Smokin' "Picnic"

My apologies to the vegetarians in the crowd, but I just had to include a shot of the Picnic Shoulder Roast from TLC Ranch my husband smoked for our Father’s Day feast last night. I got a “Versatile Cook” box of their pork through our CSA and was glad to learn that Picnic Roast is a good cut to put into the smoker. Now I can spend my time getting versatile with the other cuts they sent. (I am currently thinking of mixing the ground pork with some grass fed ground beef and mixing up some meatballs, but I digress from last night’s meal…)

The Picnic Roast was treated to a rub the night before it was cooked, then it was injected with my husband’s marinade mix and basted while it smoked for several hours. About ten minutes before the roast was due to come out of the smoker, he also added a finishing sauce. Then I endured a torturous, ravenous ten minutes of ‘resting’ (the meat–not me!) while the delicious and complex aroma of all those carefully blended ingredients filled the house before I was allowed to taste it. And oh, it was worth the wait!

Grab Bag Potato Salad

I could have slapped any old mayonnaise-y side dish down next to this amazing meat, it’s not like anybody was going to notice the side dishes! But I went with Balsamic Potato and Green Bean Salad out of home grown California White, Red-Skinned, All Blue and Rose Gold potatoes, fresh from the garden. I tossed together the first of our Contender green beans, vinegar, a little sugar, olive oil, green onions, chopped thyme and cracked pepper. Not your average potato salad ingredients where I come from, but it makes a very tasty salad and I’m glad I took the time to root around under our potato plants to steal the new potatoes the recipe called for. We also feasted on Zucchini Bake, frittata and something called “Poke Cake” that I had never heard of but my mother-in-law and stepdaughter made it and everyone enjoyed having it around.

Now I just hope there is something leftover for lunch today!