Tasty Morsels 

Ingredients in full post
Preheat oven to 400 degrees.

Toast bread in 1 tbsp. butter in an oven-proof skillet over medium high heat until crisp and then transfer to a bowl. Return pan to heat.

Saute onion, celery and apples in 1 tbsp. butter over medium heat until soft. Stir in thyme. Add vegetables to bread cubes. Toss mixture with broth, vinegar and seasonings until liquid is absorbed. Wipe out the skillet.

Prepare chops. Fill pockets with bread mixture. They will be full, but you’ll probably have some left-over stuffing. Saute chops in oil over medium-high heat until brown on one side, about 3 minutes. Carefully turn the chops over and add any extra stuffing to the pan at this point. Transfer pan to the oven. Roast about 8 minutes, then remove the chops and stuffing from the pan and set aside. Tent with foil to keep warm.

Saute shallots for the sauce in 1 tbsp. of butter in same skillet over medium heat. Add flour and cook for 1 minute. Deglaze the pan with cider, wine and vinegar. Simmer until sauce is slightly thickened, about 2-3 minutes. Finish sauce with thyme, salt and pepper.

Adapted from: A Sweet Pea Chef

Yummmmmm. I love apples and pork together. This was pretty fun to make despite the messiness.

For the stuffing
2 tbsp. unsalted butter, separated
1 cup rye bread, diced small (about 2 slices)
1/4 cup onion, diced
1/4 cup celery, diced
1/4 cup dried apples, diced
1 tsp. minced fresh thyme leaves
1/4 cup chicken broth
1 tbsp. apple cider vinegar
kosher salt, to taste
freshly ground black pepper, to taste

For the chops
2 boneless center-cut pork chops (about 5 oz each)
1 tbsp. olive oil
kosher salt, to taste
freshly ground black pepper, to taste

For the sauce
1 tbsp. unsalted butter
2 tbsp. shallots, minced
1 tsp. all-purpose flour
1/4 cup apple cider or apple juice
1/4 cup dry white wine
1 tsp. apple cider vinegar
chopped fresh thyme leaves
kosher salt, to taste
freshly ground black pepper, to taste

For some reason I couldn’t seem to find dried apples anywhere I went. Fresh apples were just as good but I feel like the dried apples would have given the stuffing a nice, extra texture to savor. I think I wouldn’t mind using a more sour apple next time to give it extra flavor. But all in all this is a really tasty dish.

Though I did have some difficulties cutting pockets into the pork. One of my pieces was long and medium thickness, while the other was fat and small. The fat one was considerably easier to cut… though I’m sure it’s because my sharp knife isn’t really all that sharp. As I was cutting, a memory of my dad filleting freshly caught perch surfaced, and I thought that a fillet knife would probably work pretty well here.

I probably should have bought cooking string for the long pork chop, it would have been easier to roll the stuffing.

Other than that, I ended up leaving the stuffed chops in the oven for an extra two minutes (for clear running juices).

Enjoy!