The wiener schnitzel was, admittedly, a bit disappointing. It wasn't really anything special, even though I did my best to jazz up the breading a little bit with paprika and oregano. It could very well be, though, that the blandness came from me substituting pork chops for the veal cutlets traditionally used in the recipe. Either way, I found myself longing for gravy (I know, I'm ashamed) because it turned out more like chicken fried pork steaks than wiener schnitzel. Maybe next time I'll do a German/Southern fusion (interesting...) recipe where I'll do some sort of beer-based gravy. Could be fun. I served it with roasted potatoes, but to make it more authentically German boiled potatoes with fresh dill probably would have been better. Here's the recipe I used. Maybe you guys can tell me where I went wrong! Either way, this one's not going in the "keep" folder.
Wiener Schnitzel
Prep time: 5 min
Cook time: 10 min
Ingredients:
- 1/2 c. all purpose flour
- 1/2 tsp. fresh ground black pepper
- 2 eggs
- 1 c. panko bread crumbs
- Salt
- Dried oregano
- Paprika
- 1 lb. veal cutlets or pork chops
- 2-3 T. butter
Steps:
- On a small dish or plate, mix the flour with the pepper and a pinch of salt. On a separate small dish or plate, beat the two eggs with just a little bit (about 1 T.) of water. On yet another small dish or plate, pour our the panko bread crumbs and combine with a bit of paprika and oregano (about 1/2 tsp. of each).
- Place your veal cutlets or pork chops on a cutting board and place a sheet of plastic wrap over them. Once covered with the plastic wrap, grab a mallet or rolling pin and proceed to bash the crap out of them until they're nice and thin (about 1/3 to 1/2 inch). Remove the plastic wrap.
- One by one, take the cutlets and place each in the flour, turning to cover. Once the cutlet is covered with flour, shake it off to remove excess flour and place in the dish with the eggs, turning to cover. Once it's all nice and egg-y, place it in the panko crumbs dish and turn to cover, pressing slightly to make sure the crumbs stick well. Repeat these steps until all cutlets are covered.
- In a skillet or pan, heat 2 T. of the butter over medium-high heat. Once the butter is melted, place your cutlets into the pan. Don't crowd them! They need room to do their thing. Add another tablespoon of butter if you find that the pan gets dry and starts to turn dark brown/black (this means it's burning!).
- Cook each side for about 2-3 minutes, until nice and browned. Serve.
Roasted Potatoes
Prep time: 5 min.
Cook time: 20-25 min.
Ingredients:
- 2-3 good old Russet baking potatoes
- Olive oil
- Salt
- Pepper
- Oregano or any dried herb you like
Steps:
- Preheat your oven to 425 degrees Fahrenheit.
- Wash and dry your potatoes (because no one likes eating dirt). Cube into bite-sized chunks.
- Put the cubed potatoes into a bowl and cover with a good drizzle of olive oil (about 1.5-2 tablespoons). Toss or stir to coat all the potatoes with the oil.
- Turn out your potatoes onto a tin foil-lined baking sheet and sprinkle with a healthy amount of salt, pepper, and herbs.
- Pop into the oven and cook for 20-25 min., stirring every so often.
After dinner, we decided to try another recipe: profiteroles. Profiteroles are a nice little French dessert which probably belong more at a some rich person's tea party than my after-wiener schnitzel treat, but it was worth a shot anyway. :)
Profiteroles are kind of what we Americans think of when we think "eclaires." They start with a very simple dough of butter, sugar, flour, and eggs, and then they're baked until they become cute little puffs. Once cooled, they're cut in half, stuffed with ice cream, and topped with melted chocolate and powered sugar (if you're being extra naughty). They were every bit as good as I hoped they'd be, and because of their small size (about 1/2 the size of a billiards ball), they were great in terms of portion control, too. They're light, but also rich and sweet, so just one (or two) is good enough to satisfy an after dinner sweet tooth. They'd freeze well, too, in case you wanted to make a whole bunch in advance and then serve them the next day.
Profiteroles
Prep time: 2 min.
Cook and cooldown time: 35 min.
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| P.S. This is a tiny little plate for this tiny little treat! |
Ingredients:
- 4 T. butter (unsalted, if you please, and don't give me that nasty petroleum bi-product, either. Just suck it up, go for the real thing, and promise you'll do an extra couple of crunches to make up for it tomorrow. Trust me, it's worth it to get the real thing.)
- 1 tsp. sugar
- Pinch salt
- 1 tsp. vanilla
- 1/2 c. all purpose flour
- 2 eggs
- Ice cream! I used French Silk from Edy's, but you can really use whatever you like, although I'd suggest the classics: vanilla, chocolate, or strawberry.
- Dark chocolate chips or chocolate syrup, for topping
- Powered sugar, if desired
Steps:
- Preheat your oven to 425 degrees Fahrenheit.
- In a small pot, heat 1/2 c. water, the butter, sugar, salt, and vanilla until it boils. As soon as it boils, turn the heat down to medium, add the flour, and stir until it forms a ball or dough.
- Dump your dough into a bowl to let it cool for about 10 min. This is very important! If you don't let the dough cool enough and you add the eggs (in the next step), you'll end up with scrambled eggs because the dough will cook the eggs.
- Once cooled a bit, add in the eggs, one at a time, and stir until it forms a smooth, shiny dough.
- Place the dough into a piping bag or plastic zip-top bag with a corner snipped. I learned a nice little trick for how to do this: put a zip-top back in a big glass or liquid measuring cup. Once in there, it's a lot easier (and a whole lot less messy) to just lop your dough in there than it is to try to hold the bag and put the dough in.
7. Bake the dough in the 425 degree oven for 10 min, then reduce the heat to 350 degrees F and cook for about 10 minutes more, or whenever the mounds puff up and turn golden brown. Once cooked, put the mounds on a cooling rack and cool completely.
8. Once cooled, slice each profiterole in half and put a glob of ice cream on the bottom half and replace the top. Drizzle with melted chocolate or chocolate syrup and powered sugar, if desired. Enjoy with a nice strong, dark cup of coffee.
I promise you, today we really are making pho! So the next post you'll see will hopefully be a successful pho recipe. :)
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