Zesty Lime Pork Chops

Recently, I've become a little obsessed with the pairing of meats with citrus flavors.  Although these are mainly lime-infused, there is a hint of lemon pepper seasoning in the breading.  The key to packing in the flavor to anything breaded is to season, season, season!  It's the same theory as seasoning your pasta sauce.  I never make pasta without generously salting my pot of water first.  Otherwise, your pasta is bland.  And, in my house, one of our favorite dishes is Pasta e Broccoli, so the sauce relies on the addition of a few ladles of pasta water.  

• Season the egg, I usually put a few shakes of hot sauce in my egg/water mixture.  I don't make it "spicy" as I would like for my son to eat as well.  The key to seasoning, is to add just enough, not to overdo it with any one flavor.  
• Season the flour.  You can season the flour a little more liberally.  I season with salt and pepper.
• Season the crumb mixture.  For this recipe I used Panko crumbs to give it more of a crunch.  Depending on what I'm making, determines what I'll season my breadcrumbs with.  In this case it was lemon-pepper, but it has been oregano, basil, parsley, red pepper, the list goes on forever.  Just season to your taste.  

***Since I have typed most of the recipe as is already, I've decided to ditch my usual format and just keep typing!  If you need the exact quantities for each item, I pretty much use a cup of each: flour and breadcrumbs to start, with around 1 tsp of each of the added seasonings and just add more as needed.  For my egg mixture, it's about 1 egg to 1/4-1/2 cup of water.***

Recently, I've only been using Canola and EVOO for any and all of my cooking needs.  In this recipe, I used Canola to cook my pork chops in, cooking them over medium-high heat for about 4-5 minutes on each side.  You want your chops to become nice and brown and crunchy!  

After your chops are cooked thoroughly, a meat thermometer is one of the most useful tools in the kitchen; drain on a paper towel.  Squeeze fresh lime juice over the chops and garnish with lime slices.  This is great with rice and corn or any other summer vegetable.  The flavors are so tantalizing that even Eoin enjoyed it and he's not a huge pork chop fan!