pork chops stuffed with yams & sausage
1 yam, peeled and cubed
3 tablespoons unsalted butter
2 tablespoons diced onion
¼ pound bulk pork breakfast sausage
Dash ground thyme
Salt and pepper
Dash Cayenne
1 tablespoon minced parsley
4 loin pork chops, 1 inch thick, with pockets for stuffing
3 tablespoons cooking oil
3 tablespoons Madeira or dry sherry
½ cup chicken stock
1 teaspoon Dijon mustard
flour to coat chops
- Bake the yam until tender (preferred); alternatively, bring 2 cups water to boil and add cubed yam. Boil 3 minutes until barely tender. Mash.
- Melt 1 tablespoon of the butter in a skillet. Add onion, crumble sausage, and sauté 8 – 10 minutes, stirring constantly, sausage is lightly browned.
- Transfer the onion and sausage mixture to a bowl. Add ½ teaspoon salt, ¼ teaspoon pepper, Cayenne, and parsley.
- Preheat oven to 325°.
- Heat oil in the skillet, flour and then brown chops about 4 minutes per side. Transfer them to large plate and sprinkle lightly with salt and pepper.
- Stuff pockets of pork chops until they are moderately full and close them with crisscrossed toothpicks. (If the chops are too thin to stuff, I place the mixture on top after step 7.)
- Pour off oil in skillet. Add 2 tablespoons of butter. Return chops to skillet and pout 1 tablespoon of Madeira or dry sherry over them. Cover and cook until meat is sizzling.
- Then set covered skillet in lower third of oven and cook 25 to 30 minutes.
- Remove skillet from oven. Arrange pork chops on platter and cover loosely with foil.
- Skim as much fat as possible from pan juices and discard fat. Return skillet to stove top, add stock, 2 tablespoons Madeira or dry sherry, and mustard, and boil rapidly over high heat, scraping bottom of skillet to incorporate all the browned bits into the sauce. Boil 2 to 3 minutes, or until sauce has reduced to about ½ cup.
- Spoon over chops and serve immediately.