My very knowledgeable mother-in-law (and a great cook…) has said for years that a lot of veal parmiggiane is more often than not pork. I, of course, said “no way…I’d know the difference!” (the more knowledgeable son-in-law!)
Well…my beautiful and talented wife made something parmiggiane tonight…she purchased some thinly chopped pork. The resulting “parmiggiane” was not only delicious but there is no way I could tell it wasn’t veal…and the pound of thinly sliced pork cost less than $3.75! No way the comparable veal would have been so inexpensive.
Something Parmiggiane!!!
So…try some pork for a great parmiggiane. Here’s the recipe of tonight’s main course:
One pound thinly sliced PORK! (You can substitute chicken and it’s delicious…but the consistency is a little different.)
Mix two eggs in one bowl. Put some Italian-seasoned bread crumbs in another. Add other seasonings to taste…we like some crushed red pepper, for example. Pound each pork slice out a little…use your mallet, an antique cast iron iron, etc….coat each slice in the egg mix, then the bread crumbs. and set aside.
In your skillet, brown the pork and set aside.
In the same pan, saute some onion chopped finely first…let’s say three slices of onion diced, once this is translucent, add a clove of garlic either diced or thinly sliced, once the garlic is soft, add one slice of either prosciutto or one slice of salami diced and one small can of chopped tomatoes. My wife used a 14.5 oz can of Hunt ‘s Petite Diced 100% natural tomatoes. (I don’t think this dish is about the tomatoes…there are lots of other flavors.)
Little trick…if the pork left too much in your skillet, you can always de-glaze the pan with a small amount of leftover wine…1/4 cup at the most…but be careful…the wine may impart a small additional flavor…for this dish, I’d use a leftover Pinor Grigio…something with little flavor…but I’d not hesitate to use a little leftover Chianti, etc. The wine should be room temperature or you might experience some nasty splattering…I suggest you drink a little of the wine beforehand, while cooking, and use what’s warmed up. This is efficient use of your wine as it serves several purposes.
Set your oven at 325 and pre-heat. When your oven is ready and the pork is browned, place the slices in a shallow baking dish, top with a thin slice of provolone, cover with the sauce, and cook for 15 minutes.
The result should be delicious. Let me know if you’d know if it was not veal. For those of you who don’t eat veal…like my youngest daughter…this is a great alternative! Serve separately with a salad and your favorite bread or over your favorite pasta. Let your appetite be the judge on how to serve.
Mangia!
Please comment on this blog or offer your suggestions. There are so many neat ways to eat inexpensively…let’s share our ideas.
Thanks.
Vinnie Rua
I love the idea of using pork as an inexpensive canvas for any meal. We’ve been cooking a lot of dishes using half of the amount of meat we would normally use. We mostly use beans as the substitute for the other half of meat, but if there is a vegetable on sale we’ll use that instead. I’ve also started buying whole young chickens, which you can get for under $5, or a whole cut up chicken. The meat comes out with more flavor cooking it bone-in with skin on, and is much less expensive than buying the boneless skinless cutlets.