Tuscan Pork Burger

Ingredients

For the burgers

1lb ground pork

1tsp roasted garlic sea salt

1/2 tsp rosemary infused coarse Celtic sea salt

1/2 tsp freshly cracked black pepper

4 1/4 inch thick pieces of Taleggio cheese (Any soft cheese would work if you can't find taleggio)

1 1/2 cups of baby arugula or rockets (I used a baby arugula and spinach mix)

4 crusty rolls cut in half

For the tomato jam

1 cup cherry tomatoes

1/2 shallot minced

1/4 cup balsamic vinegar

1-2tsp of chili sauce (either Calabrian chili or Sambal Oleic would work)

1tbsp extra virgin olive oil

1/2tsp coconut sugar

Low sodium kosher Salt and pepper to taste

For the aioli

1/2 cup of avocado mayo

1/8 tsp of truffle oil

Leaves from one sprig of fresh thyme

Roasted garlic sea salt and pepper to taste

Rosemary infused Celtic Sea Salt

1 cup of coarse sea salt

3 sprigs of fresh rosemary chopped

Place mix together the salt and rosemary in a ramekin with a lid to incorporate the fresh rosemary and cover. You can use this to season any dish (I like to use it for steaks, lamb chops and fish)

Directions

Tomato Jam

Preheat oven to 200 degrees Celsius or 400 degrees Fahrenheit

Place your tomatoes on a sheet pan and drizzle with extra virgin olive oil, salt and pepper and roast in the oven until they start to blister about 10 minutes.

Meanwhile preheat a nonstick pan ( I used an 8 inch ceramic skillet) and add your shallots and season with salt and pepper to sweat them.

Add your tomatoes and their liquid. Toss lightly and add the chili sauce, balsamic vinegar, coconut sugar and simmer to reduce while stirring for about 5 minutes. If it's too spicy you can add a little more coconut sugar to counter the spice.

Patties

Place your ground pork in a bowl and add the roasted garlic sea salt, rosemary Celtic sea salt and pepper. Mix well to incorporate all the seasonings and divide into 4 equal size balls and set aside.

Aioli

Combine the avocado mayo, truffle oil, fresh rosemary, roasted garlic sea salt and pepper

Burgers

To cook your patties preheat a heavy bottom pan, I used a carbon steel skillet but you can also use a cast iron. Spray your pan and the bottom of your spatula with a little avocado oil spray and place the pork balls in the pan one at a time and smash down with the spatula to about a 1/4 inch. Season lightly with a little low sodium kosher salt (Alessi or Diamond Crystal) and pepper. Flip your burgers when the edges look like they are starting to cook and you have a nice crust on the bottom of your patties. Allow to cook for about a minute and place the cheese on each and turn your stove off it should finish cooking with the heat of the pan. Cut your bread in half and place and broil it opened for about 30 seconds until its nice and toasted. Toss your arugula with a little drizzle of extra virgin olive oil, a squeeze of lemon, kosher salt and pepper. To assemble spread the aioli on your rolls, add the arugula to the bottom of each, followed by your patties, tomato jam and crown with the top and enjoy!

Note

Low sodium kosher salt is critical because we are using it to extract moisture from the tomatoes and shallots and since we're already using sea salt any other salt will be too potent and make your dish salty so if you don't have this than use a small amount of whatever salt you have to roast the tomatoes and to season your arugula and simply omit the kosher salt in the rest of the dish.