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Amazing Pork Schnitzel Sandwich w/ Savory Caper Spread


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5 from 1 review

  • Author: Stacey
  • Prep Time: 1 hour, 15 minutes
  • Cook Time: 10
  • Total Time: 1 hour 25 minutes
  • Yield: 6 sandwiches 1x

Description

This crispy, cheesy, tangy, savory pork schnitzel sandwich with pickled red onions and savory caper spread will rock your world. Follow along with my video and we’ll make it together.


Ingredients

Units Scale

Cutlets

  • 6 pork sirloin cutlets
  • Salt and pepper

Marinade

  • 3 cloves sliced garlic
  • 1 cup olive oil
  • 1 tablespoon chopped sage (approx. 5 large sage leaves)

Bobby Flay’s Pickled Red Onions (makes 2 cups)

  • 3 cups red wine vinegar
  • 1 cup fresh lime juice (8 limes)
  • 1/4 cup grenadine
  • 1/2 cup sugar
  • 1 tablespoon kosher salt
  • 2 large red onions, thinly sliced
  • 1 cup of water

Savory Dijon Caper Spread (makes 1 cup or so)

  • 2 cloves of garlic
  • 1/2 cup olive oil
  • 5 sage leaves
  • 3/4 bunch of parsley (I used flat leaf)
  • 1 cup of bread cubes
  • 2 tablespoons capers, plus a little brine
  • 2-3 tablespoons apple cider vinegar
  • 1 teaspoon Dijon
  • 1/3 cup toasted pine nuts (see note #2)

Cooking the cutlets, breading station

  • 4-5 eggs, beaten
  • 1 heaping cup of flour
  • 1/2 teaspoon salt
  • 1 8 ounce container of plain Panko bread crumbs
  • 1 tablespoon fresh chopped sage
  • Vegetable oil for frying

Sandwich Topping

12 slices of Swiss cheese (2 per sandwich)

Sandwich Bread

6 high quality sandwich rolls like French bread or ciabatta (see note#4 and blog post)


Instructions

Pork cutlets and marinade: 

  1. Take your pork cutlets and pound them down as thin as possible. Salt and pepper both sides. Cut off any obvious strips of fat around the edges. 
  2. Slice garlic and sage then add olive oil and let sit in bowl a few minutes.
  3. Put pork cutlets in a Ziplock bag and pour marinade in the bag. Squeeze air out of bag and massage the marinade evenly to coat all the pork. 

Pickled Red Onions:

  1. Squeeze approximately 8 limes for 1 cup of fresh lime juice. Add it to a pot. Add all the remaining ingredients to the pot and bring it to a boil on medium to high heat. Stir a few times to make sure salt and sugar is dissolved. Should take about 5 minutes.
  2. While the liquid is cooking. Use a mandolin to slice to large red onions. I set my mandolin to 1/8” and it was perfect. If you don’t have a mandolin just use a knife and slice as thin as possible. Put the onions in a large bowl or container (non-reactive).
  3. Once the liquid has cooled a few minutes, pour the liquid over the onions. Press down on the onions with a spatula to make sure they are all coated. I didn’t have a container with a lid so I used plastic wrap and it worked fine. I transferred them to a large jar the next day.
  4. Refrigerate for at least one hour, but ideally, for 24 hours. 

Savory Caper Spread: 

  1. Put ½ a cup of olive oil in a pan with two cloves of garlic. Heat on low to medium heat and let the garlic brown on all sides.
  2. While the garlic is browning, cut one cup of bread cubes. I used half of a French bread roll from my favorite bakery. Set aside. 
  3. Chop off ¾ of a bunch of parsley and put in a mini food processor.
  4. Once garlic has finished browning, add that to the food processor.  
  5. Leave hot oil in the pan and add the bread cubes. Fry until golden brown, let cool a couple of minutes, then add the bread cubes and olive oil to the food processor.
  6. Add the Dijon mustard, capers, splash of caper brine, apple cider vinegar, and fresh sage.  
  7. Now blend it for a minute or so. Then add the toasted pine nuts and blend again. (see note#2 below). After I added the pine nuts, it needed a splash more olive oil so I added that here and blended one final time.
  8. Taste it here. Since I added mustard I didn’t think it needed salt. But if you think it needs a pinch go ahead and add that. 

Cooking the Cutlets (breading station): 

  1. Chop the fresh sage and mix it together with the panko bread crumbs on a plate.
  2. Put flour and salt on a plate and mix with a fork. 
  3. Beat 4-5 eggs in a bowl.
  4. Start the breading process. Dip the pork cutlet in the egg, then coat with flour on both sides. Then dip it back in the egg, coat with the sage bread crumbs on both sides. Place breaded cutlets on a plate or small sheet pan. Repeat the process for all cutlets.
  5. Heat vegetable oil in a pan and heat on low to medium. I usually fill the pan with about a ½ to ¾ “ of oil. Once the oil is hot, add your cutlets. I used a large pan and cooked three cutlets at a time in two batches. Cook them about 3-4 minutes on each side until you can see they are golden brown. 

Assembling the sandwich: 

  1. Place a couple slice of Swiss cheese on top of the pork schnitzel. If you want it melty. After you flip the cutlets let them cook for 2-3 minutes, then add the Swiss and let it melt while the cutlets are finishing cooking. 
  2. Plan your time in terms of when you toast your rolls for this sandwich. As mentioned in the blog post: use high-quality bread. I used rosemary focaccia rolls from a local bakery. You can use ciabatta rolls, French bread rolls, or brioche rolls too. I don’t think regular sliced sandwich bread would work well with this. 
  3. Place the cutlet with melted Swiss cheese on your toasted roll. Spread the savory caper spread on the roll. Place the pickled red onions on top of the pork cutlet. Place fresh baby arugula lettuce on top of that. Cut the sandwich and dig in!

Notes

  1. Bobby Flay’s pickled red onions recipe called for two large red onions. I actually sliced three onions because I wanted to have more on hand. Sooo – this recipe can hold three red onions without adjusting any of the ingredients. 
  2. The pine nuts. You don’t have to toast them if you want to save a little time. I had some on hand already. It only takes a few minutes on low to medium heat in a small pan. Just toss them around to make sure they don’t burn.
  3. The limes. I was lucky and had 8 really ripe, juicy limes and I got a full cup of lime juice. I had more limes on hand just in case. Sometimes there are dud limes that are dry with no juice. It happens. If your limes are small, you may need to buy more. 
  4. This is a gourmet sandwich and high-quality bread is a must. French bread rolls and ciabatta rolls work well. I live near an awesome bakery and always use their focaccia rolls for this sandwich.