At our house I have a simple rule, to make dinner at least 5 nights a week. Our lives are hectic and it's very easy to fall into the "drive-thru" syndrome, especially around the holidays. For the most part, our meals are interesting because you never know what will be served. It does give you a great feeling when your children come home from college and say, "I can't wait to have a home cooked meal!" finished with a list of requests.
After a long day at work and with 3 of our 6 kids home, we decided dinner would be pork chops, sweet potatoes and yes, frozen corn. We started sifting through our cookbooks for an easy pork chop recipe. In Giada's Family Dinners was her Parmesan-Crusted Pork Chops. So, I set the oven to 400 degrees and in went the sweet potatoes.
Hint for the sweet potatoes: Rub skins lightly with vegetable oil and puncture with fork tines (2-3 times). I cook them on my pizza stone for about 40 minutes or until golden brown and soft.
Now for Giada's Parmesan-Crusted Pork Chops
- 2 large eggs
- 1 cup dried Italian-style bread crumbs
- 3/4 cups freshly grated Parmesan
- 4 (1/2 to 3/4-inch thick) center-cut pork loin chops (each about 10 to 12 ounces)
- Salt and freshly ground black pepper
- 6 tablespoons olive oil
- Lemon wedges, for serving
Directions
Whisk the eggs in a pie plate to blend. Place the bread crumbs in another pie plate. Place the cheese in a third pie plate. Sprinkle the pork chops generously with salt and pepper. Coat the chops completely with the cheese, patting to adhere. Dip the chops into the eggs, then coat completely with the bread crumbs, patting to adhere.
Heat 3 tablespoons of oil in a very large skillet over medium heat. Add pork chops, in batches if necessary, and cook until golden brown and the center reaches 150 degrees, about 6 minutes per side. Transfer the chops to plates and serve with lemon wedges.
As the sweet potatoes and pork chops were finishing, I mixed together 3 tablespoons of butter, 1 tablespoon of honey and 2 teaspoons of cinnamon and placed it in the microwave for 20 seconds. Cut the potatoes lengthwise and spread with the butter mixture. We made frozen corn, but I'll leave the vegetable choice up to you.
The pork chops were delicious, very moist and flavorful. The sweet potatoes were a great compliment to the pork chops. I love sweet potatoes, especially with the honey-cinnamon butter...we were fighting over the last potato. It was nice to get our dinner together in a reasonable amount of time, at a reasonable hour and with little effort... before I headed out the door to go Christmas shopping!
