Parmesan and Sage Crusted Pork Chops

These were delicious!  I found the recipe while searching for something to do with our sage.  The sage plant went crazy and we had a ton of it.  So far I had just a few sage-centric recipes, a polenta and a pasta, but we wanted to try something else.  I searched my usual resources -- CookingLight.com, google reader and my shoebox of magazine clippings and this recipe from Cooking Light became one of the top contenders.

We put it on the menu for this week and when reading through the ingredients were pleasantly surprised to find out we didn't need to buy anything at the store!  I love when that happens, and it shows that having a well stocked pantry and freezer pays off!  For example, we had the pork chops leftover from another recipe.  We needed 4 for that recipe, but it's a lot cheaper (per pound) to buy the bulk pack of 8.  So, we got 8 and threw the other four in the freezer for later.  We cut the recipe in half since we used just 2 pork chops, but it was still great.  It's definitely a "keeper" recipe.  The changes I made were to some of the portions as mentioned above and I used bredcrumbs we already had instead of making fresh ones. 

Parmesan and Sage Crusted Pork Chops

adapted from CookingLight.com 

Yield: 4 servings (serving size: 1 pork chop)

Ingredients
1/2 cup bread crumbs
1/4 cup grated parmesan cheese
1 tablespoon chopped fresh sage
1/4 teaspoon salt
1/4 teaspoon freshly ground black pepper
1/4 cup all-purpose flour
2 teaspoons prepared mustard
1 large egg white
2 boneless pork chops
1 1/2 tablespoons canola oil

Directions

• Combine breadcrumbs, cheese, sage, salt, and pepper in a shallow dish. Place flour in another shallow dish. Combine mustard and egg whit in another shallow dish, stirring with a whisk.
• Working with one pork chop at a time, dredge pork in flour, shaking off excess. Dip pork into egg white mixture, allowing excess to drip off. Coat pork completely with breadcrumb mixture. Set aside. Repeat procedure with remaining pork, flour, egg white mixture, and breadcrumb mixture.
• Heat a large nonstick skillet over medium heat. Add oil to pan, swirling to coat. Add pork; cook 5 minutes on each side or until browned and done.

Sage Polenta

We planted some sage in our mini herb garden this summer.  We just moved into a new apartment in the middle of August and decided now that we live farther south it would be a decent time to start a pot of herbs.  In Upstate New York we would have only gotten a few weeks before a hard frost would kill the herbs, but in Virginia we're hoping to keep them going until early to mid November.  So, sage was one of the herbs we planted.  Then we were left with tons of sage and not a lot of recipes that use it!  So, this was a result of one of Zach's sage recipe searches.  It was very yummy and a definite keeper recipe!  It would be great as a side dish, or as we used it, in exchange for mashed potatoes as the base of a sauteed sausage, peppers and onions mix.  We left out the roasted corn as we had everything else on hand, and it was fine without it.  Since we used it as a base for the sausage mix I think it was better without it in this purpose, but the roasted corn would be great if you were using the recipe as a straight side dish.

Creamy Polenta with Roasted Corn and Fresh Sage

allrecipes.com


Serves 4
Prep time 20 minutes
Cook time 1 hour


Ingredients

• 2 ears corn
• 3 tablespoons olive oil
• 1 teaspoon finely chopped garlic
• 1/2 yellow onion, diced
• 3 cups water
• 2 cups milk
• 1 cup cornmeal
• salt and pepper to taste
• 3 tablespoons chopped fresh sage leaves
• 1/2 cup grated Parmesan cheese

Directions

• Grill corn in the husks, or roast in the oven; cut kernels from cob.
• In a heavy 4-quart saucepan heat oil over medium heat. Stir in garlic and onions; reduce heat to low and cook until onions are translucent.
• Stir in water and milk and bring to a boil over medium-high heat. Slowly stir in cornmeal, whisking thoroughly. Reduce heat to low and simmer for 30 minutes, stirring often to prevent sticking and burning. Season with salt and pepper; simmer 15 minutes more.
• When cornmeal is tender, stir in corn, sage and Parmesan cheese. Transfer to a large bowl to serve.

Pasta with Roasted Cauliflower and Ham

This is another great recipe from EveryDay with Rachael Ray. Quick, easy, yummy. The only change I made was to used dried sage. I know, I'm bad, I usually try and use fresh herbs whenever possible since I love the extra kick of flavor they bring. But, I had everything else on hand for this dinner and was too lazy to go to the store. I thought it tasted great with the dried herb, but next time though, I will definitely being using the fresh. I used whole wheat pasta as well, and I think that really complimented the nuttiness of the roasted cauliflower.

Pasta with Roasted Cauliflower and Ham

EveryDay with Rachael Ray, December-January 2009

Serves 4

Prep time: 20 minutes

Cook time: 20 minutes

Ingredients:

1 head cauliflower (about 2½ pounds), cored and cut into 1-inch pieces

3 tablespoons vegetable oil

1/2 cup loosely packed sage leaves, coarsely chopped

1 pound penne pasta

4 tablespoons butter

1/3 pound sliced, boiled ham, cut into strips 

salt & pepper

Directions:

• Put a large pot of water on to boil for the pasta. 
• Preheat the oven to 400°. Spread the cauliflower on a baking sheet, drizzle with the oil and toss; season with salt and pepper. Bake until browned, about 20 minutes. 
• Salt the water and cook the pasta until al dente. Reserve 1/2 cup of the cooking water, drain and return the pasta to the pot.
•  Meanwhile, in a small, heavy saucepan, melt the butter over medium-high heat. Cook, without stirring, until the butter is golden brown, about 6 minutes. Stir in the sage and remove from the heat. 
• Stir the ham, cauliflower and reserved pasta cooking water into the pot with the pasta. Stir in the sage butter and season with salt and pepper.