Stuffed Citrus Pork Chop

It’s grill season again.  We love grill season in our home.  Lately we’ve been looking for new ways to grill and this was a recipe we came up with.  This variation on Bobby Flay’s Butterflied Cuban Style Pork Chops was delicious.  We beefed up the lime and orange juices, added a little more cumin and substituted dried oregano for the fresh (as it’s what we had).   We will definitely be making this again.

Stuffed Citrus Pork Chop
Serves 8  

Ingredients: 

• 2 1/2 c orange juice
• 1 1/2 c lime juice
• 3 heaping tbsp oregano
• 1 tbsp cumin
• 1/2 c canola oil
• 8 cloves of garlic (roughly chopped)
• 8 butterflied pork chops (trimmed)
• 16 slices of reduced fat swiss cheese
• 16 slices of deli ham (preferably nitrate free)
• 16 baby dill pickles cut into 4 slices each.
• Salt and pepper

Instructions:

• Combine the orange juice, lime juice, oregano, cumin, canola oil and garlic in a large bowl.  Whisk until well combined.  Set aside. 
• Pound the pork chops until they are very thin (about 1/2″) and place in the citrus mixture.  Marinate for at least an hour or overnight in the fridge. 
• As you remove pork from the mixture lightly season the outside with salt and pepper. 
• Lay the pork flat and layer one piece of swiss cheese, the ham, the pickles and anther piece of cheese on the bottom side.  
• Fold the top over and place on your tray to take outside.
• Once they’re all assembled grill them on high for roughly five minutes a side (depending on the power of your grill) until they are cooked through. 

Extra Information:

• These are delicious with fresh greens and asparagus.  
• Get a meat tenderizer/pounder if you can.  Ideally you want to have as even a piece as possible and this makes it possible.  The first time we made this I didn’t have one and it was a little difficult (but not impossible).  I found one on sale while shopping last week and it made a world of difference compared to the rolling pin I used before.