Pork steak cacciatore with mozzarella and rice.

[pinto]

This came out pretty good. Sauce was surprisingly light and the pork stood on its own...go figure. And, a bonus. Enough left over for a sub tomorrow.

Prep:

Season both sides of a 1" thick pork steak with thyme, black pepper and salt. Set aside.

Slice into 1" chunks - 1 bell pepper, 1/2 sweet onion, good handful of asparagus. Set aside.

Cut 1 cup large fresh mushrooms into quarters. Set aside.

Preheat oven to 250.

Cook:

In an oven proof skillet (I use cast iron), heat 2 Tbs. olive oil to medium/high heat. Sear the pork on both sides. Add the peppers, onions and asparagus around the pork when you turn it.

When pork is seared and veggies soft / browning add 2 Tbs. red wine (I used a Zin that touted some fruit "tones") and the mushrooms. Bring back up to heat so wine starts to burn off and mushrooms soften a bit.

Smother all with a jar of tomato sauce (I used one that had a lot of vegetable ingredients, no meat. The pork adds enough in the whole simmer.) Add some sage and rosemary.

Turn heat to real low and simmer, open, for 20 minutes.

Cover and slide into the preheated oven for 20 minutes.

Cook the rice (I made a plain white rice). Set aside.

Remove cacciatore skillet from oven when done. Set pork on a plate to "set" a bit. Turn the veggie / sauce mixture.

Slice mozzarella to 1/4" or so.

Slice pork to 1/4' or so.

Plate:

Fan out pork and mozzarella slices, alternating meat/cheese, meat/cheese.

Scoop rice on the side. Top with cacciatore veggies and sauce.

:hi: