Parmesan and Sage Crusted Pork Chops

I don’t cook with flour or breadcrumbs, so when I want to bread something I usually use either fine pork rind crumbs (I give them a whirl in my food processor until they’re very fine, though you could probably just put them in a plastic bag and roll them with a rolling pin. If you don’t have a rolling pin, a large round bottle works well. A wine bottle is just about the right size. It’s best if it’s full. If not, fill it with water so it has the extra weight. Just make sure it’s tightly corked! This works for making pie crust, too. Use ice water in the bottle, or chilled wine, when making pie crust. The chill of the bottle will help make your pie crust flaky.) or almond flour or coconut flour or just use all cheese. PARMESAN AND SAGE CRUSTED PORK CHOPS uses the traditional/normal way of breading pork chops with flour and bread crumbs, and adds some parmesan cheese to the mixture. The original recipe makes a point of using the real imported Parmigiano-Reggiano cheese and fresh sage, but regular parmesan and dried sage will work, too, and cost a lot less.

(based on a recipe from cookinglight.com)

1 slice white bread, made into crumbs (about 1 cup)

            (or use Panko or other commercially prepared crumbs)

1/4c (1 oz) grated parmesan cheese

1 T chopped fresh sage (or 1 t dried rubbed sage)

1/4 t salt

1/4 t pepper

1/4 c flour

1 T prepared mustard

1 large egg

4 boneless pork chops (from 2 lbs of bone-in chops) (see note below)

1-1/2 T oil

Place bread in a food processor; pulse bread ten times or until coarse crumbs measure about 1 cup. (Or use panko or other prepared crumbs.) Combine breadcrumbs, cheese, sage, salt and pepper in a shallow dish. Place flour in another shallow dish. Combine mustard and egg in another shallow dish, stirring with a whisk. Working with one pork chop at a time, dredge pork in flour, shaking off excess. Dip pork into egg mixture, allowing excess to drip off. Coat pork completely with breadcrumb mixture. Set aside. Repeat procedure with remaining pork, flour, egg mixture, and breadcrumb mixture. Heat a large nonstick skillet over medium heat. Add oil to pan, swirling to coat. Add pork; cook 3 minutes on each side or until browned and done. (It may take longer, depending on how thick your chops are.)

If your pork chops are not boneless, you can make your own boneless chops. Just cut out the big piece of meat on each chop. Save the rest and cook them up as usual. Or just use the bone-in chops instead of boneless ones.