I love schnitzel. LOVE it. When I'm in Europe, if it's on a menu it's rare for me to pass it up. I've schnitzelled my way through Hungary, Holland, Germany and Austria, and the meat has variously been veal, pork or chicken. Some had sauces, some didn't, and it never mattered--I loved them all.
I do several versions at home. Chicken schnitzels usually end up with parmesan cheese in the breading and a picata style lemon-wine-caper-garlic sauce. Veal might be plain with just fresh lemon, or if we're feeling dressy a mushroom-marsala sauce.
But pork starts out differently. The meat, which isn't as tender as the other two, gets plumped and tenderized from a marinade of white wine enhanced with a little olive oil and flavored with bay leaves and fennel seed. The fennel seeds soften in the marinade and adhere to the cutlets such that, after cooking, you get little bursts of fennel flavor without the irritation of a hard little seed that gets stuck in your teeth. These schnitzels cook up tender, juicy and punched with sophisticated flavor. No sauce or lemon needed.
Easy as schnitzels are to make, it's something I almost never hear of anyone making at home. I suppose the Fat Police have removed it from consideration because it's thought of as a fried food. But that's a shame, because schnitzel is delicious and it doesn't have to be saturated with grease. And while this isn't entirely low fat, a lot of people put more butter on their toast than I use to cook schnitzel. I'm posting this recipe in hopes of making that case.
I served pork schnitzels with sauteed red cabbage or warm boiled potatoes tossed with parsley, Dijon mustard and olive oil.
2 1/2 inch thick slices of boneless pork loin
1/2 cup white wine
1 tblsp olive oil
2 bay leaves
1 tblsp fennel seed
salt
3/4 c panko crumbs
1 egg
3 tblsp flour
2 tblsp butter
1 tblsp olive oil
Pierce the chops with a knife or puncture with a cleaver, then pound the pork pieces to about 1/4 inch thickness. Sprinkle each side with a little salt and then place in a dish just large enough to hold them with the marinating ingredients. Press the fennel seeds into the meat and put a bay leaf under each one. Marinate for a couple hours, turning occasionally.
Later, crumble the panko crumbs from coarse to fine by handfuls. Prepare three dishes containing the panko, the flour, and the beaten egg. Remove the pork dripping from the marinade and coat with flour, then dip into the egg, then press into the panko. Let dry on a piece of paper towel or wax paper for about 20 minutes.
To cook, add the olive oil and 1 tblsp of butter to a frying pan and cook the schnitzels on medium heat until golden brown on the first side, about four minutes. Add the remaining pat of butter and finish on the second side.