If you have never tried a stuffed pork chop, it's time to get out the grill and call the neighbors! Imagine a thick, juicy chop filled with delicious sautéed stuffing made from crumbled cornbread, tasty sausage, shallots, apples, and cranberries.
Stuffed Pork Chops
Directions
- Preheat oven to 375 degrees.
- Crumble and measure out 2 cups of the pre-cooked cornbread.
- Sauté finely chopped shallots in olive oil over med-high heat until they start to turn golden.
- Add Swaggerty's Farm premium sausage, breaking up with a spoon into small pieces as it cooks.
- When sausage is almost browned add thyme and mix well. Remove from heat and let cool for a few minutes. Scrape mixture into mixing bowl. Set skillet with drippings aside to be used later.
- To bowl add the 2 cups crumbled cornbread, diced apple, cranberries, and ¼ cup water. Mix together well. Use your fingers if necessary to incorporate everything together to make a stuffing.
- Cover a cutting board with plastic wrap. Using a sharp knife cut a pocket to hold stuffing in each pork chop.
- Place each pork chop on a baking sheet and evenly divide the stuffing between each chop. Press mixture gently into the pocket of each filling each.
- Salt and pepper each stuffed chop and bake for about 30 minutes or until meat is cooked throughout. Stuffing will get a crispy crust during the baking process, but will be very moist inside.
- Bonus Recipe: When chops are almost ready, place skillet that you cooked sausage in back on medium heat and allow to get hot. When the residue which will be the olive oil, sausage juices, shallot, and thyme pieces gets hot, add the cut-up new potatoes and cook until potatoes are heated and begin to brown. This is a great way to add a side dish using a skillet you already have seasoned!
Notes
This same stuffing can be used to stuff boneless, skinless chicken breasts or bell peppers as well.
Freeze the unused portion of the cornbread to use later in other recipes.
We got the idea for the potatoes when we looked at the skillet with the "drippings" from cooking the sausage with all those great pieces of shallot and thyme in the oil and sausage juices. One pan…two jobs!
It is a good idea when working with meat or poultry on a cutting board to first cover the board with a sheet of plastic wrap. This will protect the board and make it easier to clean well. Of course if you are chopping or cutting up meat this will not work.
If you don't already then think about grown some fresh herbs such as thyme and oregano and sage somewhere in your yard. All of these are perennial herbs and can be very pretty in borders among your other landscaping. Or create some fresh herb pots on a patio or deck. There is nothing like adding fresh green herbs as a garnish to any dish.
Try this recipe using Swaggerty's 1930 Family Recipe "Hot" Sausage if your family likes their dishes a bit more spicy.
To Serve
Serve chops with a side of the potatoes and your favorite green salad.
4
servings
20 min
prep time
20 - 30 min
cook time
ingredients
4 thick boneless skinless pork chops
1 box Jiffy®-type cornbread mix pre-cooked according to pkg directions cooled to room temp
1 to 2 TBSP olive oil
½ lb of your favorite Swaggerty's Farm roll sausage
2 Shallots (or green onions) chopped finely
1 generous TBSP dried thyme (or ½ fresh leaves chopped)
1 small tart apple diced
1 generous TBSP dried cranberries
Par-boiled new potatoes cut in half or into quarters
Salt and black pepper
Level of complexity:
Easy to intermediate
Number of ingredients:
11
Pairs well with:
Pan-roasted new potatoes, simple green salad
Special Kitchen Tools:
N/A
