September Ingredient Challenge: Raspberry Gorgonzola Stuffed Pork Chops with Zucchini-Rice Boats

As Grill Girl, I’m lucky to meet so many like-minded BBQ and Grilling enthusiasts. The Monthly “Ingredient Challenge” is the brainchild of fellow BBQ friend and blogger, Larry Gaian of the BBQ Grail, and the concept is very much like the “chopped” of the grilling world. So here’s the deal: each month 4 ingredients are picked and our collection of BBQ bloggers, including The BBQ Grail, Nibble Me This, No Excuses BBQ, Into the Flames and myself, come up with creative recipe ideas using all 4 ingredients. The only rule is that the protein must be cooked on the grill. Each month a fruit, veggie, starch and protein ingredient are picked. The September ingredient challenge tasked us to make a dish with the following ingredients:

Pork Chops
Zucchini
Raspberries
Rice

Here’s what I came up with!

Raspberry-Gorgonzola Stuffed Pork Chops with Zucchini Rice Boats

Ingredients:

Pork Chops (2)
Zucchini- 4 long pieces sliced lengthwise with much of the inside scraped out to make room for stufing
Wild Rice (or you can substitute your favorite kind)
Raspberries, about 1/2 cup or a little more
Gorgonzola, about 4 oz.
Fresh Thyme– about 2-3 tablespoons (large sprigs)
olive oil, use according to directions below
pistachios- remove shells- 1/3 cup
sea salt, pepper to taste

Directions:

Cook your rice according to directions. (I used the quick wild grain rice and let it cook for about 20 minutes). Get the rice started before you do anything else so it will be ready near the end of the process to put in your “boats”.

Preheat your grill for medium direct heat (about 350 degrees). Next, make your “stuffing” – mix the gorgonzola, about 1-2 teaspoons of olive oil, salt, pepper, thyme, raspberries and pistachios. Drizzle your pork chops in olive oil and add salt and pepper for seasoning. Now, using a sharp knife, cut a “pocket” into your pork chops big enough to fit at least 2 heaping tablespoons full of the stuffing. Add the stuffing to the pork chops and close the pockets back up.

Take your zucchini, slice lengthwise, and scoop out the fleshy insides. When the rice is ready (this may be after you have put the pork chops on), add 1-2 spoon-fulls of stuffing into the insides of the zucchini, then finish with as much rice as can fit.

Grill the pork chops for about 6-8 minutes per side (this will vary according to your size of pork chops) or until a thermometer reaches an internal temp of 160 degrees. After you have flipped the pork chops once, add the zucchini boats to cook for the remainder of the grill time. Cook until squash becomes grilled but not overcooked (about 8 minutes max).

Pull everything off the grill and pair with your favorite wine! The raspberries mixed with the gorgonzola, pistachios, and thyme complement each other and add complexity to the pork chops and zucchini boats.

A little more about the “4 ingredient challenge bloggers” and links to their “September Ingredient Challenge” recipes!

The BBQ Grail website was created in 2007, initially to document the author?s quest to find the perfect backyard BBQ experience. Since that time The BBQ Grail has become one of the more popular BBQ blogs on the internet, including a listing on Alltop.com as one of the top BBQ blogs.

Nibble Me This is Chris Grove’s blog about my misadventures in live fire cooking.  ”I have no culinary training….I’m just entertaining myself with fire and food”.

The No Excuses BBQ website was started in January of 2009 as a way to record the author’s goal of barbecuing at least once a week throughout the year and showing the results to the world.  Somewhere along the way things got out of control; two years later the streak is intact and shows no sign of stopping anytime soon.  In the process, No Excuses BBQ has become a fairly popular BBQ location on the web and is listed as one of the top BBQ blogs on Alltop.com.

Robert Bergstrom created Into The Flames in the summer of 2010 as a way to share his passion for cooking, eating, and exploring food.

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