Pork piccata is a great alternative to the more obvious chicken piccata. It’s easier to prep. It’s less likely to dry out. And it has more flavour. What is not to love here?
Does the world need another chicken piccata recipe? I’m pretty sure not. And yet, here I am doing it. I justify it to myself because I have two observations to share.
One – why so much lemon? I see recipes with the juice of two lemons. Two lemons. That’s half a lemon per portion. Then they claw back the acidity by adding a bunch of butter. It’s adding calories to hide a flaw. Crazy.
Two – it’s always chicken (or maybe veal). I like pork piccata. It’s more forgiving than chicken and much cheaper than veal. Tasty, forgiving and cheaper. You decide. Maybe I’m the crazy one here. Wouldn’t surprise anyone. But I think pork piccata works…
I’ve used pork tenderloin here. If you wanted bigger pieces maybe a small loin could sub in but you’d need to be careful because you run the risk of tougher meat. The tenderloin is pounded a bit so it’s a fair size. Kind of veal picatta size.
And for the record, they are adding butter to balance a ton of lemon so they can add more butter. Fat tastes good. But it’s a lot of calories for not much gain.
pork piccata
Ingredients
- 1 14 oz ounce pork tenderloin
- flour to dredge the pork
- 2 Tbsp butter in all
- 2 Tbsp olive oil in all
- Juice of 1/2 lemon
- 1/2 cup chicken stock
- 1 Tbsp capers
- Italian flat parsley minced. Don’t use curly parsley.
- salt
- pepper
Instructions
- Remove any silverskin from the pork tenderloin.
- Cut the pork across the tenderloin into 3/4 inch medallions.
- Pound the medallions to 1/4 inch thick.
- Season both sides of the pork with salt and pepper.
- Heat a heavy skillet over medium heat.
- Add one Tbsp butter and one Tbsp olive oil.
- Dredge the pork in the flour and fry until the edges start to turn white, about 60-90 seconds. Only add as much as will fit comfortably in one layer.
- Flip and cook another 45 seconds to one minute. You don’t want to overcook the pork.Remove pork from pan.
- Add remaining Tbsp olive oil and repeat with the remaining pork.
- Deglaze the pan with the lemon juice, stirring constantly. When it has almost completely evaporated add the chicken stock and simmer for about 1 minute.
- Return the pork and accumulated juices to the pan to warm up the pork. Simmer about a minute. The flour from the pork will thicken the sauce slightly. Add the capers.
- Off heat add the remaining one Tbsp butter to enrich the sauce. Jostle the pork around a bit to distribute the butter. Awkward but easier than removing all the pork. Adjust seasoning.
- Sprinkle with Italian parsley.
pork piccata
Ingredients
- 1 14 oz ounce pork tenderloin
- flour to dredge the pork
- 2 Tbsp butter in all
- 2 Tbsp olive oil in all
- Juice of 1/2 lemon
- 1/2 cup chicken stock
- 1 Tbsp capers
- Italian flat parsley minced. Don’t use curly parsley.
- salt
- pepper
Instructions
- Remove any silverskin from the pork tenderloin.
- Cut the pork across the tenderloin into 3/4 inch medallions.
- Pound the medallions to 1/4 inch thick.
- Season both sides of the pork with salt and pepper.
- Heat a heavy skillet over medium heat.
- Add one Tbsp butter and one Tbsp olive oil.
- Dredge the pork in the flour and fry until the edges start to turn white, about 60-90 seconds. Only add as much as will fit comfortably in one layer.
- Flip and cook another 45 seconds to one minute. You don’t want to overcook the pork.Remove pork from pan.
- Add remaining Tbsp olive oil and repeat with the remaining pork.
- Deglaze the pan with the lemon juice, stirring constantly. When it has almost completely evaporated add the chicken stock and simmer for about 1 minute.
- Return the pork and accumulated juices to the pan to warm up the pork. Simmer about a minute. The flour from the pork will thicken the sauce slightly. Add the capers.
- Off heat add the remaining one Tbsp butter to enrich the sauce. Jostle the pork around a bit to distribute the butter. Awkward but easier than removing all the pork. Adjust seasoning.
- Sprinkle with Italian parsley.
If you have the tomatillo salsa on hand, roasted pork with tomatillo sauce is a quick and easy meal. The salsa darkens as it cooks in the rendered pork fat. The sauce picks up the flavours of the meat to really come together nicely. I used pork tenderloin because I was jammed for time but you could do it with a small pork loin as well. Just up the amount of tomatillo salsa you use to line up with the amount of meat you are preparing.
If you want to build a menu around the tomatillo salsa (to make it worth your while) consider serving some nachos. Just substitute the tomatillo salsa for red salsa. You could make tortilla soup and spoon in a bit of the salsa as a garnish. Lots of possibilities.
Roasted Pork with Tomatillo Sauce
Ingredients
- 1 14 oz pork tenderloin
- 1/2 cup tomatillo salsa
- 2 Tbsp olive oil
Instructions
- Pre-heat your oven to 385F.
- In an oven-proof skillet heat the oil and sear the pork on all sides.
- Place pork in the oven. You are looking for an internal temp of 135F. This is about 10 minutes for the tenderloin. Likely around an hour or so for the pork loin.
- Remove pork from oven. Remove pork from pan and tent with foil.
- Place pan over medium heat, deglaze the pan with the tomatillo salsa, stirring constantly. Fry the tomatillo salsa for about 1 minute. If the sauce is too thick add a few Tbsp chicken stock.
- Carve the pork. Return any accumulated juices to the sauce and stir.
