Directions
One of my favorite restaurant meals is delicious, crispy, pork (or sometimes, chicken) scaloppine with a buttery lemon-caper sauce over pasta. Packed with butter, cream, and fat, it’s not something I can eat every day. OK, well, who are we kidding? I could TOTALLY eat it every day. I would love to eat it every day. I just can’t…in good conscience.
I recently grabbed a copy of Cuisine Lite magazine. The cover boasted that there were loads of “Restaurant quality menus – Lightened up!” waiting for me inside. Among all of the wonderful looking recipes sat my favorite pork scaloppine dinner, and indeed it was, lightened up. As you’ve probably guessed by now, I decided to give it a try.
First things first, I preheated my oven’s broiler and placed my broiler pan in the oven, about 6 inches from the heat. Then, I sliced a pork tenderloin into twelve medallions and pounded them out a bit, so they were about 1/4 inch thick
Then, I got some of my sauce ingredients together. I zested and juiced a lemon, sliced up some fresh sage, and measured out some salty capers. I had to have everything prepped and ready to go, because once things start cooking, it doesn’t take long!
Once that was done, I dredged the pork in some beaten egg white and then breaded the pieces in a mixture of Panko breadcrumbs and Parmesan cheese.
I opened the oven, sprayed the broiler pan with a bit of nonstick spray, and then placed the pork on the pan, spraying the tops again with nonstick spray.
The pork only needed to cook for about 6-8 minutes total. I flipped them midway through.
As the pork cooked, I got my sauce together. I melted just a scant tablespoon of butter in a sauce pan and whisked in some flour to make a quick roux.
Then, I carefully whisked in some chicken broth, the capers, lemon juice, lemon zest, and the fresh sage.
The sauce came together smoothly, and thickened up just a bit as the pork finished up in the oven.
When we were ready for dinner, I served up the crunchy pork and drizzled it with that lemony sauce. I served it alongside spaghetti squash, instead of pasta, and some steamed broccoli.
The pork was perfectly tender, and the crust was crispy, crunchy and delicious. The sauce was tart, tasty, and smooth as silk, with a nice salty kick from those capers. It was a perfect weeknight-in-house-family-friendly alternative to one of my favorite restaurant splurges. And, with only 272 calories per serving, I probably could eat this every night and not have a guilty conscience!
PORK SCALOPPINE WITH LEMON AND CAPERS
Adapted from Cuisine Lite
- 1 lb. pork tenderloin, trimmed and sliced into twelve 3/4 inch thick pieces
- 1 1/4 cups Panko bread crumbs
- 1/3 cup grated Parmesan
- 1 egg white
- 1 Tbsp. water
- 1 Tbsp. butter
- 1 Tbsp. flour
- 1 cup low sodium chicken broth
- 2 Tbsp. capers
- 1 Tbsp. lemon juice
- 1 Tbsp. lemon zest
- 1 Tbsp. chopped fresh sage
- Preheat the broiler in your oven. Place a broiler pan on the rack, 6 inches from the heat source, to preheat as well.
- Lay the pork slices on a cutting board. Cover the pork with plastic wrap or wax paper and pound out the slices into 1/4 inch thick cutlets.
- Combine the Panko and the parmesan.
- Whisk together the egg white and the water.
- Dip each pork cutlet in the egg wash and dredge in the Panko mixture.
- Spray the broiler pan with nonstick spray, and place the pork pieces on the heated broiler pan. Spray the tops of the pork with nonstick spray and return the pan to the oven.
- Broil for 3 minutes, flip the pork pieces over, and broil for 3 minutes more or until the pork has started to brown.
- Melt the butter in a small saucepan. Whisk in the flour and continue to stir for a minute.
- Whisk in the broth, and add the capers, lemon juice, zest, and sage. Continue to stir until sauce thickens a bit, about 6-8 minutes.
- Serve the pork with the sauce.
- ENJOY!
