Stretch your food dollars without skimping on flavor
Consumers are well aware of how much groceries are costing these days, making it even more important to stretch those food dollars. This calls for ingenuity, so after purchasing a 1 1/4 pound pork tenderloin that I would normally oven roast or grill to serve 4, I decided that I could easily get more servings out of it by cutting the meat crosswise into ½- inch thick slices and pounding them flat for pork cutlets.
Thinking this out, I had options! Besides the cutlet idea, I could stuff them with spinach and cheese and pan-fry them. If I cut the meat into thin strips, I could have a nifty stir-fry by adding any number of vegetables that would make the meat stretch even further. Any of these options would get me twice the yield from one pork tenderloin. That’s a bargain.
CRUNCHY PORK CUTLETS INGREDIENTS
1¼ pound pork tenderloin, cut crosswise into ½-inch thick slices
¼ cup flour 2 teaspoons salt
¼ teaspoon black pepper 2 eggs
Juice and zest of 1 large lemon
2 cups or more panko breadcrumbs
Vegetable oil to fry
DIRECTIONS
Pound each piece of pork tenderloin until it is about ¼-inch thick. Do not make it so thin that the meat tears. Combine the flour, salt and pepper in a plastic bag; add the cutlets a few at a time and coat each piece. Shake off excess flour. Set aside.
In a shallow dish, lightly beat the eggs with the lemon juice and zest. Coat the meat pieces in the egg mixture and then press them in the breadcrumbs. Place the cutlets in a single layer on a baking sheet and refrigerate them uncovered for several hours before frying.
Lightly film the bottom of a saute pan with the vegetable oil and bring to medium high heat. Fry the cutlets a few at a time until golden brown on each side. Serve hot with melted butter. Serves 4 or 8 (depending on how hungry you are).