Pork Chops Cordon Bleu

 

As usual, on Sunday I roamed around the market looking for dinner inspiration. I went in thinking Italian, since a locally made sausage was on sale. Lipari's sausage has been around a long time and are made a few towns over. Check their web site out: http://www.liparisausage.com/   I did buy 5 lbs. of both hot and sweet sausages for future use, but happened to see some very nice thick center cut pork chops and decided to try making them Cordon Bleu style. I started by slicing them in half making a nice pocket to house my ham and swiss.

After making the pocket I pounded the chop to make them thinner and larger. I then folded a long slice of swiss cheese over a few times, then wrapped the cheese in a slice of imported deli ham. By wrapping the cheese you will eliminate most of the melted cheese from oozing out of the assembled chops. After getting the ham swiss package fully into pocket I used a few toothpicks to seal the edges. After dabbing the chops with a paper towel, I sprinkled some salt and pepper on them, lightly dusted some flour on them, dipped them in beaten eggs, then pressed panko crumbs on all of the exposed sides. I sauteed them in vegetable oil for about 3-4 minutes per side to get them golden brown. They get finished in a 350 degree oven for about 35 minutes. 

Ingredients:
4 thick pork chops on the bone
4 slices of swiss cheese
4 slices imported deli ham
Salt, pepper, Wondra flour (enough to lightly coat chops)
2 Eggs -beaten
1 cup or more panko bread crumbs
1/4 cup vegetable oil (add more if needed when browning in batches)

They came out crispy on the outside and very juicy inside. Jersey Pammy thinks maybe a butter lemon sauce would compliment them, and I will try that next time I make them. You can do almost everything beforehand and have them ready to go in the oven for the last 35 minutes.  I served Ruth's Chris mushrooms with it. Their recipe is simple. One stick of butter to one pound of mushrooms. Put the two items in a covered pot on the stove on medium low heat for half an hour. For the last 5 minutes remove the top so some of the mushroom liquid evaporates. I used "baby Bellos", which work really well this style. Very nice meal and outside of the bread crumbs, little to no carbs.