Barbecue season is officially in full swing and we celebrated with friends and family all Memorial Day weekend long. Besides the great company and food, we had some pretty spectacular weather here in New York. I hope you had a great holiday too!
I don’t like spending all of my time in the kitchen when I entertain. The best part of having people over is hanging out with them and I don’t want to miss it all while fussing over the food. Therefore, I usually prep almost everything in advance, make one main dish at least a day ahead (i.e. pulled pork) and leave just a few items that need to be served immediately after they are cooked.
I went with a taco theme at our Memorial Day barbecue because, well, who doesn’t love tacos? It is fun for both kids and adults and adaptable to all. For the kids, it’s simple. Pulled pork, grilled skirt steak, soft corn tortillas and hard shells, guacamole, cheese and corn on the cob for a side. The fussiest eaters can stick to the basics and the more adventurous can venture over to our table where we had the same meats plus a few more sophisticated toppings including spicy pickled corn, kale chimichurri and broccoli slaw.
As usual, I had way too much food. We have been eating leftovers for days. This is great for lots of reasons. For one, dinnertime has been so easy. Another is I get to go back to each meat with all of the different toppings and decide which is my favorite combination before sharing a recipe with you here. Hands down, it was the Aleppo pulled pork with broccoli slaw. Throw them both on a soft taco and top with queso blanco…yum!
Both recipes were straight from my friends at Bon Appetit. I can attest they know what they are doing over there. Here are the links:
Aleppo Pepper-Roasted Pork – I made mine in the slow cooker and skipped the shallot vinaigrette
Broccoli Slaw – I subbed in regular white cabbage for Napa, skipped the sugar snap peas and chives otherwise followed the recipe and it was great.
Note: Aleppo pepper is a staple in my house. I know it is hard to find but trust me, when you do, you need to buy it up in bulk and use it in everything.