Pesto Marinated Stuffed Pork Chops

Pesto Sauce - thinned out with more olive oil
3-4 thick cut boneless pork chops
6 slices of bread, cubed and dried
2 tbsp butter, divided
1 celery stalk, diced
2 small shallots, diced
5 mushrooms, sliced
1 cup chicken broth
Salt and pepper

Place the pork chops in a large zip-top bag and pour in the thinned out pesto sauce. Mush around so the pork chops are coated. Marinate in the fridge for 4 hours, or overnight. Leave the bread cubes on a sheet pan and allow to dry out overnight.
Preheat the oven to 350 degrees.
In a pan with 1 tbsp butter, saute the celery, shallot and mushrooms until they have become very soft. Season with salt and pepper. Pour the bread cubes in a large bowl and pour the vegetables over the cubes. Pour in the chicken broth and stir to combine and so the bread cubes are moist.
Cut a slit in the side of each pork chop to make a pocket inside. Stuff each pork chop with the stuffing mixture. In another pan, melt the other tbsp of butter and cook the pork chops on both sides until golden brown. Transfer the chops to a glass baking dish and bake in the oven for 15-20 minutes, or until pork chops are cooked through.

*This idea is my twist of something I saw on the Food Network on the show "Good Eats." As you may already know, I am a stuffing freak and I love to use it on days besides Thanksgiving. You could really use any kind of stuffing you like, even the kind from the box. But if you can make your own, why wouldn't you? You could even throw some cooked sausage in there to give it some extra "porkiness." You really don't even have to marinate it with the pesto, but the marinade adds a nice depth of flavor to an otherwise bland pork chop.

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