Apples are in season. I would know, I picked them in Pittsburgh. From a tree and everything. Then ate them. And they were delicious. I even posed while picking them. So natural.
Problem is, with apples, all I ever want to do is make apple pie. Which I did in Pittsburgh. PS it was great. When I finish my latest project, I’ll definitely show you what it looks like. You may want to put your mouth on it. Like someone from Pawnee drinking from the water fountain. If you don’t understand that reference, stop reading this and watch Parks & Rec. Favorite episode of all time. But until then, you’ll have to just watch me pick apples. Back to the point though, apples can do so much more than just apple pie. You can bake meat in them! Thrilling, I know. Sweet and savory are just the best.
Speaking of the best, I’m obsessed with The Mindy Project. Mostly because Mindy’s outfits are the best. Ever. Who else can sport plaid and polkadots together? Only her. Each season of her show keeps getting better and better. I need her wardrobe. At least I read her book. That has nothing to do with her outfits but man is that book hilarious.
WTFITSALREADYOCTOBER?? I would have had no idea except I got an email this morning saying I need to pay rent. What a terrible reminder it’s the beginning of the next month. I just have so much to get done in the month of October, it’s going by too fast already!!!! It’s stressing me out. I know how to deal with my stress…gluten free donuts. I’m going to buy one today. Yes, I should be working. But I just know a donut will make me more productive. It’s science. Another reminder it’s October, I just got a $75 ticket for not changing the registration sticker on my license plate. Thanks for the subtle reminder parking police. PS you’re the worst.
Double Pork & Sage Stuffed Baked Apples
- Yield: 4-5 1x
Ingredients
- 4 slices of bacon
- 5 apples (I used honey crisp), halved and hollowed out using a melon baller
- 1 tablespoon ghee
- 2 garlic cloves, minced
- 1/2 yellow onion, chopped
- 1 pound ground pork
- 2 stalks of celery, chopped
- 2 teaspoons fine sea salt
- 1 teaspoon garlic powder
- 1/2 teaspoon paprika
- 1/4 teaspoon cayenne
- pinch of black pepper
- 2 teaspoons red wine vinegar
- 2 tablespoons minced fresh sage
- extra ghee for topping apples
Instructions
- Preheat oven to 350 degrees F.
- Place bacon on a baking sheet and bake bacon in oven for 15 minutes or until crispy then chop into small pieces.
- While bacon is cooking, cut apples in half then use a melon baller to hollow out each apple then set aside.
- Place a large saute pan over medium heat. Add ghee and minced garlic.
- Once garlic becomes fragrant, add onion and ground pork.
- Brown pork and break into small pieces, then add celery, salt, garlic powder, paprika, cayenne, black pepper, red wine vinegar, sage and chopped bacon. Mix well until combined.
- Scoop mixture into each apple half. Top each apple with about 1 teaspoon of ghee on top of the mixture.
- Place in a baking dish and bake for 40-45 minutes until apples are tender.
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You May Also Like:
Honey Ginger Apple Shredded Pork
Rosemary Roasted Apples and Sweet Potatoes
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You nailed it. That Parks & Rec episode was the most epic of all time.
These look inspirational – can’t wait to try. Thanks, diva!
This looks amazing!! I’m all about apple recipes right now, I went apple picking last week too and have been eating/cooking and baking with apples out the wazoo. Love the stuffed apple idea!!
This recipie is absolutely mouth wateringly amazing. I just made it and can’t stop eating it! I added a little bit of the cored out apple into it and I like the flavor! I’m gonna use the left over apple to make cinnamon apples for dessert!
Thank you so much for this awesome recipie, I WILL be making this again in the near future!! Five stars!
Sorry if I mosunderstood this- should the pork be cooked fully before putting it into the apples and baked? Only asking because typically when I bake ground meat in something (tomatoes or peppers usually) I dont cook it at all ahead of time. Just wondering what, if any, difference it makes!
you shouldn’t really see much pink in the meat when stuffing the apples
These were wonderful! I didn’t feel like going to the store so I left out the celery, cayenne and substituted pork italian sausage for the ground pork and apple cider vinegar for the red wine vinegar.
Since I was making it while my girlfriends were over, and wine was involved, I also didn’t follow the directions very well, cooking the pork ahead of time and forgetting to add in the fresh sage. Not to worry, just topped my version of the filling with sage.
We used the scraped out inside of the apple to make a fall compote. Served with a roasted beet, gorgonzola and walnut salad and white beans mixed with a little of the left over pork filling and another glass of red wine. Wonderful, satisfying fall meal where you can totally mix up the recipe and still have something that tastes fantastic! My kind of dish.
This just happened to me, too! Not sure how it is in Colorado, but in Texas, if you get your registration updated and provide proof that you got your registration updated, it’s only $20. And it goes away. Just call the number on the ticket and ask about it.
It’s so cold today in Colorado Springs. I think this apple recipe will make a great warm touch!
I made this for dinner tonight. Delish! I had thyme and rosemary on hand, so I used those herbs instead of sage. Fortunately, the organic honeycrisp apples were unusually large, so they worked perfectly for this recipe. I don’t have a melon baller so I used a paring knife and spoon to carve out the apple. It was hilariously difficult, but well worth it. Two things I would do differently (per my own personal taste): less salt and shorter cook time. My apple was practically apple sauce by the time it came out of the oven. I’d prefer it were more “Al dente.”. Apparently my cheapo oven puts out some heat! I’m looking forward to eating the leftover pork mix over a baked sweet potato for dinner tomorrow. 🙂
I’ve been doing so many seasonal savory/sweet thangs lately soooo this is exactly the recipe I needed. Pork + fruit = amazing.
Just had the apples tonight. They were great!
Good use of fall produce. Kids really liked them. Not sure if it was the baked apple or bacon. Thanks!