Stuffed Pork Chops

One week of school under our belt and we're jonesing for some tasty weekend eats. Perusing the meat isle always gives me little chills up my spine. Not just from the nippy refrigeration temp, but because of the huge potential for delicious dishes. Thinking of my waistband and my wallet, I chose these beautiful, thick center cut pork chops. Being at least 1 inch thick, my first though was to grill these boneless babies, but we instead traveled into the unknown, the land of stuffed meats.



With the help of Food Network's "Cleavage Queen" ,aka Giada De Laurentiis, we found our recipe. And what goes better with meat? Other than more meat, the answer is POTATOES! Steak cut, oven fries, to be exact.


Leaving the skins on, we cut the potatoes in wedges and drizzled with white vinegar and balsamic vinegar & let them soak for a few minutes.

Then they're tossed in olive oil, to prepare them for the sheet pan. After they're evenly spaced, season with salt, pepper, thyme, and basil. At 450 bake for 15 minutes, take out, flip wedges, season other side, continue baking for 15 more minutes.

Voila!

On to the stuffing. As the recipe calls for, we threw in garlic, herbs, spinach, and sun dried tomates into a skillet and heated for a few minutes. Next, transfer mixture into a bowl with your goat cheese and cream cheese.




Once throughly mixed, set aside and grab your sharpest knife. Cut pocket-like slits on the thickest part of the chop. This was my first time doing this and it was easier than I thought.





Try to get the stuffing deep in the meat to maximize the meat to stuffing ratio. And attempt to close the pork around the stuffing. This was hard for us, but we made it work. Salt and pepper the pork before cooking for 8-10 minutes per side over med-high heat.



First batch I under cooked a little, purposely, so they would be our "left over chops." Nuke these bad boys in the micro for a very filling lunch the day after; they come out fully cooked, and as moist as ever.


This second batch came out better. There was a slight crunch on the outside that held in the juices beautifully. They then sat under a foil tent and waited patiently as the sauce was made.


The sauce was created by deglazing the pan with chicken stock, lemon juice and zest, and dijon mustard. Scrap up the brown bits, reduce, then enjoy the fruits of your labor.


This incredible shot was gobbled up by yours truly in about 8 seconds. Remembering how it tasted, so I can write this, is honestly making my mouth water.

The stuffing was goat cheese nirvana because we added an extra ounce, it was an amazing match up with the sundried tomatoes. Granted I love goat cheese. Also, I'd recommend adding a few more sun-dried tomatoes than the recipe calls for. Ours was a little weak in that department. The quality of meat surprised me, but this depends on your local meat market.

Tangy spinach , moist pork, crunchy fries...Yup, a well spent Friday night.