There are times when all I want to cook and eat is super simple comfort food. Then there are other times when I’m willing to put in a little (or a lot!) of effort to make something spectacular. And then there are the times (well, most of the times, to be frank) where I want something spectacular for little to no effort. And that’s where this recipe for grilled brined pork loin comes in.
Anyone who has ever tried to feed a small child knows that their tastes can be unpredictable, particularly when it comes to vegetables. It is a myth that young children hate all vegetables — the problem is that you never know which vegetable they will like on any given day. Nuni will happily munch on florets of raw broccoli (she saw it on Sesame Street), but will turn up her nose at the cooked stuff, even if it’s slathered in cheese, even though she LOVES cheese. She’ll eat a carrot, but only if the top is still attached, and she likes to squeeze all the insides from grape tomatoes without actually tasting them. In short, I never know how she’ll approach a vegetable, unless that vegetable is a pea.
I don’t know what it is about peas – maybe it’s the sweet flavor, the diminuitive size, or the bright color – but they seem to be particularly appealing to children. This salad, which I adapted from my favorite but now sadly defunct parenting magazine, Wondertime, is a great use of peas that appeals to children and adults alike. The natural sweetness of peas is a perfect foil to smoky, crunchy bacon, savory nuts and sharp onion.
Tags: barbecue·peas·pot-luck·salad·Vegetables
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I should probably, in the spirit of full disclosure, tell you that I am not from the South. I am from California, and to me, barbecue or bbq means meat cooked on a grill, over an open flame, ideally on the rare side. Heck, you could even throw some corn on there. Or artichokes. Or be really crazy and barbecue some avocados.
Fortunately for you all, this recipe is not one of my family recipes. It’s from my friend Mallory, who is from Illinois but LIVES in South Carolina, and she’s married to a North Carolinan (Carolingian?) to boot. Carolina Barbecue isn’t the style of barbecue most of you Yankees think of — there is no tomato, no molasses, no honey, no sweet and sticky sauce. Just vinegar, and lots of it. This is sour barbecue, and I love it. Hello, my name is Kate and I am addicted to things that are tart.
Of course, a real barbecue aficionado will point out that this is not barbecue at all because there is no fire or smoke, and that would be true, but let’s just ignore that, because I don’t know about you but I don’t have a barrel smoker in my yard – heck, I don’t have a yard – and a crockpot will just have to do.
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