Ok, so the story of today’s recipe all began while I was randomly watching youtube videos a week ago. I was doing my usual perusing of whatever random stuff the youtube algorithms gave me until an old yet familiar face popped up. It was Pasquale Sciarrapa! Which if you’re unfamiliar with the man, all I can say is he’s an old Italian guy that makes recipes. In fact, a lot of my early attempts at cooking Italian food in college were inspired by his videos. So he has a soft place in my heart. But anyways, he’s not the important part of the story. What’s important is the dish he made, Pork Lombardy.
Essentially the dish consisted of lightly fried pork chops bathed in a mushroom wine sauce with melted cheese on top. Sounds pretty good right?
But that’s not what got me excited about this dish. You see what really intrigued me was the fact that I had never even heard of the dish before. So the idea that I was just now discovering a new “authentic” Italian recipe to add to my repertoire had me giddy.
Thus the research began. And after a staggering 5 minutes of web browsing, I came to the conclusion that this new “authentic” Italian dish wasn’t authentic at all. I turns out Pasquale’s dish was simply a pork version of the more popular chicken lombardy. A recipe that has its origins in that great bastion of Italian cooking that is The Olive Garden.
You read that right folks, today we’re making an Olive Garden recipe.
But you know what, to hell with the haters! Not everything needs to be super authentic to taste great. Plus this gives us every right to play around with the recipe and hopefully improve it. So with that said let’s get to make my version of pork lombardy.
Tips, Tricks & Suggestions
- As we said above this recipe was originally meant for chicken so feel free to use it instead of pork. That being said I do believe that it is best that you use chicken cutlets instead of whole chicken breast, or else the cooking time would be way off.
- If you have decided to use pork chops like we are then I suggest you read up on how to use a meat tenderizer, because we will be using one.
- What type of wine to use in this recipe? The original chicken lombardy recipes called for marsala, and while there’s nothing wrong with that I prefer to use pino griso. Either way, whether you plan on using a red or white wine just make sure it’s dry, not sweet.
- I suggest serving this dish with either a side of our baked asparagus or a salad with our balsamic vinaigrette.
Pork Lombardy Recipe
Prep time: 10 minutes
Cook time: 15 minutes
Servings: 3 to 4
Ingredients
3 to 4 Boneless pork chops
½ Cup of finely diced shallots
8 oz. of Mushrooms, thinly sliced
3 Cloves of garlic, minced
¼ Cup of dry white wine, you can also use dry red wine
½ Cup of chicken stock
4 Tablespoons of butter
¼ Cup of olive oil
1 Teaspoon of thyme, dried
½ Cup of mozzarella cheese, shredded
¼ Cup of parmesan cheese, shredded
½ Cup of all-purpose flour, for dredging
Salt & pepper
Garnish:
Fresh basil
Instructions
- Preheat your oven to 350 degrees Fahrenheit.
- Optional: pound the pork chops thin: This step is completely optional, however, it will allow the pork chops to cook quicker. To do this simply place one pork chop in either a plastic bag or between a sheet of plastic wrap. Then pound the chop with a meat mallet until it is roughly a quarter of an inch thick. Repeat these steps with the remaining pork chops.
- Salt & pepper all of the pork chops on both sides, then lightly dredge them in the flour.
- Cook the pork chops: Get out a large oven-safe pan, pour the ¼ cup of olive oil in it, and place it over medium-high heat. Once the pan is hot place the pork chops in and let them fry for 2 to 3 minutes, or until they have become nicely browned.
Then flip them over and fry for an additional 2 to 3 minutes. Once all pork chops are cooked, take them out of the pan and set them aside.
- Cook the mushrooms & shallots: Add the minced garlic to the same pan and sautee them for a minute. Then toss in the shallots and sautee them for an additional 2 minutes. Finally, toss in the mushrooms along with the thyme and sautee them with everything for roughly 5 minutes.
- Make the sauce: Add the wine and let it reduce for a minute. Then pour in the chicken stock and toss in the butter. Let this all cook and reduce for another 3 to 5 minutes.
- Finish the dish in the oven: Take the pan off the heat and add the pork chops back in. Pour some of the sauce & mushrooms over them. Cover each pork chop with both kinds of cheese and place the pan in your oven.
Let this bake until the cheese has melted to your liking.
- Serve the pork lombardy along with the sauce and mushrooms, garnish with fresh basil and enjoy!
Pork Lombardy Recipe
Ingredients
- 3 to 4 Boneless pork chops
- ½ Cup of finely diced shallots
- 8 oz. of Mushrooms thinly sliced
- 3 Cloves of garlic minced
- ¼ Cup of dry white wine you can also use dry red wine
- ½ Cup of chicken stock
- 4 Tablespoons of butter
- ¼ Cup of olive oil
- 1 Teaspoon of thyme dried
- ½ Cup of mozzarella cheese shredded
- ¼ Cup of parmesan cheese shredded
- ½ Cup of all-purpose flour for dredging
- Salt & pepper
Garnish:
- Fresh basil
Instructions
- Preheat your oven to 350 degrees Fahrenheit.
- Optional: pound the pork chops thin: This step is completely optional, however, it will allow the pork chops to cook quicker. To do this simply place one pork chop in either a plastic bag or between a sheet of plastic wrap. Then pound the chop with a meat mallet until it is roughly a quarter of an inch thick. Repeat these steps with the remaining pork chops.
- Salt & pepper all of the pork chops on both sides, then lightly dredge them in the flour.
- Cook the pork chops: Get out a large oven-safe pan, pour the ¼ cup of olive oil in it, and place it over medium-high heat. Once the pan is hot place the pork chops in and let them fry for 2 to 3 minutes, or until they have become nicely browned. Then flip them over and fry for an additional 2 to 3 minutes. Once all pork chops are cooked, take them out of the pan and set them aside.
- Cook the mushrooms & shallots: Add the minced garlic to the same pan and sautee them for a minute. Then toss in the shallots and sautee them for an additional 2 minutes. Finally, toss in the mushrooms along with the thyme and sautee them with everything for roughly 5 minutes.
- Make the sauce: Add the wine and let it reduce for a minute. Then pour in the chicken stock and toss in the butter. Let this all cook and reduce for another 3 to 5 minutes.
- Finish the dish in the oven: Take the pan off the heat and add the pork chops back in. Pour some of the sauce & mushrooms over them. Cover each pork chop with both kinds of cheese and place the pan in your oven. Let this bake until the cheese has melted to your liking.
- Serve the pork lombardy along with the sauce and mushrooms, garnish with fresh basil and enjoy!
Check out how some other blogs made pork/chicken lombardy for inspiration
From Chef Pasquale
From Creme de la Crumb
