German Sunday Pork Schnitzel Dinner Slimming World style

I have to say cooking this dish made me very happy! My mum is German and although you might not think it Germany has amazing food.  Food is so connected to memories and all my trips to visit my grandparents are wrapped up in the gorgeous delights my grandma would serve up daily. She was a tremendous cook and my mum still marvels at what she created each and every day from scratch. From gorgeous Pretzels, schnitzels and sausages to fantastic breads and cakes Germany is all about the food!


This was one of mine and my brother's favourite Sunday dinners as we were growing up and was often picked a birthday treat. As my grandma isn't with us any more and my mum and I live miles away this dish is a great way of feeling connected to my family and my roots.

The original dish isn't very slimming world friendly but one day I decided I needed a touch of home so set about tweaking. I was so pleased with the result it was almost as good as the real thing. Although nothing, not even my mum's, quite comes up to my grandma's I was a very happy woman as I sat down to eat this little piece of nostalgia. I was happy to take the syns as it was such a treat. I did also add a few extra to have gravy but it was totally worth it!

The Schnitzels are usually coated in breadcrumbs and then fried. Its not good frying them in frylight (believe me I've tried!) as the breadcrumbs need quite a lot of hot oil to become crunchy and delicious. I have made the sw scotch eggs a couple of times and was really impressed with how the instant mash potato worked so I thought I'd give them a whirl. I also found a rosemary connelly recipe on line for baked pork escalope (basically the same thing) and replaced the breadcrumbs with the instant mash. I know there is a bit of a debate around using instant mash in other ways. I have synned them here but you could also use your hex b bread and it would be free. 

The potato salad is also one of my favourites. Its different from an English potato salad as it uses a vinaigrette dressing rather than mayonnaise. It was really easy to convert this so a slimming world recipe as I just replaced the oil with a spray or 2 of frylight.

Serves 4
Syns 2.5 syns inc gravy.

Schnitzels 

4 lean Pork steaks

1 Egg beaten

1/2 pack Instant Mash Potato

Potato Salad

1 bag Salad Potatoes 

1 Onion finely diced

1 tbsp dried Dill

1 tbsp White Wine

Salt and Pepper

Frylight

Cucumber Salad

1 cucumber diced or grated

White wine vinegar

Salt and Pepper

Lemon, sliced to serve.

Tagliatelli pasta

1. Boil the potatoes whole in their skins until cooked but still firm. Drain and refresh under cold water and allow to cool.
2. Once cold enough to hold peel the potatoes and slice as thinly as possible into a large salad bowl.
3. Add the finely diced onion, dill, vinegar and salt and pepper and mix.
4. Add a good tablespoon of hot water and mix again. (This takes the edge of the raw onions).
5. Add a couple of sprays of frylight, cover and leave to allow the flavours to develop.
6. Heat the oven to Gas Mark 6, 200C. Take the pork steaks and remove any visable fat then beat with a meat tenderiser or a rolling pin to flatten out.
7. Dip the steaks first in the beaten egg then in the instant mash potato and make sure it is well coated.
8. Place on a baking tray sprayed with fry light and bake towards the top of the oven for 20-25 minutes till golden brown and cooked through.
9. Whilst the pork is in the oven mix the cucumber with the vinegar and seasoning. Again you could add dill if you wanted a bit more. If it's a tad sharp for your liking add a small amount of sweetner.
10. To serve add slices of fresh lemon on top of the schnitzel and give them a sqeeze. Traditionally it would be served with a German egg noodle called spätzle but I used tagliatelli pasta. I also added a gravy made with a knorr gravy pot at 2 1/2 syns for the whole batch.