Cooking for one and being part of a cooking club has its share of challenges. When the featured recipe involves roasting 3lb worth of meat, cooking is the least of my worries. I suppose I can always invite a few friends over for dinner or deal with the consequences of eating the same dish for 8 meals. For this Chard Stuffed Pork Roast from Dorie Greenspan’s Around My French Table, I decided to take a different route.
What do you get when you scale down a roast? A smaller roast? Keep going and you end up with a pork chop. If it is thick enough, you can stuff it! Adapting a different cooking method to best suit the pork chop is the tricky part. I opted for pan sear then finish in the oven which worked well with such a thick piece of meat. When I saw the beautiful fond on the pan, I couldn’t help myself but to deglaze it with some ruby Port. This was how my Pan Seared Spinach Stuffed Pork Chop with Ruby Port came to be. The best part? This meal for one only has one pan to wash!
I was excited to cook this dish because it calls for raisins. There is much to be excited about the humble raisin! You see, a few days ago I bought these jumbo California sundried red grapes from Caramel Naturel. Check out that gorgeous colour! This photo doesn’t do it justice to convey the size of these gems. Each raisin is about twice the size of dried cranberries and there is a wine-like undertone. Once cooked, they plumped up even more from juice of the pork chop. I can’t wait to make some raisin butter tarts soon!
Pan Seared Spinach Stuffed Pork Chop with Ruby Port
serves 1
inspired by Chard-Stuffed Pork Roast from Around My French Table
Ingredients
- 1 piece of center cut boneless pork loin chop, approximately 2 inch thick
- 1/4 teaspoon ground coriander
- 1/4 teaspoon kosher salt
- 1/4 teaspoon freshly ground black pepper
- olive oil for pan frying
- 1 cup packed baby spinach
- 1 shallot, finely chopped
- 1 clove of garlic, degermed and minced
- salt and black pepper to taste
- 2 tablespoon raisins or other chopped dried fruit
- 1 tablespoon ruby Port
- 2 tablespoon chicken stock
- 1/4 teaspoon Dijon mustard
Method
Pat the pork chop dry and make an incision along the side to create a pocket. Carefully slide the knife to carve out a deep pocket without poking through the other side. - In a small dish, mix together ground coriander, 1/4 teaspoon of kosher salt, and 1/4 teaspoon of black pepper. Set aside.
- Preheat oven to 375F.
- Heat a bit of olive oil in an oven-safe sauté pan over medium high heat. When the oil shimmies, add shallots and garlic. Sauté until soften, about 2 minutes. Add in baby spinach and keep stirring until they wilt. Season with salt and pepper. Tip into a small bowl and stir in dried fruit.
Season the inside of the pork pocket with coriander salt. Stuff the pocket with spinach stuffing and pack them in tight. Do not cross-contaminate the extra stuffing! Season outside of the pork chop with coriander salt and gently press them on to the meat. - Heat the sauté pan over medium high heat with a bit of olive oil. Gently lower the stuffed pork chop to the pan. You want to get a good sear on all sides of the chop except for the side with the opening. To do that, leave the pork undisturbed for about 2 minutes on each side before turning it over. You may need to hold it in place with a pair of tongs. Keep searing until all sides are nicely browned.
Slide the pan and pork chop into the oven and roast for about 10-15 minutes depending on the thickness of the meat. It is done when a meat thermometer measures 140F at the thickest part. - Remove the pork chop onto a plate and loosely tent with foil. Let it rest while you work on the pan sauce.
- Spoon off extra fat in the pan and set the pan over medium high heat. Add in port wine, chicken stock, and mustard. Stir vigorously to dislodge the brown bits on the bottom of the pan. The sauce is done once it thickens just that tiny bit.
- To serve, plate the extra stuffing and gently nestle pork chop on top. Drizzle with pan sauce and serve immediately.
If you want to check out the original recipe, it is available at Chez Pim along with a whole dinner menu with dishes from Around My French Table. Of course, you can also check out other bloggers’ interpretation of this dish at French Fridays with Dorie.
Candy’s Picks
- Tasty Trix: Awww how can a roast looks so beautiful yet tastes so bland? I feel your disappointment. But that tart cherry sauce? I’m going try it!
- Miss Kris Kitchen: Stuffing. It’s all about the stuffing! How do you get more stuffing into a roast?
