If you like BLT’s you’ll love this.
Here’s the third installment of the pork belly saga. I know you are thinking “is she ever going to get over pork belly” — the answer is NO. I will save the taco and benedict recipes for later.
I made Anne Burrell’s recipe for braised pork belly a while back and knew since pork belly is my favorite “bacon” type product I wanted to try braising some.
I usually pick up my pork belly at an Asian market. It’s about the only thing I buy at the Asian market since I bought those frog legs that time that still had little webbed feet on them and looked like the offsprings of some mother or father that had been gigged one dark night from a “John” boat. (That’s the way my dad got them anyway.) These particular frogs looked more like babies than the big plump ones I have had in the past and I could have gone out in my yard and rounded up a few yard frogs if that were the type I wanted. (Of course I wouldn’t do that.)
If you don’t see pork belly ask your butcher about it or if you live where we were from in Missouri, it’s called Fresh Side Pork, or uncured bacon. Here’s the recipe just in case you want to try making braised pork belly.
This little appetizer is a play on BLT sandwich. I love Bacon, Lettuce and Tomato sandwiches, who doesn’t, and I cannot tell you what year I last had one. Why? I don’t know, but this app has all the ingredients but in one small (or two) bites.
Longman and Eagle in Chicago use to serve a pork belly sandwich that was spread with a tomato fennel jam and it was mouth watering delicious. Since I don’t intend on making that jam, I was excited to find a jar of tomato preserves at our local gourmet market.
My plan of attack for this little bite was to butter a thin slice of baguette, top with a little tomato jam, a leaf of arugular, crispy pork belly (or thick apple smoked bacon), then a thin slice of calmari tomato and maybe another piece of argula (or not). Then a little drizzle of balsamic glaze.
