Buttermilk Soaked Parmesan Baked Pork Chops

I saw this pork chop recipe on How Sweet It Is and thought to myself "AHA! A breaded pork chop recipe, maybe hubby will like this one!" I have not had the best success rate with fixing pork chops in a way that makes that man happy. In fact I've discovered it seems lately he is getting tired of feeling experimented on. Sigh. I guess it's time to pull out some of the tried and true family favorites in the next couple weeks to appease the boys. It's so hard to want to try something new EVERY day and feel like every time I make something I've made before it's a wasted opportunity and be married to a man who would eat the same 5 dinners over and over and a son who seems to have the culinary preferences of his father not his mother... I am ganged up on! In any event, I digress - today it's about buttermilk pork chops! I put the chops in 2 cups of buttermilk (I used 2 cups milk with 2 TBS vinegar since I was out of buttermilk at the time) and let that refrigerate overnight. When I got home from work I pulled the chops out and let them rest a half hour per the instructions before starting on the breading and cooking.

I started with chops, chicken broth, panko (my first time using panko!), black pepper, salt, olive oil, whole wheat flour, and grated Parmesan cheese.

The panko went into the pie plate along with the flour.

Followed by the salt and pepper.

Last came the all important grated Parmesan cheese!!

I stirred that together to mix well (with my handy dandy teaspoon stirring utensil!)

I put oil in the cast iron skillet and turned the heat to medium high to let that heat up while I prepared the "breading station"!

I lined everything up and prepared to get my hands dirty (but all in good fun)! :)

The chops were removed from the soothing milk bath one at a time and placed into the pie plate of panko goodness.

There they got a nice coating of parmesan and panko breading.

Then into the heated skillet to brown lightly! I had to hurry with the next two since they're only supposed to cook 3 minutes per side!

So the next two followed course and were removed from their milk baths and given a generous coating of crumbs.

 All three back together again! Getting nice and brown on one side.

 Time to flip! A beautiful crust had formed.

 After three more minutes for the bottom's to brown, it was time for the chicken broth!

 It sizzled when it hit the pan!

After the steam settled down so I could not burn myself, I put some foil on and moved the skillet to the pre-heated oven and let that cook for 20 minutes.

 I realized when I pulled the chops back out after 20 minutes that I was supposed to have put some extra parm on top before baking them, but never missing an opportunity for more cheese I added a sprinkling of shredded Parmesan and re-covered with foil and let it sit for a few minutes while I got plates and side dishes ready!

 Aren't they purty??!

Ah, my little beauties - you look good enough to eat! And they were! Hubby and I really enjoyed these. My son said they "weren't his favorite" but as I've established, what does he know?! No, seriously. Ok, well since it didn't get everyone's sign off I unfortunately probably won't make these again but if it were just me and hubby I absolutely would! I loved how these were prepared, and loved how tender and juicy the chops came out. I also loved how the panko was still nice and crunchy along the top even though the bottom half was soft from the chicken broth - but that's what gave it it's juiciness! I thought this was a great recipe! Note: I think there was WAY too much breading and ended up freezing about half of it so it wouldn't go to waste - in the original directions which I followed it calls for 2 cups of panko, but I really think 1 would be plenty which is how I've written the recipe. You can always add more if needed, but it drives me nuts having to toss half of my breading ingredients so I think it would be better to start with less! :)

Recipe slightly adapted from How Sweet It Is

Buttermilk Soaked Baked Parmesan Pork Chops
makes 4 pork chops

Ingredients
3-4 thin-sliced, boneless center cut pork chops
2 cups low-fat buttermilk
1 cup panko bread crumbs
1/3 cup flour (I used whole wheat, any flour will do)
1/2 teaspoon salt
1/2 teaspoon pepper
1/2 cup grated parmesan cheese + a little shredded for garnish
3 tablespoons olive oil
3/4 cup chicken stock

Directions
Add pork chops to a tupperware container and pour buttermilk over top, cover and refrigerate. Soak for at least 2 hours, or over night. Remove pork chops from fridge 30 minutes before you plan to make them.

Preheat oven to 325 degrees.

In a bowl, combine panko, flour, salt, pepper and parmesan. Heat an over-safe skillet on medium-high heat and add olive oil. Grab a pork chop from the buttermilk, letting any excess milk run off. Dredge through panko mixture, coating completely. Lay down in skillet and repeat with remaining chops. Brown pork chops for 3 minutes on each side only! You don’t want them to toughen up. After six minutes, turn off heat and add chicken stock to pan. Sprinkle a little parmesan on pork chops and cover skillet. Bake for 20 minutes.