Today’s recipe is just the perfect pairing of Pork Belly and a Fig Balsamic Vinegar Agrodolce!
What is an Agrodolce?
I am a sauce guy and enjoy everything from the perfect demi-glace to an Alabama White Sauce. Agrodolce is an Italian sweet and sour sauce that can enhance any roasted vegetables or proteins. It’s basically a condiment made from something sour/tart like red wine or balsamic vinegar and something sweet like certain fruits, honey, or sugar. I found some great-looking figs at a local farmer’s market. I have never made an agrodolce, so it seemed like the perfect opportunity to indulge myself!
What Should Be My Main Course?
Now that I decided on putting together an agrodolce recipe, the question is what should the main course be. Seasonal Roasted Vegetables would be a good choice. I happen to have a pork belly that I have been staring at every time I open my freezer. I know that pork always works well with sweet fruit. So pork belly is my choice (pork loin chop would work well also).
Pork belly when rendered well will produce a very tender product. This seemed to be a great opportunity to use my sous vide or pressure cooker. I decided on using my sous vide so that I could achieve the perfect internal temperature. Check here for a discussion on Sous Vide. If time was important then I would have no problem using my pressure cooker. Since I had the time, I decided to sous vide the pork belly the day before and finished it off before serving in my cast iron pan. You definitely will get a great char using a cast iron pan.
I hope you enjoy this recipe. If protein is not your thing, just roast some of your favorite veggies and drizzle on some of the agrodolce. As always, thanks for Spending Time in my Kitchen!
Pork Belly and Fig Agrodolce
4
servings30
minutes40
minutesIngredients
- Sous Vide Ingredients
2 lbs 2 Pork belly
1/2 Cup 1/2 Mirin
2 Tbl 2 Sugar
1/2 Cup 1/2 Tamari
1/4 Cup 1/4 Fish sauce
2 Sprigs each 2 Rosemary and Thyme, fresh
- Polenta
5 Cups 5 Chicken or vegetable low sodium broth
1 Cup 1 Polenta
1 tsp 1 Salt
3 Tbl 3 Pecorino-Romano Cheese
2 Tbl 2 Butter
- Agrodolce Ingredients
2 Tbl 2 Butter
1/2 cup 1/2 Shallots
2 cups 2 Figs, rough chop
1 Each 1 Each of Fresh Rosemary and Thyme, fine chop
1 cup 1 Balsamic vinegar
2 Cups 2 Broth
Directions
- Sous Vide Process
- Place sous vide ingredients in a vacuum bag and seal.
- Set sous vide 165° for 10 hours
- Remove the pork from the vacuum bag; strain your pork broth into a separate container. You can freeze the broth and use it for future recipes.
- Making the Agrodolce Sauce
- Heat your cast iron pan over medium-high heat. Place the pork belly that you sous vide in the hot pan and turn heat to medium. (Make sure you dry the surface of the pork that you cooked in the sous vide. You will get a much better char if it is dry). Once you have achieved a good char, set the pork aside until ready to serve.
- Before serving cut your pork belly into 1 to 2-inch cubes.
- Dice your figs and set them aside. Finely chop the rosemary and thyme and set aside.
- Remove excess fat from the same pan that you used to char your pork. Set heat to medium on the stove. Add butter. Use a wooden spoon and stir to loosen up the brown bits from the pork.
- Add shallots and saute for 10 minutes, stirring occasionally, until golden and tender. Stir in remaining ingredients and bring to boil. Reduce heat to medium and cook, stirring occasionally, until thickened and syrupy, 30-40 minutes. If too thick add water a little at a time. Keep warm until service.
- Cook the Polenta
- For the polenta, bring broth and salt to a boil in a large heavy pot. Reduce heat to medium. Add polenta in a thin stream, whisking for 2 minutes, to prevent lumps. Reduce heat to low and simmer polenta, cover your pot, stirring every 10 minutes or so for approximately 45 minutes. See discussion of cooking polenta here!
- Add cheese and stir. Before adding any additional salt, taste the polenta. The cheese will have salt, so be careful not to oversalt.
- Another option is to add a little bit of the pork broth to the polenta. This will add additional flavor to the dish. Again, be careful because the broth will bring some additional salt to the dish. You may need to cook for an additional few minutes to thicken the polenta if the broth is added.
- Finishing and Serving Your Dish
- Add butter to the polenta. Stir to combine. Laddle some polenta into your dish.
- Add some cubes of pork belly. Add some agrodolce to the dish.
- Sprinkle some chives or green onion.
- Enjoy!!
Did you make this recipe?
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Looks fantastic with fig season here. Will post the results.
Thanks for checking out my blog! Looking forward to hearing about your results.