Wednesday: Parmesan Pork Schnitzel with Warm German Potato Salad

As some of you know, I grew up in Germany and had been looking for a good german schnitzel and potato salad recipe for a while. I finally found one four years ago in a Real Simple magazine that brought back a lot of memories from my childhood years. Serve with a nice green salad to round out the meal. 

Parmesan Pork Schnitzel

  1 Pork Tenderloin (about 1 lb)
1/2 cup all-purpose flour
2 Large Eggs
  1 cup bread crumbs (don't have any? Just put a couple pieces of bread in a food processor)
1 tsp salt
1/4 cup grated Parmesan cheese
4 TB olive oil

1. Heat oven to 400 degrees F. Thinly slice tenderloin into 8 pieces. Pound the slices to about 1/4 thickness. Place flour on a plate. Place eggs in a shallow bowl and beat lightly. In a separate bowl combine breadcrumbs, salt and cheese.

2. Working in batches, lightly coat the cutlets first in flour, then in the egg mixture (allow any excess to drip off), and finally in the breadcrumb mix. 
3. Heat 2 TB oil in a large skillet over medium-high heat. Add 4 cutlets. Cook until golden brown, 1-2 minutes per side. Place cutlets on a baking sheet. Cook remaining cutlets. Transfer baking sheet to oven and cook for about 8-10 minutes until schnitzel is cooked through. Serve with warm potato salad.

German Potato salad

4 large potatoes (traditionally Germans use red potatoes)

5 slices of bacon, diced (I use turkey bacon)
1 cup onion, chopped
1/4 cup red or white wine vinegar

1/4 cup water
1/4 cup sugar
salt and pepper to taste

1. Boil potatoes uncovered with their skins on for about 10 minutes. Drain. Peel and cube potatoes when they have cooled slightly.
2. In a large frying pan cook bacon and onions for about 4-6 minutes until bacon is crisp over medium-high heat (if using turkey bacon, spray pan with cooking spray). 
3. In a mixing bowl, combine vinegar, water and sugar. Add potaotes to bacon and onion, turn heat down to medium. Cover with vinegar mixture and cook for 1-2 minutes until heated through. Season with salt and pepper.  Serve warm.

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Plan and Prep Ahead

Here are some helpful techniques to make life a little easier once dinner time hits. These tips will especially help those that work full-time and don't have a lot of time to prepare dinner.


~Pound pork ahead of time and keep on plate in fridge covered with saran-wrap 24 hours in advance.
~Grate Parmasan cheese ahead of time and keep in air-tight container in fridge. 
~Cook, skin and dice potatoes ahead of time and keep in fridge. Just add when recipe asks for them. Make sure you heat them up enough.
~Chop onion ahead of time and keep in air-tight container in fridge for up to 48 hours ahead.
~If having salad, make up to 8 hours ahead and keep in fridge in air-tight container without dressing.

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Who likes to CHANGE IT UP?

~Use chicken or turkey cutlets instead of pork.
~Skip the parmesan cheese and just add your favorite spices to schnitzel.
~Instead of a potato salad, use spatzle (German noodles)or buttered egg noodles .