Smoked Sea Salt Crusted Pork Chops

 
Have you ever loved someone so much you just wanted to grab them by the face and plant a fat smooch on their mouth...sobre?  That's kind of how I feel about my hairstylist.  Thanks to Internet Cooking Hairstylist, I no longer have a phobia of getting my hair cut.  {It all goes back to a traumatic incident at a Super Cuts, on my 13th birthday, on Friday the 13th, immediately before my Friday the 13th themed birthday party.  I wasn't a supersticious person when I went in to be coiffed, but I came out blazing with the fear of God in me - and significantly less hair.}

Although I do love Internet Cooking Hairstylist {ICH} because he helped me get back in the salon chair, the truth is that I think he is simply a stellar human being.  During my last appointment, the conversation veered towards food, as it usually does, and he began singing the praises of smoked salts.  The technique and possibilities he described all sounded too good to be true.  Immediately after the appointment, I bolted to Whole Foods, flipped my freshly shampooed locks, picked up a pack of Maldon, took it task at Maison de ICP, and have been mentally thanking ICH ever since.  This recipe can be used with chicken or fish, and it is too easy.  And we all have ICH to thank. {But let's not tell him about the whole me wanting to kiss him on the mouth thing.}

Post-script: The psychedelic,  Fellini-esque placemat is totally dedicated to ICH.  He's fabulous like that.

Ingredients:

1 lb. Thinly sliced center cut pork chops
1/2 c. All purpose flour
1/2 c. Bread crumbs

1 Eg, beaten
2 T. Smoked sea salts
Fresh thym
Olive oil
Ground pepper to taste

Instructions:

Start by setting up your dredging station, pouring the beaten egg on dinner plate and the flour, bread crumbs, and smoked sea salts onto another. Using a fork, mix the flour, bread crumb, and salt mixture together until everything appears evenly distributed. {Normally I'd pour it into a bowl and mix first, but I was feeling lazy.

Next, grab a large skillet and place over high heat. {You need to let it preheat, the skillet needs to be very hot when it's cook time.} Next, dip the first two or three pork chops in the egg mixture, allowing any excess to drip off, and then dredge the pork chop on both sides in the flour mixture.

Add about two tablespoons of olive oil into the pan, and allow the pork chops to cook for four minutes. Then, flip them on to the other side, cooking this time for only two minutes. Remove the pork chops from the pan, but give them pan about five minutes to completely heat back up again. Then, repeat the dredging process with the remaining chops, cooking again for four minutes on one side and two minutes on the other.

Once all the pork chops are done, sprinkle with additional pinches of sea salt and fresh time. Serve with something nice n' starchy like rice or potatoes. Leftovers are great for a good old pork sandwich with a little dill pickle and good deli mustard.