Vito's Breaded Italian Pork Chops

I have a friend who is Italian as hell, the original Italian Stallion. Like both parents are both full Italian. That is rare here in good ole Texas. His name is Vito and he is such a badass, he got his mom to send him the recipe for these breaded pork chops. I die. I honestly don’t ever want to use chicken again, pork it is. Also, I will NEVER buy breadcrumbs again, making your own is too easy and taste 300x better. I put a little spin on it with the marinara, noodles, mozzarella and then baking it. It truly was fucking great and Vito approved. If you are looking to impress, make this.

Ingredients:

Pork Chops:

8 Thin, tenderized pork chops

1 loaf French bread ( Stale and Dry is best) (it makes 4 cups bread crumbs)

1 cups Italian parsley (rough chopped)

1 tbs garlic powder

1 tbs onion powder

1/2 cup Romano cheese

1/2 cup Parmesan cheese

3 tbs butter

3 tbs olive oil

Marinara:

4 large Heirloom tomatoes

2 tbs Olive oil

1 tbs Italian seasoning

1 tbs tomato paste

1 yellow onion (chopped)

2 tsp garlic (minced)

2 tsp Worcestershire

1/4 cup sugar

1 tsp salt

1 tsp pepper

4 Basil leaves

12 oz Angel Hair pasta

2 cups Mozzarella (shredded)

Directions:

Pork Chops:

In a food processor or blender, blend the French loaf until it is fine like sand. There will be some bigger chunks but that’s ok! Add rough chopped parsley, garlic powder, onion powder, shredded Parmesan and Romano cheese. Mix all together and leave out to dry on counter top for a couple of hours. Soak tenderized pork chops in beaten eggs for a few min, make sure they are soaked on all sides of the meat. When ready to fry, melt butter and olive oil in a cast iron skillet. Remove one pork chop from egg and toss in your bread crumbs. Press them into the meat on both sides and add the the skillet to brown. It will take about 3 min per side. Repeat this until you have fried all 8 pork chops and set aside on a paper towel to soak up grease. Side note, you may need to add more butter and olive oil throughout frying if the skillet starts to get dry.

Marinara:

Sauté olive oil, onion and garlic in a deep skillet over medium heat. Slice tomatoes and add to a mixing bowl, using a hand emulsifier and mix until smooth, no chunks. You can also put them into a blender to smooth. Stir into pot with the onion and garlic. Add Worcestershire, Italian seasoning, basil leaves, sugar, salt and pepper. Let simmer for 30 min and then add the tomato paste. Stir until smooth.

Preheat oven at 400. Boil angel hair pasta with a tbs of olive oil. Cook al dente. Using a cast iron skillet, layer marinara, noodles, pork chops then mozzarella. Repeat until all of the pork chops and sauce has been used. On the last layer, put lots of cheese. Bake for 15 min or until cheese is bubbly and golden. You may have to broil for a couple of minutes to get the cheese a golden brown.