Red + Green Salad with Apricot Dressing + Pork Croutons
Cooking with veggies doesn’t mean cooking only with veggies!
In my dishes, the meat may not always be plentiful, but it’s still impactful!
Here we’re breading pieces of pork to pan-fried crunchy perfection…
Throwing in some crisp greens, apricots, and tomatoes and wrapping it all in a sweet and tangy dressing…
Then adding those hot little pork croutons for a perfect complement to the cold salad!
Red + Green Salad with Apricot Dressing + Pork Croutons
makes: 2 large or 4 small servings, with about ¾ cup Apricot Dressing
Apricot Dressing:
- ½ cup apricot jam or peach jam
- 3 tablespoons white wine vinegar
- 1 teaspoon Dijon mustard
- Zest of half a lime
- ½ teaspoon kosher salt
- ⅛ teaspoon ground black pepper
Pork Croutons:
- ¼ cup all-purpose flour
- ¼ teaspoon kosher salt
- ¼ teaspoon ground black pepper
- 1 large egg
- 1 tablespoon water
- 3 tablespoons olive oil
- ½ pound boneless pork chop, cut into bite-size pieces
- ¾ cup seasoned dry bread crumbs
Red + Green Salad:
- 1 small head red leaf lettuce, coarsely chopped
- 1 small head green leaf lettuce, coarsely chopped
- 2 medium beefsteak tomatoes, cut into bite-size wedges
- Half a red onion, thinly sliced
- 3 apricots or peaches, cut into bite-size pieces
Apricot Dressing:
- Whisk together the jam, vinegar, mustard, lime zest, salt, and pepper in a small bowl, mixing until well combined. Set aside.
Pork Croutons:
- Whisk together the flour, ⅛ teaspoon of the salt, and ⅛ teaspoon of the pepper in a shallow bowl. Whisk together the egg, water, remaining ⅛ teaspoon salt, and remaining ⅛ teaspoon pepper in a second shallow bowl. Place the bread crumbs in a third shallow bowl. (If you haven’t got your salad ingredients cut up, do it now!)
- Heat the oil in a large skillet over medium heat. While it’s heating, toss the pork in the flour and then lift out the pieces, shaking off the excess flour, and transfer them to the egg mixture. Stir them to coat with the egg. Lift out the pieces, letting the excess egg drip off, and then transfer them to the bread crumbs; stir to make sure all sides are coated with crumbs.
- Transfer the pork to the skillet and cook until crispy brown on all sides and cooked through—about 5 minutes. Remove the croutons to a paper towel to drain.
Red + Green Salad:
- Place the red lettuce, green lettuce, tomatoes, apricots, and onions in a large bowl; gently toss to mix.
- Add half the dressing to the salad and gently toss until combined, add more dressing as desired. Divide the salad among 4 small or 2 large plates and top each serving with warm croutons.
