Pork Schnitzel with Lemon Caper Butter

My husband and I have been obsessed with capers lately! I've been using them in sauces for seafood, putting them in Caesar salad dressings and most recently in a sauce for sauteed pork tenderloin medallions.

This is a very tasty recipe that I found in our local newspaper. It had achieved the recognition of being one of the top 25 recipes that the newspaper had tested and reviewed in 2011. It's an adaptation of a recipe from the Gourmet Today cookbook.

Since pork tenderloin is our favorite cut of pork, I'm always looking for new ways to serve it. This was...delicious! The salty flavor of the capers pairs so well with the breaded schnitzel. It was also a fairly easy dinner to put together and the cooking time is quick. I served it with a simple salad on the side.

Enjoy!

Pork Schnitzel with Lemon Caper Butter

Adapted from Gourmet Today
Printable Recipe

Note: I cut the recipe in half and only used 1 egg

Makes 4 servings

1 ½ pounds pork tenderloin, slice into 1-inch-thick rounds

6 tablespoons cup unsalted butter (divided in half)
3 tablespoons olive oil (divided)
2 tablespoons capers, rinsed and patted dry
1 teaspoon fresh lemon juice
Salt and freshly ground black pepper

3 eggs
1 ½ cups fine dry bread crumbs

6 tablespoons vegetable oil (about) (divided)

Garnish:
1 ½ teaspoons chopped fresh flat-leaf parsley
Lemon wedges

Line 1 baking sheet with waxed paper and another baking sheet with paper toweling.

Pound pork tenderloin rounds between two sheets of plastic wrap to ¼-inch thickness. Preheat oven to 200 degrees. Line a baking sheet with wax paper.

In a small saucepan, melt 3 tablespoons butter. Stir in capers, lemon juice and a pinch of salt. Remove from heat and cover loosely to keep warm.

Pat pork rounds dry and season with salt and pepper. In a shallow bowl or pie plate, beat eggs with ¼ teaspoon salt. Put bread crumbs in another pie plate or shallow bowl. Dip pork rounds in egg mixture, one at a time, allowing excess to drip off, then dredge in bread crumbs and place on wax-paper-lined baking sheet.

In a non-stick skillet, heat 1 tablespoon olive oil with 1 tablespoon butter over medium-high heat until foam subsides. Add 2 to 3 pieces of pork, without crowding meat, and cook, turning once, until golden and just cooked through, about 1 minute per side. Transfer cooked rounds to paper-towel-lined baking sheet and keep warm in preheated oven.

Cook remaining pork pieces in the same way, adding 1 tablespoon oil and 1 tablespoon butter for each batch.

Serve pork drizzled with caper butter and sprinkled with parsley and lemon wedges on the side.

Varkeshaas - Pork Tenderloin with Mustard Cream Sauce

I've been making this recipe for a number of years and every time I serve it to guests I am inevitably asked for the recipe.  It's my all-time favorite pork tenderloin preparation!

The pork tenderloin is first seared on top of the stove and then finished in the oven.  A delicious, light cream sauce with shallots, herbs and wine is then prepared in the searing pan to deglaze all the delicious browned bits.

You can see how juicy and tender it turns out made this way!

To mince the shallots for the sauce, I use one of my favorite kitchen gadgets, a Microplane. I have three different sizes and I use them all the time!

I served the pork with steamed spinach and pureed sweet potatoes but it would also taste wonderful with oven-roasted potatoes and root vegetables or mashed potatoes or celery root and Brussels sprouts. 

Varkenshaas (Pork Tenderloin with Mustard Cream Sauce)

Adapted from La Petite Restaurant, Anacortes, Washington
and found on Epicurious
Printable Recipe

Serves 4

Even if you halve this recipe, you may wish to keep the sauce proportions the same, it is that good!

2 pork tenderloins (1 1/2 pounds total), trimmed
2 tablespoons olive oil
5 tablespoons unsalted butter
1 teaspoon minced shallot
1/4 cup dry white wine (always Chardonnay in our home)
2/3 cup chicken broth
3 tablespoons Dijon mustard
2/3 cup heavy cream (I have used lighter cream and even fat free versions successfully)
1 teaspoon finely chopped fresh basil leaves
1 teaspoon finely chopped fresh parsley leaves

Garnish: 1 teaspoon finely chopped fresh chives

Preheat oven to 400° F.

Pat pork dry with paper towels and season with salt and pepper. In a heavy saute pan large enough to hold the tenderloins without crowding, heat the oil and 4 tablespoons butter over medium high heat until sizzling (be careful not to burn the butter), brown pork on all sides, turning occasionally, for 10 minutes. Transfer pork to a shallow baking dish and roast in the preheated oven until a meat thermometer registers 155° F. for barely pink meat, approximately 10 to 15 minutes.

Meanwhile, add the remaining tablespoon of butter and shallot to the same saute pan used to brown the meat, and cook over medium heat until softened. Add wine, broth, and mustard ,scraping up any browned bits, and simmer until reduced by almost half. Add the heavy or light cream along with the chopped basil and simmer until thickened. Stir in the chopped parsley and add salt and pepper to taste. Remove from heat.

Cut pork into 1/2-inch-thick slices. Pour sauce over pork and garnish with chives.

Pork Tenderloin with Brown Sugar-Caramelized Onions and the Best Broccoli I've Ever Had!

If glazed and caramelized onions aren't enough to send you to food nirvana, how about oven-roasted broccoli with Panko crumbs and Parmesan cheese? This pork and broccoli combination is so good together!

 

The pork was gets a beautiful sear in my enameled cast iron skillet and then finished off in the oven until done.  Let the meat rest for at least 5 minutes before cutting to keep those juices in the meat and not on the cutting board.

Oven roasting broccoli (or most any other vegetable) is my favorite way to prepare it and makes it taste so much better than any other method.  The panko gives it a little crunch and the Parmesan cheese a delightful flavor. 

Enjoy!


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Pork Tenderloin with Brown Sugar Caramelized Onions

Printable Recipe

Serves 2

1 pork tenderloin
Salt and pepper to taste
4 tablespoons unsalted butter, divided
1 tablespoon olive oil
2 large sweet onions, sliced
1 tablespoon brown sugar - packed
1 tablespoon balsamic vinegar

Preheat oven to 415° F.

In a heavy skillet (I like to use this one) add 2 tablespoon of butter over medium/high heat. Add the sliced onions and cook until softened, about 10-15 minutes. Stir in the brown sugar and balsamic vinegar, season to taste with salt and pepper, and cook until the onions are tender and glazed, about 3 more minutes. Set aside.

Pat pork dry with paper towels and season with salt and pepper. In a large heavy skillet heat the olive oil and 2 tablespoons of butter over moderately high heat until hot but not smoking and brown pork on all sides. Reduce heat to moderate and cook pork, covered, turning occasionally, 10 minutes. Transfer pork to a shallow baking pan, cover with the caramelized onions and roast in oven until a meat thermometer registers 155° F. for barely pink meat, approximately 10 to 15 minutes.

Oven-Roasted Broccoli

Recipe adapted from Alton Brown, 2007, Food Network
Printable Recipe

4 servings

1 pound broccoli, cleaned and trimmed
2 tablespoons olive oil
2 cloves garlic, minced
1/2 teaspoon kosher salt
1/4 teaspoon freshly ground black pepper
1/3 cup panko bread crumbs
1/4 cup finely grated Parmesan

Preheat oven to 425F.

Cut the broccoli into bite size pieces. Trim the dark green from the stalk and cut into 1/8-inch thick, round slices. Place the broccoli into a large bowl and toss with the olive oil, garlic, kosher salt and pepper and set aside.

Spread the panko into a 13 by 9-inch metal sheet pan and place into the oven for 2 minutes or until lightly toasted. Remove the panko from the oven and add to the bowl with the broccoli mixture. Toss to combine. Return the mixture to the cake pan, place in the oven and roast just until the broccoli is tender, 8 to 10 more minutes. Remove from the oven, toss in the cheese and serve immediately.