If you live in St. Louis, you know it's been hot. Really really fucking hot. And humid, as usual. Aside from a window unit in our bedroom, we are air conditioned splendor-less. Mostly we can deal with it, but when there are sequential days of mid-90s and beyond, it gets rather uncomfortable. We are now preparing for five or six more days of uncomfortable. I am dreading it, truly.
In this kind of heat, cooking becomes fairly unattractive. Last week I had a hankering for roast pork with the peach and jalapeno jam I made a couple weeks ago. I found a nice boneless rolled pork roast, sprinkled it with salt, pepper and garlic, and stuck it in the crock pot for a few hours. When it was basically completely cooked, I poured a little of the jam over it and let it cook for about an hour more. Although the jam wasn't as spicy as I would have liked, it did add a nice flavor to the pork. Steamed new potatoes and salad were nearly heatless sides.
The next day it was still hot, but I managed to make a batch of pesto (effectively bringing about the end of my 15+ year old mini Cuisinart processor) and shredded the leftover pork and added barbecue sauce. I had bought a loaf of Marconi bread and used it for open-faced sandwiches with penne pasta, pesto and chopped tomatoes.
I couldn't imagine cooking anything today in the heat (or in this week's upcoming misery) so when we were grocery shopping I was trying to think of cool things to prepare and eat. Caesar salad sounded good for tonight, but I wanted some kind of protein. A big package of skinless, boneless chicken thighs solved that issue. I seasoned them simply and cooked the lot on the indoor grill, freezing two-thirds for later in the week. A grilled chicken Caesar salad hit the spot.
For dessert this past week I've been making s'mores. Easy, gooey and so good. Tonight's messy specimen:
2 comments:
Seriously, how do I get invited for dinner? :)
It's a sweat lodge over here. When the weather is nicer, we'll talk. :)
Post a Comment