Pork Schnitzel with Cauliflower Puree and Poblano Hollandaise
A new take on the classic; Chicken Fried Steak, Mashed Potatoes and Gravy.
Ingredients
Pork Schnitzel
- 4 boneless pork chops 1 inch or less in thickness, will pound to 1/4 inch or less
- 2 eggs beaten
- 1 cup panko breadcrumbs
- 1 cup all-purpose flour
- 2 tbsp za'atar
- 1 zest of 1 lemon
- 1/4 cup extra virgin olive oil plus more if needed
- 2 tbsp butter
- 1 tsp salt plus more to dust pork chop prior to flour dredge
- 1 tsp ground black pepper plus more to dust pork chop prior to flour dredge
Cauliflower Puree
- 1 head of cauliflower, medium to large size cut into small 2 inch florets
- 1 cup heavy cream
- 6 tbsp butter
- 1 tsp salt
- 1 tsp ground black pepper
- 1/2 tsp cayenne
- 1/2 tsp nutmeg
Poblano Hollandaise
- 3 egg yolks
- 1 tbsp lemon juice
- 1 tsp dijon mustard
- 1/2 tsp salt
- 8 tbsp melted butter
- 1 poblano roasted, peeled and seeded - then diced
Instructions
For Pork Schnitzel
- Prepare 3 shallow bowls. To the first bowl, add the flour. To the second bowl, added the beaten eggs. To the third bowl, add the breadcrumbs, along with 1 tsp of salt, 1 tsp of ground black pepper, the za’atar and the lemon zest.
- To ensure they cook evenly and to avoid an outlier of an undercooked pork chop, place the pork chops between two sheets of plastic wrap and pound them until they're about ¼ inch thick using the flat side of a meat mallet. Season them generously with salt & pepper.
- Add ¼ cup of olive oil and the 1 tbsp of butter to a cast iron pan, or other large skillet. The pan should be well-coated, so add more oil if needed .Let the pan heat up for a few minutes over medium-high heat. You will most likely be doing two batches, so for the second batch add at least one more tablespoon of olive oil to the pan and the remaining tablespoon of butter.
- Coat the pork chops in flour, followed by the egg (let excess drip off), and finally the panko breadcrumbs. Make sure you coat it well and don’t be afraid to press the breadcrumbs into the pork chop to ensure it get’s coated all over.
- Fry two schnitzels at a time for about 3 minutes per side. Try hard to only flip once as excessive flipping can result in loss of quality coating, and no one wants a shitty coated schnitzel. I would also recommend using an easy read food thermometer to ensure the pork is cooked properly, and until you reach an internal temperature of 145 degrees. I like my pork around 140,and anything higher than 150 will result in a tough piece of meat. 145 is a safe zone if you’re overly concerned, plus you’ll get a little carry over.
- Remove schnitzels and place on either a rack to remove excess oil or on top of some paper towel or a brown bag and cover with foil until serving. As a recommendation, I would serve immediately as re-heating the schnitzel can dry it out and cause it to become overcooked quickly.
For Cauliflower Puree
- Bring a large pot of salted water to a boil and cook the cauliflower florets for about 10 minutes. Drain and place on a paper towel to dry out. Leave for 10minutes to air dry a bit.
- In a small saucepan, combine the heavy cream with the butter and bring to a simmer over medium heat until the butter is melted, stir to combine.
- In a food processor, or blender, place the cauliflower along with the cream/butter mixture, and blitz until smooth. Then add in the salt, pepper, cayenne and nutmeg and run for another minute until smooth and well combined.
For Poblano Hollandaise
- For the poblano, roast on a grill turning every few minutes, until the skin is blackened all over. Remove from the grill and place in a bowl, cover with plastic wrap. After about 15 minutes, when cool enough to handle, the skin should slide right off the pepper. Remove the stem and seeds. Dice the pepper and set aside to be combined into the hollandaise sauce later.
- Place all ingredients except for the melted butter, into a blender, and blend until well combined. In order for this to work without having to fix it, your butter needs to be very hot, not just melted. If you try to put the butter into a microwave and heat it too long, you’ll have a giant mess in your microwave to clean. I would suggest placing the butter into a very small saucepan and heating it until melted and steaming. Once it is, slowly drizzle in the butter into a running blender. The key word being “slowly”, don’t rush this or you will lose any chance at emulsification. A very slow stream will work best. Once combined and emulsified, you are done! To this finished hollandaise sauce, stir in your diced poblano and you’ve got yourself a new take on a classic original.
- In the event your Hollandaise sauce doesn’t come together due to the butter not being hot enough, you can fix it by slowly adding 2 tablespoons of boiling water to the running blender, or slowly drizzle in an additional egg yolk with 1 tsp of very hot water.
Notes
Notes – while frying the pork chops in the cast iron pan, if the pan starts to smoke a little, turn the heat down slightly. This might be more common with your second batch or any subsequent batches if you’re making for a larger audience. Let the food thermometer be your friend!
The order of operations for making this dish should definitely be the cauliflower puree first (which can be re-heated without any quality issues prior to serving), followed by the hollandaise (which you can keep warm or slightly reheat in a microwave in 10 second increments until warm) followed by the main attraction which you want right out of the pan, the pork schnitzel. Combine all elements to plate.