime. So, we settled for an old standby - frozen corn. Still tasty, but I was kicking myself for not buying the beautiful broccoli crowns that had been on sale this week. Oh well, live and learn.

I served my chop with a nice heaping helping of applesauce.