Marc
New member
Well, I live alone and I generally cook a large meal for myself two or three times a week. I like to experiment because I have no one to complain if what I cook turns out sucking. I just toss it and make a sandwich.
I have a few things I've sort of made from scratch and others I tweaked from recipes, but rarely to I follow a recipe to the letter. But because I only really improve a recipe after another iteration, I figured if I posted what I cook here, others could try it and maybe help improve it or add ideas.
So the purpose of this thread is to advise or contribute a recipe for others to try and/or improve and to share cooking advice in general.
Last night I made my version of stuffed pork chops. It's a good recipe but still needs some tweaking and maybe even some quantifying as I measure a lot by eye.
-4 thick pork chops, or 4 pre-butterflied pork chops, I buy them pre cut, I see 'em on sale
-1/2 a white onion, chopped
-2 cloves garlic
-roughly 3/4 cup chopped button or portabello mushrooms
-3-4 tlbsp butter, unsalted
-1/4 cup chopped celery
-1/4 cup chopped green onions, for color
-3/4 cup crushed crutons, or bread crumbs, plain or italian would work fine
Melt 2 tablespoons butter in a medium saucepan over med to med-low heat and add the onion and celery. Sweat until onion is clear and celery is tender. Don't saute, if the onions brown, turn down the heat. Add the mushroom, crutons, garlic, and green onions. Continue to add butter as it is cooked off and absorbed. Enough to keep the bottom of the pan coated so the contents don't brown.
Adding a little water would be ok, I think, to moisten the crutons.
Remove and let cool. Prep the pork chops, and fill with stuffing. I find you can add much more than you think. Especially if you have lean chops, they'll stretch pretty easy. If you can't fit all the stuffing in four chops, I save a little and put it on top after the chops have cooked. Fold over the pork chop. I stick a butcher skewer through both layers of chop, over, and then back again to seal them up. I found it works better than butcher twine. If you cut your own chops, butterfly them all the way open, or you can get all the stuffing in. I don't worry if some dribbles out the ends into the pan. Crispy stuffing adds a bit of texture to the dish. Season the outside of the chops with a little salt and pepper.
Heat a frying pan with enough extra v. olive oil to coat the bottom and add the chops. You can sear them over med high heat if you want, but if you use an oven safe pan, they'll stick even with olive oil.
Put under the broiler for five to ten min. If you put them in a hot pan there's no need to flip em.
So if that sounds good to anyone (I like it a lot) try it out. I use the bread crumbs/crutons basically because the starch acts as a binder. You could probably use a protein based binder, like a couple eggs, but you'd have to be careful they don't scramble when cooking the stuffing.
I think the dish would benefit from a bit of sweet flavor, but I'm not sure how to incorporate it. maybe a bit of brown sugar in the stuffing? Maybe a sweet red wine based sauce?
If this stuff interests you, feel free to brain storm.
I have a few things I've sort of made from scratch and others I tweaked from recipes, but rarely to I follow a recipe to the letter. But because I only really improve a recipe after another iteration, I figured if I posted what I cook here, others could try it and maybe help improve it or add ideas.
So the purpose of this thread is to advise or contribute a recipe for others to try and/or improve and to share cooking advice in general.
Last night I made my version of stuffed pork chops. It's a good recipe but still needs some tweaking and maybe even some quantifying as I measure a lot by eye.
-4 thick pork chops, or 4 pre-butterflied pork chops, I buy them pre cut, I see 'em on sale
-1/2 a white onion, chopped
-2 cloves garlic
-roughly 3/4 cup chopped button or portabello mushrooms
-3-4 tlbsp butter, unsalted
-1/4 cup chopped celery
-1/4 cup chopped green onions, for color
-3/4 cup crushed crutons, or bread crumbs, plain or italian would work fine
Melt 2 tablespoons butter in a medium saucepan over med to med-low heat and add the onion and celery. Sweat until onion is clear and celery is tender. Don't saute, if the onions brown, turn down the heat. Add the mushroom, crutons, garlic, and green onions. Continue to add butter as it is cooked off and absorbed. Enough to keep the bottom of the pan coated so the contents don't brown.
Adding a little water would be ok, I think, to moisten the crutons.
Remove and let cool. Prep the pork chops, and fill with stuffing. I find you can add much more than you think. Especially if you have lean chops, they'll stretch pretty easy. If you can't fit all the stuffing in four chops, I save a little and put it on top after the chops have cooked. Fold over the pork chop. I stick a butcher skewer through both layers of chop, over, and then back again to seal them up. I found it works better than butcher twine. If you cut your own chops, butterfly them all the way open, or you can get all the stuffing in. I don't worry if some dribbles out the ends into the pan. Crispy stuffing adds a bit of texture to the dish. Season the outside of the chops with a little salt and pepper.
Heat a frying pan with enough extra v. olive oil to coat the bottom and add the chops. You can sear them over med high heat if you want, but if you use an oven safe pan, they'll stick even with olive oil.
Put under the broiler for five to ten min. If you put them in a hot pan there's no need to flip em.
So if that sounds good to anyone (I like it a lot) try it out. I use the bread crumbs/crutons basically because the starch acts as a binder. You could probably use a protein based binder, like a couple eggs, but you'd have to be careful they don't scramble when cooking the stuffing.
I think the dish would benefit from a bit of sweet flavor, but I'm not sure how to incorporate it. maybe a bit of brown sugar in the stuffing? Maybe a sweet red wine based sauce?
If this stuff interests you, feel free to brain storm.
