Family dinners are always a great memory and inspiration for me. My entire family... mom, dad, sister, brother and I... would gather around the table to a meal that ALWAYS consisted of a meat, starch and vegetable and on the rare occasion a little bit of dessert. One of my favorite meals was my mother's breaded and baked pork chops. Oh my, they were so delicious and mom always bought the bone in chops. Towards the end of the meal my mother would pick up her pork chop bone and start gnawing away. This kind of grossed me out as a little kid, but when I got older and started gnawing myself I finally figured out why she loved the bones. The meat that is closer to the bone is always so tender and delicious and the perfect treat.
During my last visit to NYC I had had it with eating out and wanted a home cooked meal. My friend Christian is always game for me taking over his kitchen and I was dying to prepare my very own version of these amazing chops. Balducci's, a favorite grocery store of mine at the corner of 14th St. and 8th Ave. has an incredible selection of meat. Although they carried the bone-in chops I decided to grab some butterfly boneless chops for this meal. I wasn't too sure that bone gnawing wold be an acceptable practice at a friend's dinner table.
These chops are very easy to make and are best served with a dish of risotto and a tasty salad.
Here is what you will need:
- 4 boneless, butterfly pork chops
- 3 eggs
- 2 1/2 cups of Progresso seasoned Italian bread crumbs
- 1 cup of grated Parmesan cheese
- 2 tsp freshly ground black pepper
Preheat the oven to 400 degrees. Crack the eggs into a bowl and mix well. In a large bowl mix together the bread crumbs, cheese and black pepper. Coat one of the chops with egg and cover with the bread crumb mixture. Place back into the egg and coat again with more of the bread crumb mixture until fully covered. Repeat until all chops are breaded.
Place into the oven for 20 minutes. After 20 minutes, check the temperature of the chops with a meat thermometer and if they have reached 150 degrees, remove from the oven. If they have not reached 150 keep in the oven for five minutes and check the temp again. At 150 degrees remove, cover with foil and let rest for 15 minutes.
PS - I am in the process of working on a book proposal. I would love to hear any and all feedback you have about RecipePhile and the recipes on the site. What would you like to see in the first RecipePhile cookbook?
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