Wine & Dine

Back in the day I worked at an Italian restaurant that had a dish called veal Milanese on the menu. I used to always eat this as my free lunch meal for working doubles and have since thought back on it fondly as one of my favorite simple dishes to eat. I have never made this dish myself because of my intimidation with veal and my general lack of a meat tenderizing tool. All this changed (well some of it did) when I bought my very new kitchen toy, a meat tenderizer. If you have been reading my blog you may have picked up on 2 things in recent weeks: #1: I have been using a meat tenderizer at every opportunity #B: I am going through a pork stage in my life where I cook pork whenever I can. So now that I have my awesome de-stressing tool (AKA the meat tenderizer) and a love of pork products, I have brought the two together in sweet beautiful harmony to create PORK Milanese. So here it is folks:

Pork Milanese with an arugula salad & homemade balsamic dressing

You will need the following ingredients:

• 4 4 oz boneless pork chops, trimmed of fat (you can use veal if you prefer)
• ¾ cups dry Italian bread crumbs 2 tablespoons grated Parmesan
• ¼ teaspoon garlic powder
• 2 egg whites 1 egg
• 3 tablespoons extra-virgin olive oil
• 4 cups baby arugula
• 1 cup cherry tomatoes, sliced in half
• Dressing (see below)

Pre heat oven to 350 degrees. Start by placing your pork on a cutting board and cover with plastic wrap. Get your meat tenderizer and hit that meat to the edge of its life until its about 1/4 inch thick. I like a really thin cut for this recipe so get it as thin as you can. salt and pepper each side of the pork. Okay now put your eggs in one shallow dish and your breadcrumbs/parmesan cheese/garlic powder in another shallow dish. First dip the tenderized meat into the egg then into the dry mix. In a large skillet, heat 1 tablespoon olive oil over medium heat. Place chops in pan and brown for 2 to 3 minutes per side. Transfer to baking sheet and bake for 7 minutes. While chops are baking, make the dressing:

• 2 tablespoons olive oil
• 2 tablespoons lemon juice
• 1/3 cup balsamic vinegar
• 1 clove minced garlic (preferably toasted in a pan until fragrant & golden brown)
• 1/4 teaspoon garlic salt

Mix it all together. Taste and adjust ingredients as you see fit. Place arugula and tomatoes in a large bowl and toss with the dressing. Serve it all on one plate. Its really good if you eat it all together. YUM! P.S. There are only 385 calories per serving for this whole dish!

If you like this dish you might also like:

Wine & Dine: Super Easy Romano Pork Chops

Food Ideas: Veal Milanese with an Orange Twist

Erin’s Eats: Pork Milanese

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