Schnitzel

We lived in Germany for a few years while my husband was in the Army.  While we were there, we often had schnitzel at the local restaurants.  They have many ways of preparing it, and after a few months, we found a way to make it ourselves.  Of course there we had the benefit of actually having the cuts of meat intended for making this dish (and the flavor packets for making the jaeger sauce), but this is an improvised recipe to make the plain "wienerschnitzel."  If I ever find out how to make that jaeger sauce, I'll post another blog just for it!

What you'll need:
- Either a thin, boneless cut of pork, or a thicker porkchop, cut in halves
- Breading: you can use variations on this.  For mine, I usually either user pre-bought italian seasoning or a mix of that and pork seasoning, but you can also mix up some bread crumbs, cracker crumbs, or even ground rice crispies, and add to it flour, garlic salt/powder, and various seasoings
- Lemon (real or artificial, but in my opinion, this is not option, it is the secret ingredient!)
- Onions, sautéed (optional)
- Oil (to pan fry, I use olive oil)

To make it, just bread the pork (I don't even use egg or anything, just dip in the breading) then pan fry in oil.  If I had to guess, I'd say it takes about 7 min on each side (until golden brown).

And of course the secret - once they are a minute or so away from being done, give them a healthy dousing of lemon juice.  I don't know why, but it gives it a very pleasant flavor.

I like to server mine with wedged potatoes, topped with sautéed onions, but it would probably be fine on its own with whatever side you choose.  And if you can find a good German beer to complement it, well, more power to you!

Enjoy!

Read More

"Fajitos" (Fajita Style Burritos)

 

One of my coworkers suggested (jokingly I think) that I start food blog.  Well, surprise!  I actually did it.  I snapped some photos of the meal I made tonight, and here it is.  The only problem: I don't measure things - at all.

So, tonight's meal...what I can fajitos (a burrito without the beans + veggies).  Of course you could alter this to add whatever, but here's what use:

The Meat:

- steak (doesn't really matter what kind, I usually go with whatever is cheap)

- onion (chopped)

- cilantro

- garlic (diced)

- seasoning (you could use whatever you normally use in tacos, burritos, or fajitas, but I used garlic salt, Mexican chili powder, and cyan pepper) 

- lime/lime juice

The Veggies:

- onion

- pepper

- olive oil

The Rice:

- rice

- garlic

- cilantro

- lime

- tomato

Cooking it all is pretty easy.  Brown the steak, throw in the onion, garlic, cilantro.  Cook until done, season near the end, and viola!

Meanwhile, throw in the the onion/pepper with some olive oil, cook on medium-high to get the nice seared look/taste.

You can put on some rice while you're at it.  I like to season it with cilantro, garlic, lime and sometimes tomato.

When you're all done, top with whatever toppings you like best (I threw on salsa, guacamole, cheese, and sour cream).

It seems so basic that I feel silly posting it, but maybe it will give you some ideas.  The real secrets are cilantro and lime.  Oh, at it only takes about 30 min to make if you cook it all at the same time.

Enjoy!

Read More