Monday, January 7, 2013

Easy honey pork

I had one of those days where I didn't feel like cooking or inventing anything. I was uninspired and looking in my fridge was not helping spark my inner foodie..lol. I was searching online for something just anything that peaked my interest when I came across this site.

Kind of a neat site if you have ingredients in your fridge and pantry and don't feel like coming up with something to do with them. Check out My Fridge Food and see what fun kind of recipes they come up with for you.

This is what my search did today: The ingredients in red are things I added to make it more to our liking.

Easy honey pork

Ingredients
  • 1 1/4 pounds boneless pork loin, pounded thin
  • 1/2 cup Egg Beaters (or two eggs)
  • 3/4 cup all-purpose flour for coating
  • 1 teaspoon each: onion powder, granulated garlic
  • Salt and pepper to taste
  • 2 Tablespoons canola oil
  • 2 Tablespoons butter
  • 1/4 cup honey
  • 1/4 cup chopped pecans (I used Emerald glazed Walnuts Butter Toffee)
  • 1 teaspoon flour
  • 1/3 cup milk (2%)
Directions:

1. Cut the pork loin into chops. I cut mine about 3/4 inch thick before I pounded them out. Then pound them to about 1/4 -3/8 inch thick. Mine are 3/8 inch thick. *A couple of tips....since you are going to double bread them they will take a little longer to cook, so the thinner you make them the faster they will fry up. If you are concerned about the pork being completely done, fry them in the pan then finish them off in a 325 degree oven (this is also a bit healthier if you put them on a cooling rack on a cookie sheet when you put them in the oven that way the grease drips off) until done. Second tip....when pounding the chops out...put them in a ziploc bag and pound them out there. It helps keep them together and not stick to your meat mallet. If you don't have any ziploc bags you can also spray your mallet with a bit of Pam to help from sticking.*


2. Season the pork with salt and pepper. *Why you ask since it's in the flour...when you put the chop in the oil you loose a bit of the flavor. So by seasoning the pork before your meat will be nicely seasoned and no added seasoning after cooking will be needed*  In a shallow dish, mix together flour, onion powder, granulated garlic, salt and pepper. In another shallow dish add the Egg Beaters. Dredge pork cutlets in the  Egg Beaters then in the flour mixture, and repeat.



3. In a large skillet, heat oil over medium-high heat. Add chops, and brown both sides. Transfer to a warm plate.



4. Drain off any excess oil from the pan but do not wipe the pan!!! You want the bits on bottom of the pan for when you make the sauce. Melt the butter in the pan and deg laze it. *De glazing means as the butter melts and it will start to loosen the baked on bits in the pan.* Use your spatula to scrape them from the bottom to mix with the butter. Mix honey and pecans into the pan drippings. Heat through, stirring constantly.

 
 
5. Add the teaspoon of flour and whisk thoroughly. Turn up the heat to high till the mixture  starts to get foamy. Add the milk and continue mixing constantly till thickened to your desire. At this point you can add more milk or even butter to make the sauce thinner or thicker. This is the consistency that I liked, hot too thick but not runny either.
 
 
6. Pour sauce over cutlets. Enjoy!