Schnitzel, southern style

Breaded pork cutlets with collard greens and mashed rutabaga.

I had bought a whole boneless pork loin at Sendiks because it was on sale.  The thing weighed 8 lbs.  I took off the trimmings for grinding- that was about half a pound, plus there was about a quarter pound of waste. Fat, etc.  The remaining I cut into 4 chunks.  3 I froze.  The last I cut into 4 cutlets, pounded to heck with the pointed side of the meat mallet to make sure it's tender and thin, and breaded.  First I sprinkled them liberally with Penzey's Salad Sprinkle- chosen mostly for the garlic (I don't keep garlic salt but that's the flavor I wanted).  Then, they get dusted in flour, dipped in beaten egg, and dredged in fine, dry breadcrumbs.

And pan fried in vegetable oil.  This is a rare treat and it was SO delish!

First, though, I made the collard greens and rutabaga.  Collards are possibly the toughest, hardiest green.  They need long, slow cooking.  Remove the central rib with a paring knife,

Stack and roll up all the leaves, and slice about half an inch thick.  Then wash them well.  I threw these in a pot with some water and a small amount of baked ham I had in the freezer.  Covered, they took at least 45 minutes to get tender.  Towards the end, remove the lid so the excess water can boil off.

Here is the rutabaga.  The skin is thick and wax- coated.  It needs to be peeled with a knife rather than a flimsy vegetable peeler.

First cut a slice off the top and bottom to stabilize it.

The rutabaga simply gets diced and cooked in salted water, then mashed with a large pat of butter.  It's mild and quite tasty.  Takes longer to cook than  potato, and never really achieves that silken texture (unless you want to get out a blender or Cuisinart).  Nevertheless, I like them a lot.