Panko Crusted Apricot Pork Chops

I bought a box of Panko, which are Japanese bread crumbs, a while back assuming we might need some delicious bread crumbs one of these days. Panko tends to be lighter than standard bread crumbs, but still provides a nice crispiness to food. I sort of rediscovered our box of Panko bread crumbs last night when searching the pantry for dinner ideas. We still have quite a bit of wild boar leftover and since we’re moving, we’re trying to eat as much of it as we can! So last night we got out the backstrap of the boar, which is similar to a pork chop. Since the boar is pretty lean, I thought it might be better with a little Panko crust on top!

I found a great recipe on Martha Stewart’s website (obviously…she knows all). It was for commercial pork chops which are fattier than their wild brother, but I thought it would work well enough anyway.

Here was the recipe I used:

Crispy Apricot (wild) Pork Chops

• 1 Backstrap of Wild Boar. I’m assuming most people don’t have this laying around…so the original recipe calls for 4 bone-in pork loin chops, about 8 ounces each
• 4 teaspoons Apricot jam
• 1 cup of Panko Bread crumbs- the original recipe actually suggests you make your own breadcrumbs using 2 slices of multi-grain bread pulsed in a food processor. This sounds great too, I just wanted to use what we had!
• salt and pepper to taste

I oiled a baking sheet and set the oven to 425 degrees. I salted up the meat then cut the backstrap into 1 inch sections.

Next, I measured out the Panko and jam. I spread the jam evenly on top of one side of the pork chops. Then, spread the panko bread crumbs on top.

I cooked the pork for about 30 minutes. It was a little tough since our meat thermometer and our sharp knives were already packed away…so they ended up being a little overcooked. But the jam/bread crumb combo was delicious (of course!) so it helped with the dryness.

On the side we had some broccoli and corn and black bean salsa. I’ve been really into making this salsa lately..it’s so refreshing! I just add corn, black beans, cilantro, tomatoes (sometimes, Cliff doesn’t like them), avocado, and lime juice together and refrigerate for a couple hours. I like this so much I eat it by itself, but it’s also great on Chicken, tacos, anything really!

The pork was pretty good. It was a little dry, but that’s because I overcooked it (ha!) and it’s really lean in general. This would be a great recipe for commercial pork. It was really easy too, which I love!

This was a pretty good dinner! It’s hard when you’re moving to keep eating at home. We still have a few dishes and pans here for our final days but it’s definitely easier to eat out at this point. That’s one thing I hate about moving (among many many other things), is the lack of home cooked meals. As much as I loving going out to eat, I like it once and a while, not for every meal. I start to feel heavy and just not great about myself. But that’s okay. We’ll get through this move just like we got through all the other ones! I’m looking forward to seeing Cleveland soon. But first, Portland and Eugene in a few days!!

Hope you’re all having a great week so far!