Stuffed Pork Chops

It seems that stuffing is becoming a habit in the Stone Hill Farm kitchen. I realized I had three opened bags of different bread crumbs in the freezer so I'm trying to get creative. We are also addicted to the sausage links we buy from the Waverly Farmer's Market at the Brooms Bloom Dairy booth. We like their sage sausage.  Remove the casing and start to brown the sausage. I didn't add any oil or onions but you could for more flavor. I chopped a half a cup of dried apples, half a cup of celery and a third of a cup of dried cranberries. You could also add fresh thyme and sage but we didn't have any. Preheat your oven to 350 degrees.

Sweat the vegetables but don't over cook them. Then cover the meat mixture with corn bread stuffing. Add a little chicken stock just to moisten it. I'm guessing a third of a cup. Add one egg and cook on the stove until the egg is cooked through. I added a tablespoon of apple cider vinegar for a little more kick at the end.

So much about cooking is a guess. Baking, not so. But cooking, you just sort of get the hang of it after a while. Play around in the kitchen. Have fun. Put things together you  think would taste good. When you go to a restaurant and like the flavor of something ask the waiter to find out what spices are in the dish. If you want to learn to cook, start reading cookbooks. So this isn't really a recipe but a memory dish. My sweet Momma makes the best sausage dressing for Thanksgiving and I've played around with her sausage, celery, corn bread concoction to make it my own. She'd hate the cranberry in the mix, but this bit of tang pairs beautifully with the pork chop.

Use bone-in pork chops. Take a short pairing knife and carefully slit the chop, making a pocket for the stuffing.

Make just a tiny opening so the stuffing stays stuffed. Move the knife carefully all the way to the edges without poking out the sides and create a pouch.

Photo credit to E-Boogie. 
Scope small spoonfuls of stuffing into the pocket and repeat until fully stuffed.

Salt and pepper each side.

Sear the meat on each side for three minutes. This locks in the juices so the pork won't get dried out in the oven.

Cook for 15 minutes. I know this doesn't seem like a long time but because the stuffing was hot and the fact that pork overcooks in an instant you just need fifteen minutes. Don't make me have an Overcooking Intervention Post. My dear friend McCall is living legend to these helpful tricks and has learned her lesson beautifully. Rest the meat on the stove for 5-10 minutes.

This was our Tranquil Tuesday meal. Pretty special for a Tuesday night. Look at the size of that thing? That's an 11 3/4" buffet plate!

This is random, but my thanks for today is to this little blog. I can not believe how much joy I've had writing this thing. So many of you have written me on Facebook, called me, Tweeted your support and I am just tickled that any of you read it at all. I am researching things I've loved for years. I am being more creative in the kitchen and we are saving more money on our food expenses than ever. E. and I are spending more time at home and having healthier meals knowing what we are eating. And I'm using my camera as a way to really look at things closer. So thank you Stone Hill Farm blog. You've been 8 months in the dreaming. And finally, thank you to all the "Good Figs" on my sidebar. You are my favorite bloggers who inspired me to start SHF.