Grilled Cheese and Pork with Green Chile

I had a great green chile, cheeseburger the other day. Then I BBQed a pork loin and thought, "Why not half cheeseburger, half pork sandwich?" But it turned out more like a grilled cheese sandwich with goodies in the middle.

Ingredients:

• bread
• cheese slices
• sliced pork loin (BBQ before hand)
• tomato
• green chile
• salt
• pepper

Assembly Instructions: 

Start with some bread. The pictures show some sourdough, thin sliced bread. But pick whatever you like.

Then slice the pork loin as shown here. I used a pair of 1/4 inch slices

This was a large pork loin, coated with a dry rub or, in this case, a cooking sauce, as I call it -- spices with a bit of liquid spread thickly on the meat before cooking. Cook between 1 and 2 hours until 140 degrees.

Put a slice of cheese on each slice of bread. I used Colby-Jack. A cheddar would work too.

Then some tomatoe slices on one side only. These were from one of the last tomatoes from my garden. They look pale, but have a lot of flavor. Sprinkle a little salt and a little pepper on the tomatoes.

The pork goes on next. One slice on either side.

Use some more cheese on one side and Green Chile on the other. This Green Chile is from Northern New Mexico. When I bought it from the trailer on the side of the road, they asked, "Do you like it hot?". I answered, "Of course, but none of my friends will eat it with me. Give me the medium." What I forgot is that in Northern New Mexico, the medium is hotter than the hot Green Chile anywhere else. So what you see is some killer hot Green Chile. Use whatever you like but whole chiles will work better on the sandwich than chopped.

Now, put the halves together and microwave for 1 minute (60 seconds). This will melt the cheese and warm the veggies. If the meat is hot off the BBQ, you might want to microwave for less time.

Note that the bread will be soft still. I like to microwave it to melt the cheese and then toast the bread afterwards so it comes to the table crisp on the outside.

Now, to crisp up the bread.

You need a skillet on medium high. Let it get up to temperature before adding the butter.

For each side, start with a couple pats of butter. Let it partially melt before you put the bread on top.

As shown to the right, first toast in a skillet on one side. And then toast the other side.

When the 2nd side is crispy, its time to serve immediately.

Its a mess to eat since the parts slip around but well worth the trouble.