Braised Pork Steak

This is an entry for the Apartment Therapy: The Kitchen's Braising Week Contest. The recipe that we had planned make was Braised and Roasted Pork Shanks with Prosciutto and Porcini Mushrooms from the January 2007 Bon Appetit, but we discovered that the butcher at Laurel Heights is closed on Sundays. The butcher at Cal-Mart could special order the Pork Shanks, but that wouldn't be much help for dinner tonight. He suggested pork shoulder was a good substitution for the shanks, seeing as how we were planning to braise.

The following recipe is slightly adapted from the recipe in the magazine. We have kept the amount of vegetables the same while reducing the amount of meat in the recipe. We added slightly more prosciutto, and replaced the broth in the braising liquid with more white wine. Since the pork steak doesn't have skin that needs crisping up, we also skipped the roasting at the end.



Braised Pork Steak
3 Servings

Ingredients
1 ounce dried porcini mushrooms
1 cup boiling water
1 ¼ pounds pork shoulder steak
1 large onion, chopped
1 cup chopped carrots
1 cup chopped leek
1 rib chopped celery
¼ pounds proscuitto, chopped
4 garlic cloves, chopped
2 cups dry white wine
1 teaspoon chopped fresh sage
1 teaspoon chopped fresh rosemary



Place porcini mushrooms in small bowl. Pour 1 cup boiling water over and let stand until mushrooms soften, at least 30 minutes. Drain and chop mushrooms; reserve soaking liquid.



Preheat oven to 325°F. Sprinkle pork with salt and pepper. Heat 3 tablespoons oil in heavy large wide pot over medium-high heat. Add pork and sauté until brown on all sides, about 12 minutes. Transfer pork to rimmed baking sheet.



Spoon off and discard all but 2 tablespoons fat from pot. Reduce heat to medium. Add onion, carrots, leek, celery, and prosciutto. Cover and cook until vegetables are soft and beginning to color, stirring occasionally, about 10 minutes. Mix in garlic and chopped porcini. Add wine and bring to boil, scraping up any browned bits. Add reserved mushroom soaking liquid, leaving any sediment in bowl. Mix in sage and rosemary.



Return pork and any accumulated juices to pot, arranging in single layer.



Bring pork mixture to boil, cover pot, and place in oven. Braise pork until very tender, turning over every 30 minutes, about 1 hour 30 minutes.



Break the meat into chunks, discarding the bone. Serve atop mashed potatoes.