Breaded Pork Chops and Sauteed Veggies

I made a really great dinner for Ryan and I last night. I found the recipe in a Martha Stewart Everyday Food magazine and once I read it, I instantly new it was would be really tasty. The recipe originally calls for fennel as the veggie, but when i went to the store, the fennel bulbs were really small and didn't look worth the $3 they cost, so I picked up some zucchini and squash and grape tomatoes and figured I could sautee those up instead to accompany the pork chops.

What drew me to this recipe is that the pork chops were breaded but they are not dredged in egg and flour, which can add calories and makes the breading have a little bit different consistency. To start, I combined 2 tablespoons of breadcrumbs and the zest of about 1/2 a lemon. To season the pork chops, I salted and peppered the meat and then coated the pork in the breading, lightly pressing the breading in to the pork so it would stay coated.

Now, I did make a cardinal mistake while cooking the meat and this is because I am usually the sous chef, doing all of the chopping (because of my superior chopping skills) and Ryan is usually in charge of preparing and cooking the meat. The pork chops were pretty thick and Ryan thought that it was going to take a lot longer than the 1 1/2 minutes/side that the recipe indicated. So in a large sautee pan heated on medium/high heat, I added some olive oil and then added the pork. Everything was going fine, but I got a little too anxious and flipped the pork chops too soon! It took much longer to cook them then if I would have waited about 7 or 8 minutes and then flipped to the other side and waited 7 or 8 minutes, but these are the lessons your learn as a foodie in training. :)

Anyway, once the pork chop situation was fixed and they were done, I removed them from the pan and covered them with foil so they could sit. Before I started cooking the pork, I had chopped up 2 yellow squash and 2 zucchini in to small slices (so they would cook faster) and I chopped half an onion, and Ryan chopped a red pepper. After removing the pork, we added more oil to the pan and added the veggies. I also added some salt to bring out the moisture in the veggies. They sauteed for about 8-10 minutes and when the veggies were getting a little soft, we added a heaping tablespoon of minced garlic (we like garlic :), the grape tomatoes, and some lemon zest. When the veggies were done we put them in a large bowl and then added the juice of about 1/2 a lemon.

All in all the pork turned out really well and the breading was really good, especially when you got a bite of lemon zest in the breading. The veggies were fantastic and all it took was some lemon juice, and then salt and pepper! I definitely recommend this recipe and next time I want to use fennel.

Sorry there is not a photo of the meal, but here is a photo of our dog Lucy, who loves to try and get a bit of whatever we are eating for dinner. Have a great weekend!