Dinner tonight! Pork schnitzel

What’s not to love about schnitzel? Simply pound a pork cutlet nice and thin, bread it and pan-fry until golden. This recipe from Food Editor Russ Parsons can be made in minutes. You can serve your schnitzel alongside a crisp green salad, though you might just choose to round out the meal with Parsons’ recipe for German potato salad. (Go ahead, the potato salad only takes about half an hour, and if you time it right you can do both dishes at once.) You can find the schnitzel recipe here, and the potato salad recipe here.

For more quick-fix dinner ideas, check out our video recipe gallery here. Food Editor Russ Parsons and Test Kitchen manager Noelle Carter show you how to fix a dozen dishes in an hour or less.

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You can find Noelle Carter on Facebook, Google+, Twitter and Pinterest. Email Noelle at noelle.carter@latimes.com.

Pork schnitzel

Total time: 45 minutes

Servings: 6

6 (2- to 3-ounce) pork loin cutlets

Salt

1 cup flour

2 eggs

2 tablespoons milk

4 cups fine, dry bread crumbs

1/4 cup oil

2 tablespoons butter

Lemon

1. Heat the oven to 300 degrees. Trim any fat or sinew from the rim of the cutlets. One at a time, flatten the cutlets: Place the meat between sheets of wax paper or inside a 1-gallon plastic bag; pound the cutlet with a meat pounder or a rolling pin to an even thickness of less than one-fourth inch. Repeat with remaining cutlets. Season lightly on both sides with salt.

2. Start the breading process: Place the flour on a plate, beat the eggs and milk until smooth in a wide bowl, and place the bread crumbs on a plate or in a wide bowl.

3. Dip a cutlet in the flour, lightly coating each side and shaking gently to remove any excess. Repeat with remaining cutlets. Dip a floured cutlet in the egg mixture and use your fingers to wipe away any excess. Place the cutlet in the bread crumbs and scoop more over the top, pressing firmly so the bread crumbs stick to both sides. Repeat with remaining cutlets. Set aside the cutlets on a plate or on a wire rack over a jellyroll pan for at least 15 minutes to allow the coating to set.

4. Heat the oil and butter in a wide skillet over medium-high heat until very hot. Test with a crumb of bread; it will sputter angrily when the oil is hot enough. Cook the cutlets until golden brown on one side, 2 to 3 minutes, then turn gently and brown on the other side, another 3 to 4 minutes. Don’t crowd the pan; you will probably be able to cook only 2 cutlets at a time. As the cutlets are done, put them on a cookie sheet lined with paper towels, season lightly with salt, and place in the oven to keep hot.

5. Serve the cutlets immediately, with a piece of lemon to squeeze over.

Each serving: 403 calories; 22 grams protein; 34 grams carbohydrates; 2 grams fiber; 19 grams fat; 5 grams saturated fat; 121 mg. cholesterol; 318 mg. sodium.