Italian style stuffed Pork Chops

We love stuffed pork chops. There's just something delightful about cutting into a piece of meat & discovering a surprise tasty filling stuffed inside. And when that filling is creamy cheese with tart sun dried tomatoes and zesty garlic, that just makes things even tastier.

This recipe was created for a few reasons:
1. I had some awesome thick cut pork chops that were just begging to be stuffed!
2. I've done a few stuffed chop recipes before & they've been fruit & nut stuffings, delicious but been there, done that
3. I was making polenta as my side dish so I wanted an Italian flair to the chops

So the Witch put her Witchcraft hat on & went to work. Cream cheese is always a good start as far as I'm concerned so it made the cut. Sun dried tomatoes, another natural choice, in they go. I have a bag of frozen spinach in the freezer but only wanted a touch of it, too much spinach and all you can taste is SPINACH - so a few nuggets of the green stuff thawed out was perfect! Garlic and herbs only made sense given the Italian direction we were heading, and a touch of Asiago gave the sharpness I was looking for.

Stuffing the chops is an easy process, simply take a sharp thin knife and create a pocket in the chop. Using your finger open up the pocket more, leaving the sides intact to hold the filling. All that's left then is to stuff the chop then cook it and before you know it, a delicious and impressive dinner is done. Enjoy!

Italian style stuffed pork chops
makes 3 chops
3 thick cut boneless pork loin chops
4 oz cream cheese
2 garlic cloves, minced
handful of frozen spinach, thawed and squeezed
1/4 c julienne cut sun dried tomatoes
2 T fresh grated Asiago or Parmesan cheese
3/4 t dried Italian herbs
kosher salt & pepper
drizzle of oil

preheat oven to 300F
In a small bowl mix the cream cheese, Asiago, sun dried tomatoes, spinach, garlic, herbs with a pinch of salt & pepper. Divide this cheese mixture into thirds.

Create a pocket in the pork chops and stuff one portion of the cheese mixture in it. Sprinkle stuffed chops with salt & pepper.

Heat an oven safe skillet over medium high heat. Add the oil, once pan is hot add the chops. Sear chops on 1 side, once they're nicely browned flip and put pan in the oven, cook about 5-10 minutes or until the internal temperature reaches 160F. Remove from oven and hot pan, allow to rest 5 minutes before serving.



Nutrition Facts provided by SparkPeople recipe calculator
Amount Per Serving
Calories 361.0
Total Fat 26.0 g
Saturated Fat 13.2 g
Polyunsaturated Fat 1.7 g
Monounsaturated Fat 8.7 g
Cholesterol 104.1 mg
Sodium 678.6 mg
Potassium 701.6 mg
Total Carbohydrate 5.7 g
Dietary Fiber 0.9 g
Sugars 2.7 g
Protein 26.2 g

Chicken with Chevre, sun dried tomatoes and lemon

Goat cheese makes everything it touches better. Take my infamous chicken with herbs in wine sauce. We love that dish and have it at least once a week. Its quick & easy to prepare. It however can get boring after a while. Thats where the goat cheese comes in.

The chevre has a creamy texture, very similar to cream cheese, but with an added tang that only goat cheese can provide. Don't be afraid of goat cheese, its quite possibly the best cheese ever. There isn't a goat cheese that I've tried and not liked. I can NOT say that about standard cows milk cheese. Added bonus, goat cheese is lower in fat naturally than cows milk, so the cheese is automatically low fat.

Chicken with sundried tomatoes, chevre and lemon
serves 2
2 chicken breasts
kosher salt & pepper
1/4 c white wine
1 t dry Italian herb seasoning
1 clove garlic minced
zest of 1/2 lemon
juice of 1/2 lemon
3 whole or 10 julienned strips sun dried tomatoes
1 oz. chevre (goat) cheese

Click here to get the recipe for the chicken, marinade and preparation.

To the sauce I add the juice of 1/2 a lemon and lemon zest. Add sun dried tomatoes to the sauce, about 5 to 6 julienne strips per chicken breast. Top each breast with a medallion of chevre, the sun dried tomato strips and the lemony wine sauce & dinner is served.



nutritional information provided by SparkPeople recipe calculator
Nutrition Facts
2 Servings
Amount Per Serving
Calories 216.4
Total Fat 6.8 g
Saturated Fat 2.8 g
Polyunsaturated Fat 0.8 g
Monounsaturated Fat 2.7 g
Cholesterol 72.3 mg
Sodium 306.7 mg
Potassium 416.1 mg
Total Carbohydrate 4.3 g
Dietary Fiber 0.4 g
Sugars 1.8 g
Protein 29.4 g

Pizza: Crust and sauce

When looking around the Kitchen Witch headquarters, better know as my kitchen, I discovered a LOT of things that I needed to use up, and quick! Let's take a look at the stellar ingredients I had to work with, shall we?

3/4 of a bag of cherry tomatoes that are just about past their prime. Skins, kinda wrinkly. Great. 1/4 c of Feta cheese in the fridge. A package of Canadian bacon in the freezer. A can of pineapple that's been living in my pantry for far too long. 5, yes 5, smoked sundried tomatoes. Wow. What an odd combination of ingredients, and they all need to be used up TODAY! This is going to take some serious Kitchen Witchcraft to make something edible out of this mess!

I started with the tomatoes. They could be roasted, concentrating their flavor and making peeling easier. What else do I have around here? Garlic, onion, herbs, all pantry staples. Sounds like pizza fixin's if you ask me! Pizza dough, I can make that. Cheese, toppings, check. Its pizza time!

This sauce is one of the better ones I've made. The husband declared it "The best pizza you've made, ever!" Looks like past their prime tomatoes made into a pizza sauce is a hit! This sauce is not saucy like most pizzas, rather its thick and paste like, more of a tomato pesto, which packed an awesome punch of tomato flavor. Crispy crust, generous toppings, yup, it was pizza success! And best of all, I used up a LOT of ingredients that could have otherwise ended up in the trash or compost pile. Brilliant!

Crust
2 1/4 c King Arthur Bread flour
1 1/4 t yeast (1/2 packet)
2 t white sugar
1 1/2 t kosher salt
1-2 T EVOO
1 + 1T c warm water

Proof yeast in small bowl with 1/4 c warm water and 1 t sugar. While yeast proofs mix flour, sugar and salt in the work bowl of your stand mixer. Once yeast is foamy add it to the flour mix along with EVOO and water. Mix with dough hook about 8 min or until you have a smooth tight ball of dough.

Coat dough ball with a drizzle of EVOO, toss around in bowl to coat ball completely and sides of bowl as well. Cover with plastic and set aside in a warm spot to rise. Allow to rise at least 30 min, but can go longer if you have time.

Spread dough out onto a pizza pan. Prick bottom of pizza with tines of a fork, this is called docking. Docking gives the steam a place to escape so the dough doesn't rise and puff there. This will give you less air bubbles on the surface of your pizza and a nice crispy crust.

Sauce
3/4 bag cherry tomatoes, halved
5 smoked sun dried tomatoes
1/2 can diced canned tomatoes, rinsed & drained
2 cloves garlic, smashed (to be removed later)
1 t dry Italian seasoning, divided
1 T onion, fine diced
2-3 T EVOO
S&P
crushed red pepper flakes

Heat oil in a small skillet. I have this super awesome 6 in cast iron skillet that's perfect for this. Add garlic to cold oil, heat on med until garlic is just barely browned on 1st side. Flip garlic, add 3/4 t italian seasoning and 2 dashes pepper flakes & sautee until garlic is golden on 2nd side. Strain off herbs, pepper flakes & garlic, reserve garlic.

Pour hot oil over diced sun dried tomatoes. Add 1/4 t italian seasoning and 1 dash pepper flakes, 2 pinches salt & a few grinds pepper. Stir well & allow to cool while tomatoes roast.

Halve tomatoes & place cut side down on a silpat or parchment paper lined sheet pan (for easy clean up). Roast at 400* for 20 min or until the juices start to brown & the skins are bubbled & browned. Remove skins, run knife thru pulp to puree it essentially.

Drain canned tomatoes. Rinse well with water, this helps remove can flavor. Grab handful (about 1/2 the can), squeeze well to remove most juice, run knife thru as well. Add tomatoes to sundried tomato oil infusion, stir very well. Season w/ S&P as needed.


Toppings (Hawaiian style)
Canadian bacon
1/2 red bell pepper, fine dice
1 T onion, fine dice
1 can pineapple, in own juice, drained well
2 c mozzarella cheese grated
1/4 c Asiago cheese, grated or can use Parmesean
1/4 c Feta cheese


To assemble pizza spread sauce over crust evenly


Top with cheeses and toppings.

Bake a 400* for about 20-30 min or until crust is golden and cheese has melted & started to brown. Please allow to cool for about 5 minutes before you slice & devour this pizza. This rest time allows the cheese to firm up again so your topppings don't just fall off your slice.