Cheese & Vegetable Stuffed Pork Chops

Paul made dinner last night but I was so hungry when I got home I forgot to take a picture of it. I'm still going to blog about it because yesterday I promised my co-worker an update.

I poked my head in the freezer this morning and pulled out some thick pork chops. We had tried stuffing pork chops with an apple stuffing with mediocre results, so I was on the hunt to find something new and delicious looking. I found a recipe here and emailed it to Paul. This is a pretty standard MO around our house when Paul is on days off. Paul served the pork chops with grilled asparagus and broccoli. We toss the vegetables in olive oil and salt and then grill on the barbeque until they are tender and bit charred. Delicious.

I'm not sure if Paul followed the recipe or not, so I'm just guessing what modifications he made to his version of it. I do know he used a yellow pepper instead of a green pepper.

The pork chops came out juicy and tender, but all the cheese leaked out of the chops so the stuffing was mostly just vegetables. I think I'm going to try and aquire some short metal skewers for sealing up the stuffing pocket for the next time we attempt to stuff meat.

This weekend I'm going to Mt. Washington, but stay tuned for an interesting recipe I'll be posting about as soon as I get back! I'm not giving any hints because MAYBE this is all about a surprise for a certain somebody.

Cheese & Vegetable Stuffed Pork Chops

Ingredients
1 tbsp butter
1/2 medium celery stalk, chopped
1/2 medium onion, chopped
1 small carrot, shredded
1/2 small yellow pepper, chopped
1/2 cup shredded strong cheddar
1 tsp ground thyme
pinch of salt
several twists of the pepper grinder
2 thick pork chops
1 tbsp extra virgin olive oil
more salt and pepper

Directions
1. Heat oven to 350 F

2. Melt butter and sautee celery, onion, carrot and pepper until soft. Remove from heat. Stir in cheese and thyme, pinch of salt and several twists of pepper grinder.

3. Cut a deep pocket into the pork chops and stuff with the cheese and vegetable mixture. Use metal skewer or toothpicks to close up the pocket.

4. Heat oil in pan and sear pork chops, about 3 minutes per side. Sprinkle with more salt and pepper.

5. Place in baking dish and cook in pre-heated oven for about 30 minutes, uncovered.

6. Enjoy!