pecan dredged pork chops

this one is my husband's fault. well, fault so to speak. a few weeks ago he said, "you know i get tired of sweet pecans. everyone thinks of pecan pie immediately when you mention pecans, but i'd like to see them in a savory application, you know?" and that got the wheels spinning. so finally last night we had some pork chops, nice little sirloin chops about 1/2 an inch thick which, cut in two, were the perfect size to share with the kids. they're a bit on the lean side, so i usually dredge or bread them somehow and i had this idea, this peanut butter fried chicken, pecan crusted trout idea rolling around in the back of my mind. what i had in the cupboard was fresh pecans. now, this makes a difference because they are moist, roasted pecans have and entirely different texture, also they have no salt or oil on them. so in the food processor i put about 2/3 cup pecan halves, 1/2 cup home made bread crumbs (stale french bread a clove of garlic a pinch of salt), one teaspoon herbs d'provance, 1/2 teaspoon tarragon, a pinch of salt, and a bit of pepper, and a touch of flour, and ground it down to meal. i heated olive oil and a table spoon of butter in a large frying pan and then pressed the chops in the dredge, the nuts made it sort of, i dunno, paste like. any way i patted, pressed, patted then gently placed in the skillet over a medium high heat, about 4 or 5 minutes on each side, until they were browned nicely, then set aside on a serving platter covered with foil. for sauce i chopped 1/2 a fairly runty onion and about 2/3 cup of mushrooms and sauteed them in the juices from the chops, once they were soft i added about 1/2 cup of sweet vermouth and reduced until it was gravy consistency and poured over the chops. here's what we noticed: the breading kept it's crunch, and it's shape. it did absorb a bit of the sauce, but it still had a really nice texture. the chops stayed moist (the point of a dredge) and tender, and had nice flavor. i didn't season them other than what was in the breading mix. i'm thinking i'll try the dredge on chicken next, and see how it goes, but honestly it was so good on the chops that i might waffle on that and just stick to the sirloin chops.