Spelt Breaded Pork Chops with Spicy Citrus Marinade

This recipe is from the Sauces and Marinades class that I took.  It’s a quick and easy marinade to put together.  Keep in mind that marinating the pork chops overnight will make a world of difference. 

In class, we grilled these - which was good.  Personally I love breaded pork chops.  I used spelt bread crumbs because I eat a lot of spelt bread, and when it goes stale, I make breadcrumbs out of it (oven dry them, then blend them up in a food processor) - Also, I've heard that spelt is good for you.......so there's that too.  I employed my oven frying skills to make sure the breaded pork chops were nice and crispy without adding too much fat.

These pork chops are great with apple sauce and boiled & pan fried potatoes (pictured above). 

Spelt Breaded Pork Chops with Spicy Citrus Marinade

(adapted from Sauces and Marinades George Brown College Manual)

Serves 4

Ingredients:

4 pork chops (7-8 oz each)
1 cup orange juice (pinapple or papaya juice would work as well)
2 tsp freshly ground black pepper
1/2 tsp chilli powder
1/2 tsp paprika
1/2 ground coriander
1/4 tsp mustard powder
1/8 tsp cayenne pepper (leave this out if you don't want the pork chops to have a bit of a kick...)
2 tbsp coriander leaves, chopped
Salt
1 egg
2 cups spelt bread crumbs (any breadcrumbs will do)
Salt and pepper for the breadcrumbs (optional) 

Directions: 

(1) Rinse out pork chops in cold water.  Let drain in strainer.

(2) In a flat-ish bowl, whisk together orange juice, black pepper, chilli powder, paprika, coriander, mustard powder, cayenne pepper and coriander leaves. 

(3) Salt to taste

-I try to make sure that this marinade is just a smidge on the salty side, as I don't add any more salt through the rest of the cooking process (you could, I just don't)

(4) Add pork chops to marinate, turning once to coat.   Place in fridge to marinate overnight.

-a couple of hours will do for marinating as well, but as I've said before, overnight is best

  

A flat bowl for marinating will ensure that the maximum surface area of the pork chop is covered with the yummy spicy citrus marinade...

Once the pork chops have finished marinating; remove from fridge and set on the counter for 15-20 minutes prior to cooking. 

(5) Preheat oven to 425 degrees

(6) In a shallow bowl, whisk egg.  Set aside.

(7) Put the bread crumbs in a plate.  Season for salt and pepper (optional).

(8) Line a baking sheet with parchment paper.  Pour a couple of teaspoons of your favourite cooking oil (I use canola - peanut or grapeseed oil would work well too) on parchment paper.  Using a pastry brush, spread oil all over parchment paper.  Set aside.

 -The oil doesn't have to form a 'coat' over the entire surface area of the parchment paper...spreading around the couple of teaspoons of oil with a pastry brush will do....

(9) Remove a pork chop from marinade.  Hold it over the marinade bowl for a few seconds so most of the marinade drips off. 

(10) Coat both sides of pork chop in egg wash

(11) Coat both sides of pork chop in breadcrumbs

(12) Place breaded pork chop on oiled parchment paper.  Repeat the above steps (9, 10 & 11) for the rest of the pork chops.

(13) Once all pork chops are breaded, drizzle about 1/2 tsp of oil on the top of each one (no need to spread it around).



Ready to oven fry!

(14) Put baking sheet into preheated oven.

(15) Bake for 20 minutes.  Turn over gently (using a flat spatula) so as not to disturb breading.

(16) Once flipped, bake for 10-15 more minutes. 
-The idea is to get the crust to set without deep frying it.  The longer cooking times will ensure this.  If you fiddle with it too early, the breading will come off and you will no longer have breaded pork chops - You’ll have pork chops with some breading on them….    

-After this 10-15 minutes, the pork chops will be cooked and the crust will be set.  What I do then is switch the broiler onto high and let them brown to get that 'crispy on the outside, juicy on the inside' effect...(make sure you watch this as they will go from brown to burn quickly!).  

Remove from the oven and serve.

These are great as left overs the next day....just warm em up in a pan and serve.

Happy Cooking!