What up???
It’s been a busy week. Between regular writing duties, watching my niece and nephew, weirdly getting teary at this Sturgill Simpson cover from The Righteous Gemstones, and preparing to sell pasta this Sunday, I’ve been spread a little thin. Still, I found time to make some wonderful cherry and banana pepper agrodolce this past week. A small project, but one that left me incredibly pleased.
Agrodolce is a loose sweet & sour concept. This Italian condiment is typically made by reducing vinegar and sugar into a potently tangy, sugary glaze. It’s also super convenient to produce. When my brain is fried, when I’m dead-ass tired, when I no longer have a creative bone in my body, I usually apply the agrodolce cooking method. I use agrodolce for onions, winter squash, turkey, pasta, chicken salad, and even steak. I’ll agrodolce anything—shoot, I’ll agrodolce your wallet and car keys if you leave me alone with them.
Recently, I turned some Michigan cherries into a dark red, tangy, sweet agrodolce.
Michigan cherries are legendary. They are dark, cloying, and plump. “They look like plums,” my Mom said upon seeing them. While they’re not that big, they are indeed some big-ass cherries. They don’t need cooked at all; they’re perfectly sweet and tender in their natural state. The problem is, I bought so many pints of cherries during a “rainy day special” at the Eastern Market in Detroit that I had to do something with them.
Incoming Move: If you’re ever in Detroit, go to the Eastern Market. It’s full of fun, thrifty items, but also tons of produce, candied pecans, shawarma, tacos, sandwiches, funnel cake, and there was also a Renaissance Faire going on while I was there. The stores in the surrounding area are also incredibly dope, full of great snack finds like Better Made honey cheese curls (the best fucking cheese curls I’ve ever had in my life).
When it comes to agrodolce, I like to add a third component in addition to sweet & sour—spicy. Sometimes I use a dash of Tapatío or dried chilis. But since it’s both cherry and banana pepper season for another few weeks, I decided to add some thinly sliced banana peppers. The end result is a sweet, spicy, sour, dark red, mouth-smacking agrodolce that works great as a condiment for pork loin, sausage, bread, pasta salad, or really any vegetable at all.
Sweet and sour is not at all a condiment that I associate with Italian cooking. You just don’t see a whole lot of sour components in the Italian food here in America.
However, Ceci’s Gastronomia (official Move alert) serves an eggplant caponata sandwich on their homemade focaccia bread that is a wonderful trifecta of sweet, sour, and savory. It’s one of my favorite sandwiches in Los Angeles. It’s also $14 and completely vegan. But, for people that like burrata (um, that’s everybody?) you can add burrata for $3. It gets close to being a $20 sandwich, which isn’t ideal, and it doesn’t feature meat, but it triumphs in every single way that a sandwich should.
That’s the power of agrodolce.
Cherry and Banana Pepper Agrodolce Recipe
2 cups cherries, pitted (I just take a knife and slice around each cherry)
1 banana pepper, deseeded and sliced thinly
1/2 cup red wine vinegar
1/2 cup balsamic vinegar
2 tablespoons honey
1/2 cup pine nuts
2 tablespoons butter
Heat an oven to 350 degrees, and spread the pine nuts flat on sheet tray. Sprinkle with a little bit of salt, and toast in the oven until golden brown. 5-7 minutes. Set aside.
To remove the seeds from a banana pepper, cut the top off, then use the wrong end of a spoon to hug + cut the seeds and white rib from the pepper’s interior wall. Slice thinly. If that sounds confusing, here’s a picture:
Put a small sauce pot on medium heat, then add 1 tablespoon of butter and the sliced banana pepper. Cook for 3-5 minutes, or until softened.
Next, add the cherries and a pinch of salt. Stir and cook for another 3-5 minutes.
Add the red wine vinegar, balsamic vinegar, and honey. Stir to combine. Cook on medium heat, adjusting to medium high as necessary to strongly simmer. Cook for 20-30 minutes, or until a syrupy, chunky liquid is formed. Take off the heat, add the toasted pine nuts, the last tablespoon of butter, and stir.
Serve.
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