complex flavors

My husband and I have been torturing ourselves with nearly nightly episodes of Diners, Drive-Ins and Dives with Guy Fieri.  It doesn't matter that we've just had dinner - we watch this show and find ourselves starving!

A few episodes ago inspired us to make some to-die-for pulled BBQ pork.  The dry rub had at least 12 spices and the homemade bbq sauce had 12 dry spices and 4 different liquids.  We made both on a Friday night before our brewing day.  

We liberally coated the pork roast with the dry rub and let it marinated overnight.  First thing the next morning, we fired up the grill to put grill marks on the roast, grilling it for about 45 minutes until the dry rub was seared into the meat.

Then we baked it for 1 hour at 400 degrees in the oven.  Then another 2 hours at 300 degrees.  Meanwhile I helped mill the grain for the homebrew while my husband managed the rest of the brewing.  We had friends visiting throughout the day, helping with the brew and just hanging out. 

We served a late lunch around 2 pm.  Once the roast was done baking, I shredded the pork and cooked it on the stove with the homemade bbq sauce.  The smell was fantastic, the color incredible and the flavor was amazing!  I made a side of my version of cabbage slaw (shredded with some salad greens, finely chopped dried cranberries and tossed with a raspberry vinagrette) and also a side of potatoes, sweet potatoes, red and yellow peppers and red onion. 

The meal itself took a while but it was worth the pleasure of sharing it fellow foodies!  The flavors truly were complex.  We guessed at the proportions and just need to make a small adjustment for a repeat performance.  Now I need to come up with a complex work-out to pay for all this heavenly eating!!!

truffle salt - wow!

My husband's been very inspired lately to venture into some serious gourmet cooking and it all started with truffle salt.  I am blown away at how incredibly delicious truffle salt is! It is soooo good I can't imagine how actual truffles would be even better!

His first attempt was fairly simple: grilled tri-tip, mushrooms in red wine and then the shrimp in butter. 

He lightly sauteed the side dishes in authentic extra virgin olive oil which we bought at Wineroad too.  I bought a panini grill pan which I've been using for grilling inside.  I love it!  It's been a worthwhile purchase.  Since we're not quite into spring yet, the grill pan allows us to grill inside. 

I loved the mushrooms the best - I think I could have eaten a couple of pounds of it!  I absolutely love it when my husband has a hankering to cook.  He produces masterpieces!

birthday week!

My adorable husband loves birthdays especially his own.  We celebrate his for at least week with various events going on. 

This year we went wine-tasting for four days and it was beautiful.  The weather was great for the most part and we got to visit some really amazing wineries and tasted some incredible wines.  And the food was over the top good!  Found one of those hole-in-the-wall delis that sold fancy gourmet sandwiches.  I had prosciutto & bleu cheese with a fig and olive spread.  Yeah - I thought it would be too salty but the fig spread really balanced it.  I ate the whole sandwich!!!  My husband had ham and brie and there was about a half inch wedge of brie!  Definitely worth what we paid for.

Throughout the week we also got introduced to olive oil tasting and experienced the best olive oil ever.  And then the truffle salt and truffle oil!  A whole new world of gourmet food and my husband is taking the lead in introducing us to cooking with truffles.

just deeeelish!

My husband and I both love to cook and once in a while we do a duet:-)  A few days ago was one of those times.  He wanted to do shish kabobs with some tri-tip and I made the side dish - a poor man's version of jambalaya.  I call it that because I didn't have any seafood handy.

I loved the way he did the kabobs.  Usually I do chunks of onion but he speared single slivers only which worked well because the onions then enveloped the meat and made them really flavorful.  He used red peppers in between as well. He also grilled mushrooms and zucchinis.  He liberally brushed teriyaki sauce over the meat tne veggies.

I used his leftover veggies, coarsely chopped them and sauteed them along with some Polish sausage.  I had leftover Mexican rice from earlier in the week.  It made for a pretty decent side dish for the kebabs.