Slow Cooked BBQ Pork

Just in time for summer, we have a great slow smoked BBQ Pork recipe.  This does have a bunch of steps and does take 18 hours but the actual time you have to work on it is about 45 minutes . Just make sure to leave some time for this.

It is worth it.

We sliced it for dinner the night I fixed it and chopped up the leftovers for sandwiches later in the week. 

There's many steps and smaller recipes to this so I will be listing them all in the order you need to use them.

 

Shrimp Scampi and Grits

So a couple of months ago, you tried polenta with us, right?  And it was good, right?  So you trust us now.  Ok.  Grits.  I know that if you live north of the Mason Dixon line, you're scared of this weird Southern food.  I was too.  The first time I actually saw someone eat grits we were in West Virginia meeting some of Lee's family.  Until then I thought it was the type of food that people made up to make their kids feel better about what they had on their own plates.
Since then, grits have been making a culinary resurgence. Maybe it's just starting to migrate north, I don't know, but what I do know is that pretty frequently, I'll find them on a restaurant menu, paired with something tasty like shrimp or scallops.  I've found versions I love and versions I hate.

This is a version I love. It might have something to do with the cheese involved.  But this is Southern cooking, right?   Either way, when you take a bite of the grits they literally melt in your mouth.  It's like spoonfuls of heaven.  So yummy. But warning: Grits will fill you up!!
And then those shrimp!  Wow!   Buttery, lemony and so fresh! I couldn't get enough!

Oh and in case you're wondering, you find grits by the oatmeal in the grocery store.

Asparagus Salad with Lemon Dijon Vinaigrette

This dish just screams summer to me. There's something about asparagus and lemons that make me want to go digging in my garden.
I saw this recipe on the St. Louis Post-Dispatch website and I knew I had to get Lee to make it!   The tangy sweetness of the dressing and the earthiness of the asparagus and the salty, meaty goodness of the carpicola all complement each other so well!
The original recipe called for coppa for the meat, we couldn't find it, but just about any kind of smoked meat will work here and we found capicola at an excursion to Kendrick's Meat Market in South St. Louis.  If you have not been there... man, you need to go.
We had a lot of dressing left over so we put it in a Leifheit Decorative Canning Jar and have been using it on salads ever since!  It's so good!