Throughout August in Melbourne, we're all looking for some deeply satisfying meals to get us through the winter. This recipe uses beyond-free-range pork cutlets which are incredibly juicy and tender, so you can't really go wrong. The seasoned crust turns a nutty brown from being cooked in butter and pairs perfectly with the fresh, lightly pickled fennel salad.
Ingredients:
- 1 fennel bulb
- Juice of half a lemon
- 1 tbsp basil, roughly chopped
- 1 tbsp mint, roughly chopped
- 500g pork cutlets
- 1C panko crumb
- 1 tbsp parsley, finely chopped
- rind from 1 lemon
- 2 tbsp parmesan, grated
- 1/2C plain flour
- 1 egg, whisked
- 1 tbsp milk
- 2 tbsp olive oil
- 2 tbsp butter
Method:
- Use a mandolin or cut the fennel as thinly as you can.
- Mix with the lemon juice, sprinkle some salt, stir and set aside.
- Using a meat mallet, flatten each pork cutlet until it is around 1cm thick.
- To make the crumb, mix the panko crumbs, parmesan, lemon rind and parsley in a bowl with 1 tsp salt and freshly ground pepper.
- Put the flour in another bowl and season.
- Lightly coat the pork cutlets with flour and dust off any excess, then coat in the egg wash and finally the crumb.
- To finish the salad, add in the basil and mint and taste for seasoning.
- Heat olive oil and butter in a pan on medium heat and once the butter begins to foam, add in the cutlets.
- Cook for around 4 minutes on each side or until golden, but be careful not to burn the crumb.
- The best way to know if the pork is cooked is by using a meat thermometer where it should read around 60 degrees celsius. After resting the meat for 5 minutes it should be perfect.
- Serve the pork and sprinkle some salt on top. Pile on the fennel salad and a wedge of lemon.
