A couple of weeks ago when I showed the strawberry lemonade and strawberry lime cheesecake bars I meant to show the rest of the dinner that week, too! But I got sidetracked, so slacker that I am is showing you now.
(PS – Today’s the last day to enter to win tickets for the Taste of Hillcrest this weekend!!! Enter and stuff!)
I used the same rub I’ve created in the past to smoke a pork butt and a rack of St. Louis pork ribs.
The pork butt was smoked for roughly ten hours while the rubs got smoked for six hours. I got up early that day to leave Jake’s house to head home and start the smoker!
Here’s some slices of pork. It turned out fairly juicy. I think it could have been juicier if I had remembered the wrap the darn thing. I didn’t remember though. Oh well. It still tasted good.
Reeeeeee-ubs. Jake likes these without sauce but I still like mine saucy. I’m saucy like that.
What is this weird black pile of goo, you might be wondering?
This is one of our side dishes, of course. It’s Black Rice that I picked up at Trader Joe’s. I cooked this with some diced onions and garlic then toasted the rice and added in chicken stock for extra flavor. The stock actually purple purple while it was cooking! Black rice retains the bran layer in rice, giving it it’s distinct color. This rice tastes pretty nutty and kind of creamy flavor. Jake and I liked it a lot.
Here’s the thing I planned to recipe about – a green bean salad!
I bet you think that’s garlic all over the green beans!
It’s not!
It’s Parmesan cheese! This is actually a dish that is served cold so I was able to make it earlier in the day. It’s got shallots, balasmic vinegar and basil to flavor it and all of those together make for a really flavorful and yummy salad.
Perfect side dish for our dinner! And it was so good I’m sure I’ll want to make it again for a picnic or a potluck or some kind. Quicker than making smoked meats, too.
- 1 1/2 pounds trimmed green beans, cut to 2 to 3 inch long pieces
- salt
- 1/2 cup finely chopped shallots
- 2 Tbsp balsamic vinegar
- 4 Tbsp olive oil
- 3/4 cup chopped fresh basil leaves
- 3/4 cup freshly grated Parmesan cheese (about 1 1/2 ounces)
- ground black pepper
- Bring a pot of salted water to a boil. Once boiling, toss in your cut green beans and cook for 3-4 minutes (depending on how soft/crunchy you want your green beans). Remove from heat and drain. Add cold water to the pot to stop the boiling. You can also throw the green beans into a ice water bath, but I usually just rinse them in cold water for about a minute.
- Saute your shallots in a little bit of olive oil - about 3 minutes. Remove from heat and set aside.
- In a mixing bowl place your green beans in. Add in chopped basil and sauteed shallots. Sprinkle olive oil and mix over the green bean mixture. Add in Parmesan cheese and balsamic vinegar and toss again. Add salt and pepper to taste and toss again. Cover with plastic and let it chill out in the fridge until eating time.
Mmm it all looks so delicious!! I think I might have asked you before, but do you use a smoker or charcoal grill? I really want to start doing my own bbq too 🙂
Hi Jinxi – I use a charcoal grill and I set it up for smoking (hot/cold side). I use wood from our apple tree for the smoke. The link to my rub recipe above shows my setup with photos if you’re curious. You should do your own! I want to try making my own bbq sauce sometime, too.
Hi Mary – I’ve learned that the Texas crutch is a great equalizer…also understanding at what temperature the smoke flavor is set. Personally, I think BBQ should not necessarily need sauce, but that the sauce elevates it.
Hi Kirk – I did the foil method the last time I tried this but I had made a few missteps with it that a) I partially wanted to see how it would do without and b) I got sidetracked and forgot. Hah! Next time I will definitely do the Texas crutch!
I agree that it shouldn’t *need* sauce but I sure do like a sweet BBQ sauce. I think the next thing I want to tackle is making my own homemade BBQ sauce, I think that will take a bit of investigating to get just right.