Nashville Weekend

Recently, I enjoyed one heckuva girls' weekend in Nashville.  I visited my lifelong friend, Cheryl, who is a superwoman in the kitchen. 

Cheryl picked me up at the airport and greeted me with a cherry limeade from Sonic.  She knows me so well.  As I sipped my tasty treat, we drove the half hour back to her house, making a stop at a local BBQ shack for our takeout dinner:  massive amounts of pulled pork; potato salad and slaw for her husband and stepson; and two bbq baked potatoes for me and Cheryl.

We set up our feast and planned our culinary strategy.  Some wine might have been poured.  I think we went to eight different grocery stores by the time the weekend was over.

Cheryl and Mike have one of those Big Green Egg smokers.  I asked if we could smoke something.  

Cheryl:  Sure, like what?  

Me:  Anything we could get our hands on.

First we had to prep dessert.  I mean, that's good strategy, right?  We didn't want to be sitting there after a southern smoked feast and not have an answer when Mike asked, Well, what did you make us for dessert?

We made olive oil gelato.

With the gelato chilling and various meats smoking, we worked on sides and gluten free options to accompany our smoked feast.

First cauliflower pizza crust.  Cheryl's basil plants were in full bloom, so we made a Caprese pizza.

Eggplant involtini

Polenta sausage spinach terrine.

A libation for the cooks.  Bourbon with rosemary simple syrup and orange peel.

And now for the main events.  We assembled a bacon bomb.  We made a crosshatch bacon "blanket" and filled it with sausage and crumbled bacon and slathered the outside with BBQ sauce.

The star of the show though?  A whole smoked chicken.  Best chicken I ever ate.