Earlier in the week I made a big pot of Pulled Pork. Sometimes all you need to do is make one main dish and it not only inspires the rest of the menu but suggests the guests who would enjoy eating it.
Pulled Pork
Case in point—the Pulled Pork. I knew Pam & Tim (who by the way makes great Pulled Pork on his own) would be those very guests.
Pulled Pork is simply a pork shoulder or butt that has been slow cooked (oven or crock-pot) for 7-8 hours at a low temperature until it falls off the bone. Allow the pork to cool in the cooking liquid (it makes it’s own as it cooks), then remove the fat and hand shred the meat.
Then all you have to do is mix it with some bar-b-que sauce and voila…..!
This is the sauce I used since I didn’t want to make my own and it was fine.
I had some dough in the refrigerator from the “5 Minutes to Artisan Bread’ cookbook, so I formed that dough into rolls and baked those for our buns.
Since Pulled Pork is pretty sweet, I knew I didn’t want the traditional Southern type of Cole Slaw that is also kind of sweet. Ina Garten makes a Blue Cheese Slaw that I thought would provide the right contrast for the soft, sweet pork.
I also made her sautéed Onion Dip (which is absolutely delicious) to eat with our drinks.
The peaches on our dwarf peach tree were ripe and sweet—–very sweet, so I made Peach Mint Julep’s as our cocktail.
For one drink:
Peach Mint Julep
Muddling
10 mint leaves
1 oz simple syrup
½ of a fresh peach
Muddle these together until well combined.
Strain into a cocktail shaker (or a glass bottle with a tight lid like I did), add
2 oz Bourbon (I used Maker’s Mark)
Fill shaker or jar with ice and shake until very cold. Strain into a serving glass that is filled with crushed ice. This makes 1 strong drink.
Peach Mint Julep
This was good, fruity, sweet, minty….but probably too sweet for my taste due to the sweetness of the fresh peach. Next time I’ll try adding some lemon juice to put a note of sour in there.
I made a Caprese salad again (see this post) for our salad course, but, after having that delicious Caprese at the Blue Martini Happy Hour, I marinated and grilled a couple of Portabello mushrooms to add to the salad.
Draining the Tomato Slices
Marinating the Mushrooms
And it was wonderful first course, with the reduced Balsamic Vinegar/Olive Oil dressing and fresh basil over all.
Reducing the Balsamic
We drank a Pinot Noir (a Block #45 2008 from California) and I thought this wine went well with the sweet pork and salty blue cheese flavors of the meal.
Chocolate Ganache
For dessert, all I did was make a chocolate ganache (equal parts chocolate & heavy cream gently heated then whisked smooth) and a fresh raspberry puree.
Raspberry Puree
The puree was just 2 pints of fresh raspberries whirled in a food processor with 2 t. lemon juice and 4 T. sugar. Then the sauce was strained and bottled.
I had some vanilla ice cream in the freezer, so I made sundaes. Creamy vanilla with a rich dark chocolate syrup and the bright fresh flavor of the raspberry syrup. Just a yummy ending to our summer dinner.
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