This weeks recipes were an interesting experience. One was easy, one was time consuming & one was...not so great! So here are the results without keeping you in suspense.
The Heirloom Tomato and Basil Tart was FABULOUS! It will be a staple to my families "patio days" dining. "Patio days" are what my husband & I refer to as weather great enough for our whole family to spend the day outside on our patio. And let me tell you, Spring & half of Summer are PERFECT weather in North Carolina! Now only if we lived by the lake..... Sorry, back to food! This tart was easy to make, simple ingredients (especially with basil being in season), & no outrageous tools (well a food processor is needed.) The only thing that was expensive were the heirloom tomatoes. I got them at by beloved Fresh Market for around $4.00/lb. Yikes! But I had to try them. They were soooooooooo good! They are sweeter & juicier than regular tomatoes. If you don't want to try them, you can substitute with regular tomatoes & I am sure it would be great! The flavors of basil & Parmesan cheese complimented by pine nuts makes this such a flavorful dish. This is such an easy, delicious recipe to make as an appetizer for any occasion. You MUST try this!
The Pulled-Pork Sandwiches were the time consuming recipe of this week. I started with the rub the night before as the directions stated. The next day I started my trusty dutch oven in the morning & put the pork in along with the other ingredients & let it go to work. It wasn't that the recipe was hard, it just took a long time to cook. Instead of a shoulder of pork I used the end because it was smaller & looked like it had a little less fat on it. As you know, I am not a meat lover & I am REALLY NOT a fan of picking out the meat. I don't like choosing a part of an animal knowing that I am going to be eating that for dinner...GROSS! Anyways, all the other ingredients weren't hard (they were all already in my pantry) & the rub I put on the night before smelled quite good. The sandwiches turned out great & I would use this recipe again, but it was not what I had initially had in mind. I wanted more of a BBQ sauce kind of pulled-pork recipe & this was more like a brisket. I think next time, I might try Ina Garten BBQ sauce recipe with the pork & see how that turns out. That is my all time favorite BBQ sauce recipe! It will add a little more time to the process, but I want to see if that will be better. I simply had broccoli salad, beans & sweet potato fries to accompany the sandwiches & it all turned out quite good.
The Lemon Thyme bars were the ones that were not so good. First off, I thought I had thyme & I didn't. I should have known that I probably wasn't meant to make them, but I went ahead without it anyways. So, they were more like lemon bars instead of lemon thyme bars. I am not a great baker. Never have been. For me, it is too scientific & that is why I like cooking better. So, of course I think I may have messed up somewhere in the process because the texture just didn't turn out right. The taste was a little bland & I thought they were frankly boring. I have tasted good lemon bars & next time will try for a different recipe. These will not be tried again by me, but if you are good at baking, please try them & let me know how you liked them. Bon Appetit!
