Futures B.L.T.

Hold it. Hold it. You telling me this is a BLT? Man, this ain’t no BLT. This is a hostile takeover. First of all, forget that skinny little bacon. You got thick pork belly, slow-roasted until the inside gets tender and the outside gets crispy. Then somebody rubbed this thing with chipotle chili powder, rosemary, and fennel seeds. So now it’s smoky, spicy, herby, a little sweet…this pig got a better investment portfolio than I do. Then you got heirloom tomatoes. But apparently regular tomatoes aren't expensive enough for this operation, because somebody tossed these in tahini and pistachio cream. Whoa. Creamy. Nutty. Sweet tomato underneath. Clarence Beeks know about this? Romaine tossed in Dijon mayonnaise. See, now that’s smart. You’re not putting mayonnaise on the bread and hoping everything works out. You dress the lettuce. Diversification. And the bread…wait a minute. You griddled the ciabatta in pork fat? Oh, these people have lost their minds. So now you’ve got crispy pork belly, smoky chipotle, rosemary, fennel, creamy pistachio-tahini tomatoes, sharp Dijon lettuce…and pork-fat toasted bread. Now see, people would charge you thirty-eight dollars for this, put it on a little plate, and call it Le Sandwich de Cochon. But me? I know exactly what this is. Pork belly futures are up, lettuce is holding steady, tomatoes are outperforming expectations…and I’m buying the whole damn market.

Ingredients

1 lb pork belly
1 tbs chipotle chili powder
1 tsp fennel seeds
2 stems fresh rosemary
1/2 tsp kosher salt
1 heirloom tomato
1 tbs tahini
1 tsp pistachio cream
1 tsp lemon juice
Salt and pepper
1 romaine heart
1/4 cup Vincent Vega’s Mayonnaise
1 tsp Worcestershire sauce
1 tbs dijon
1 ciabatta roll

Directions

Pat the pork belly dry with a paper towel. Using a meat tenderizer or tip of a knife poke holes in the pork skin, the more the better. In a spice grinder, grind the chili powder, fennel seeds, rosmary leaves, and salt. Coat the pork belly meat with the mixture but leave the skin uncoated and sprinkle kosher salt over the skin. Place Coated pork belly on a wire rack and refrigerate for 8 to 24 hours.
Pre heat your oven to 300 degrees F. Roast your pork belly for two and a half hours. Remove pork belly from the oven and allow to cool to room temperature and refrigerate for at least an hour, reserve any pork dripping.
Pre heat your oven to 425 degrees F. Roast your pork belly for 20 minutes to crisp up and reheat.
In a large bowl add your tahini, lemon juice, and pistachio cream. Mix to combine. Dice your tomato into 1/4 inch pieces and add to the bowl. Coat tomato with the mixture. In another bowl add the mayonnaise, dijon, and Worcestershire sauce. Slice your romaine down the center and discard the core, slice into 1/4 inch pieces and toss in the mayonnaise mixture.
Pre heat a griddle or fry pan to medium high. Slice your ciabatta roll in half to open and brush the inside with the rendered pork drippings. Griddle the bread with the pork fat to a golden brown, about 2-3 minutes.
Slice the pork belly in half lengthwise to reveal the tender inside of the belly, place on top of griddled bread. Top prok belly with tomatoes, then lettuce, and finally with the griddled roll to close the sandwich. Slice roll in half.
Serve