Zesting | Cooking in College

Surprise! Even on vacation we still couldn’t resist posting a recipe for you guys. School is about to start for many students around the country and we want to get as many recipes posted as we can before then.

We realized that we’ve done some chicken recipes:

We’ve also done some dishes with beef:

But we’ve only done one recipe with pork: Peppered Pork Pitas. It may not seem like it from the blog, but we eat a lot more pork than this. It’s a perfect alternative to poultry and beef and is relatively easy to prepare (we’re getting to that). Also, scientists are finding more and more health benefits from eating pork.

Before moving onto the recipe we do need your help. We want to post more simple Vegetarian recipes and fish recipes. If you have any favorites please email them to mail@cooking-in-college.com We would love to hear your ideas and share them with our readers! And now, onto the recipe…

Pork and Mushrooms

Pork and mushrooms go so well together that even people who don’t like mushrooms (aka Erica) love this recipe. It has the perfect earthy taste which compliments the lemon and Dijon mustard. Serve with rice and/or a side of veggies and you’re in for a treat!

Servings – 3 to 4
Prep time – 10 minutes
Cook time – 20 minutes

Ingredients

1 pound 1/2 inch thick pork loin chops (with bone for more flavor)
6 chopped Baby Bella mushrooms (or any small mushrooms you enjoy)
1/4 cup flour
1 lemon
3 tablespoons unsalted butter
1/4 teaspoon dried rosemary, crushed
2 tablespoons Dijon mustard
2 cloves garlic finely chopped
1 chicken bouillon cube
Salt
Pepper

Protocol

1. On a plate, mix together flour with a pinch of salt and pepper.

2. Dredge, or coat, the pork chops into this flour mixture. Tap off any excess and set aside.

3. Over medium-high heat, melt 2 tablespoons of butter in a large pan.

4. Once butter is melted and pan is hot, add your pork chops (only 2 or 3 at a time, no crowding) and cook for 3 to 4 minutes on a side. The chops will become golden brown.

5. Turn your oven on to the lowest setting (ours is 260ºF). When your chops are done, remove them from the pan, place them in a baking dish, cover with aluminum foil, and set in the oven.

6. Turn heat down to medium-low for the pan and add the tablespoon of butter, chopped mushrooms, garlic, and rosemary to the pan. Sauté for 2 to 3 minutes or until mushrooms become tender.

7. In 1 cup of hot water, dissolve chicken bouillon cube. Add 3/4 of this to the pan and let simmer for 5 minutes or until sauce is reduced by half.

8. Add Dijon mustard, 1/2 teaspoon of lemon zest (check out this video for help), and juice of half a lemon to the sauce. Stir for 2 minutes or until sauce thickens.