Stuffed Pork Chops With Bacon, Apple and Fontina (ginger, pepper, baking)

[ivanabacowboy]

I made this for dinner tonite. WOW! Very good. I used 2 boneless thick pork chops and pretty much halved everything else in the recipe to feed me and my son. Go for applewood smoked bacon. YUM! It isnt all that difficult beyond dicing stuff, but looks pretty fancy-would be a nice company dish. I did not use the olive oil-I browned the chops in the yumminess left from the drippings and apple mixture. ;-) My son doesnt like bread type stuffings, so this was a winner for him. And all good stuff-no chemicals or cream-of-anything to be seen.

Fontina is a mild semi-soft cheese in its younger version. If you can't find it where you live, you could probably substitute Swiss or Monterey Jack which would work equally as well with these flavors. I used fontal-a softer less aged version of fontina.

Stuffed Pork Chops with Bacon, Apple and Fontina
6 bacon slices
2 Granny Smith apples, peeled and diced
2 shallots, finely chopped
1 tablespoon chopped fresh ginger
1 tablespoon chopped fresh sage
1 cup cubed fontina cheese
6 (1-1/2 inch thick) center-cut pork loin chops
1-1/8 teaspoons salt
1-1/4 teaspoons pepper
2 tablespoons olive oil

Cook bacon until crisp; drain on paper towels and crumble, reserving drippings. Saute apples, shallots and ginger in drippings 5 minutes or until tender. Remove from heat; stir in sage. Stir together apple mixture, bacon and cheese. Cut a slit through thickest portion of each pork chop, cutting to, but not through, other side to form a pocket. Sprinkle both sides and pocket of each pork chop with salt and pepper. Spoon apple mixture into pockets; secure with toothpicks. Cook chops, in 2 batches, in olive oil in a large skillet over medium-high heat 1-2 minutes on each side or until golden. Place in a lightly greased baking dish. Bake at 425' for 25-30 minutes or until done. Serves 6.

[Littleme]

Sounds like a great recipe. Thanks for sharing it.

[gold*dust1]

Originally Posted by ivanabacowboy

I made this for dinner tonite. WOW! Very good. I used 2 boneless thick pork chops and pretty much halved everything else in the recipe to feed me and my son. Go for applewood smoked bacon. YUM! It isnt all that difficult beyond dicing stuff, but looks pretty fancy-would be a nice company dish. I did not use the olive oil-I browned the chops in the yumminess left from the drippings and apple mixture. ;-) My son doesnt like bread type stuffings, so this was a winner for him. And all good stuff-no chemicals or cream-of-anything to be seen.

Fontina is a mild semi-soft cheese in its younger version. If you can't find it where you live, you could probably substitute Swiss or Monterey Jack which would work equally as well with these flavors. I used fontal-a softer less aged version of fontina.

Stuffed Pork Chops with Bacon, Apple and Fontina
6 bacon slices
2 Granny Smith apples, peeled and diced
2 shallots, finely chopped
1 tablespoon chopped fresh ginger
1 tablespoon chopped fresh sage
1 cup cubed fontina cheese
6 (1-1/2 inch thick) center-cut pork loin chops
1-1/8 teaspoons salt
1-1/4 teaspoons pepper
2 tablespoons olive oil

Cook bacon until crisp; drain on paper towels and crumble, reserving drippings. Saute apples, shallots and ginger in drippings 5 minutes or until tender. Remove from heat; stir in sage. Stir together apple mixture, bacon and cheese. Cut a slit through thickest portion of each pork chop, cutting to, but not through, other side to form a pocket. Sprinkle both sides and pocket of each pork chop with salt and pepper. Spoon apple mixture into pockets; secure with toothpicks. Cook chops, in 2 batches, in olive oil in a large skillet over medium-high heat 1-2 minutes on each side or until golden. Place in a lightly greased baking dish. Bake at 425' for 25-30 minutes or until done. Serves 6.

That does sound really good. I love granny smith apples in salads. I plan to try this. Thx.