Goat Cheese Stuffed Pork Loin with Balsamic-Cherry Sauce

This evenings dinner was destined for disaster. That tends to happen whenever Husband arrives home from work nearly an hour early and apparently so famished he can barely stand (or at least that's how he put it). So, here I am leisurely pitting cherries for the Balsamic sauce to the rhythmic screaming of Disturbed, and now I've got to figure out how to get dinner on the table in a half hour. Yeah right. Anyways...

I pilfered this recipe from the Food Network, I'm not sure which show. It was the first thing to pop up when I googled "Goat Cheese/ Pork Loin"...sometimes the recipe lottery works out well, and this was one of those times. I adapted it from a tenderloin to 4 loins I butterflied and stuffed. I really enjoyed the salty sweet play between the herbed goat cheese and the cherry sauce. This would've been a perfect meal had I realized at the beginning that my new rice cooker takes twice as long to cook brown rice than I thought. It was a rice-less dinner.

By the way, I would highly recommend tying the pork with kitchen string or skewering them closed, or really anything you can think of trying for getting these babies to keep their goat cheesy goodness inside. It sure likes to leak out...

Goat Cheese Stuffed Pork Loin with a Balsamic-Cherry Sauce

4 Pork Loin, thick
4 oz. Chevre
Zest of 1 Lemon
6 Basil leaves, chopped
1 tablespoon Olive Oil
sea salt and cracked pepper to taste

1/2 cup Red Wine
1/2 cup Fresh Cherries, pitted and chopped
1 tablespoon Balsamic Vinegar

1. Preheat oven to 400 degrees F.

2. Mix goat cheese, lemon zest, chopped basil, olive oil, and salt and pepper until thoroughly combined.

3. Butterfly pork loin and spread a quarter of goat cheese mixture in each loin.

4. In a large, oven-proof skillet over medium-high heat drizzle olive oil. Sear each side of loins until a nice golden brown crust forms.

5. Switch skillet to oven and cook for 10-12 minutes, until cooked through.

6. Remove skillet from oven, remove pork loins to plate, cover in foil and let rest for 15 minutes.

7. In now empty skillet mix red wine, balsamic vinegar, and cherries. Allow to come to a boil and then reduce to a simmer. Allow to simmer until reduced by 1/3, approximately the 15 minutes needed to rest the pork.

8. Drizzle and serve.

P.S. Always remember to save a little for yourself...