Dinner Diary: 39/52

Week 39 of Having People Over, and to start things off strong, I broke my own cardinal rule this week (again) and tested a brand new recipe for the main course while hosting (stop doing this, Kelsey!)

As I was bopping around the kitchen pulling everything together and talking to myself (anyone else do this?), I said something under my breath about “pot roast panic.” Robby has learned to ignore my madwoman kitchen ramblings, but this caught his attention. “Oh no, did the meat not turn out?” 

Earlier this year I pulled the lid off the slow cooker in a similar situation and found my pot roast with the texture of a leather shoe. Eight hours in. Guests arriving in thirty minutes. It was a whole thing. I have not fully recovered, apparently. The anxiety was real, but the Instant Pot came to the rescue!

The new recipe: Maple Pulled Pork (not technically pot roast). New for Recipe Club, still being tweaked, untested in this exact configuration. I set it in the slow cooker, walked away, and spent the better part of the afternoon prepping everything else. When I went to check on the slow cooker, I slightly panicked, fearful that it didn’t work (again).

Luckily, it turned out. Two forks, perfect shred, tender all the way through. Giant exhale. Slow cooker for the win (again).

The vision with the Maple Pulled Pork was to do something other than the default “Pulled Pork Sliders” with BBQ sauce situation. I love pulled pork as much as anyone, but there’s no rule that says shredded pork must involve BBQ sauce. Enter maple syrup. Just call me Buddy the Elf. The result is a sweet, savory, deeply flavorful pork that works two ways: piled onto a Hawaiian roll with pickles, pickled onions, and shredded cabbage, or served alongside mashed potatoes as a riff on the classic Sunday supper. Robby had one as a slider, went back for seconds with the pork and potatoes, and declared both versions excellent. That’s the kind of feedback that makes a new recipe worth finishing. Look for it in Recipe Club this October.

Alongside the pulled pork, I made Creamed Corn, which I usually save for Thanksgiving but couldn’t resist given how perfectly seasonal it felt, and the Brussels Sprouts and Apple Slaw I’ve been continuing to tweak. That one is also coming to Recipe Club this week with the new October recipes, so watch for it.

I was so preoccupied with pulled pork anxiety that I somehow massively over-salted the French Onion Dip. I have made this dip so. many. times. I still don’t know what happened. I tried to course correct with extra mayo and sour cream, which helped somewhat, but it was salty in a way I could not fully undo. Our guests were very gracious about it. I was not gracious about it internally.

Our guests this week were Nora’s new friend from her 4th grade class and her family, neighbors we’ve known in the loose, wave-from-the-car sense but never actually sat down with. They have two high schoolers we had never even met, plus a middle schooler, and their youngest is in Nora’s class. Which is always such a good reminder of how many layers there are to the people right around us that we never get to without an actual invitation.

They showed up with drinks and homemade chocolate chip cookies that were the perfect ending to a plate of pulled pork and mashed potatoes. That kind of guest contribution always lands exactly right.

The conversation covered a lot of ground. Their high schooler is deep in college entrance essays, which opened up a whole discussion that left me quietly panicking about how quickly this chapter approaches for us. Ollie is only a freshman, I keep reminding myself. And yet. The years are moving faster than the days, and Sunday nights like this one are a good reminder to pay attention while it’s happening.

Always happy we hosted.

xo,

Kelsey