Everything tastes better when it’s breaded… and the only way to make breaded food taste even better – is to fry it! When I’m home – my mom always makes these cutlets with pork or chicken for her special Katsu-don dish. (She brought that recipe home with us when we left Tokyo!) They are ridiculously tasty. As for the tarragon sauce – I wanted to experiment with the spice, but was also craving a white wine inspired cheese sauce… so this is what I came up with!

Because it’s super important to cook pork all the way through (and because a lot of you are just starting out), I recommend that first you brown the pork and get that great fried coating on the outside, and then toss it in the oven for 10 minutes just to be safe.

• 6 thin sliced pork chops (or thinly pounded chicken breasts for the non pork-eating crowd)
• 1 cup panko bread crumbs
• 1 egg
• 2 cups 2% (or whole) milk
• 1/2 cup and 2tbs flour
• 1 tbs butter
• dash of paprika
• dash of garlic salt
• EVOO
• 1 tbs Tarragon flakes
• 1tbs Dill
• 1in/1in/2in block of sharp cheddar cheese (or shredded)
• Splash of your favorite white wine
• 1 tsp. basil paste

The Pork Cutlets

1. Preheat oven to 375F
2. If you’re using chicken breasts pound them to be around 3/4 cm thin…. but if you’re using the thin sliced pork chops – you’re all set.
3. Take three bowls, in one of them, crack and beat one egg. In the second bowl, put your 1/2 cup of flour. In the last bowl mix in your bread crumbs, paprika, dill and garlic salt.
4. Take each piece of meat and first dredge it in the flour, and then coat it in egg, and transfer it to the bowl with breadcrumbs. Completely coat with crumb and herb mixture (shaking off excess) and set aside.
5. Pour some EVOO into a hot skillet and set two cutlets into the oil carefully to avoid splashes.
6. Carefully turn over once bottom has browned and cook the other side as well… keep a close eye as a few seconds too long will burn the breadcrumbs. **If you are comfortable with the frying to completely cook the pork, take them out of the oil and set onto paper towels to drain and cut in the middle to ensure that cutlet is white throughout. If you are more of a beginner, when you finish browning all of the meat, set onto a tinfoil covered baking sheet and bake in oven for 10 minutes.

The Sauce

1. Set a skillet to medium heat and melt the butter.
2. Whisk in 2tbs flour until paste forms.
3. Add in 1 cup of milk and stir until smooth.
4. Add splash of white wine (or two splashes if you’d rather… ) and your tarragon.
5. Turn heat to low.
6. Whisk slowly while sauce thickens and tarragon becomes fragrant.
7. At this point, add around 1/2 tsp of basil paste and crumble the white cheddar over the sauce in small bits.
8. If you have any drippings left over in your pan from the pork, use a soft spatula to transfer into the sauce.
9. Finally add the last cup of milk and whisk until cheese melts and sauce is smooth.
10. Leave on low heat, whisking every minute or so until sauce reaches desired consistency.

Serve pork with cream sauce drizzled over. Great with a vegetable side!

One of the best parts of this meal is that it reheats really well – it was my lunch the next day at work too!