I was very excited to do a BBQ night for the August 13 TEST NEST. Five wonderful testers joined me: Jason Robertson, Morgan Basset, Jeff Johnson, Anna Haymore, and Todd Stevens. Outnumbered, Anna and I had a fun night of being teased…I felt right at home. I was really excited about this menu and enjoyed making a couple BBQ sauces, I still have so many recipes to try.

Mocktail: Saffron Orangeade (4 Stars)

This drink was very yummy and sweet without being over the top sweet. I’ve become a huge fan of infusing herbs into the simple syrup as this recipe called for as well. I’ve found that when I do drinks with this method they rate higher with my testers. I will add a little more saffron next time I make this, as it wasn’t extremely noticeable. The drink was a perfect pairing with the BBQ ribs and main dishes, but wasn’t as complimentary to the tomato salad.

Appetizer: Stacked Tomato Salad (4 Stars)

This is a bold look and taste beyond a caprese salad. For some testers the olive tapenade was a little over powering, but we all loved the idea and it was a great presentation. I can’t find the recipe online for this one but the idea is simple:

Slice tomatoes (go with Heirloom if you can find them) and fresh mozzarella (8 ounces).

Make an olive tapenade or buy one (we thought a pesto or red pepper tapenade would also be yummy).

Stack 1 tomato and mozzarella slice, top with a layer of 1 T. tapenade, repeat, top with a 3^rd tomato slice. Drizzle basil dressing made up of ¼ c. white wine vinegar, 2 T. honey, 1 T. Dijon mustard, ¾ c. olive oil and 12 basil leaves.

Main: Slow Cooked BBQ Pork Ribs with a selection of sauces – Traditional (4 Stars) and Tropical Honey BBQ sauce (3 Stars)

The ribs themselves were pretty great. I did a dry rub on them and then threw them in the crock pot with some onions on the bottom. There was a lot of ribs and I barely fit them all in. I browned the ribs prior to slow cooking, and over all they were all tender and juicy. A few of the ribs did turn out a little dry. The Traditional sauce was a definite winner of the two. It was nice and thick and a little sweet. Jeff felt it was too sweet and not smoky enough and Anna wanted a little more kick to it. It has chili powder in the recipe but could definitely use a double serving of it for more kick. The Tropical sauce wasn’t as sweet as the Traditional and while it was still good I will probably throw this recipe. You can also use this same recipe on Brisket and since I don’t have access to a grill I opted for doing a slow cooker method.

Sides: Macaroni and Cheese (throw) and Grilled Zucchini with Blueberry Vinaigrette (3 Stars)

I didn’t realize until we were rating the recipe that it was low-fat. While I think it has some good ideas for keeping the calories low, it just wasn’t creamy or cheesy enough.

I can’t find the recipe for the Blueberry Vinaigrette either, but it suggested drizzling over grilled veggies such as asparagus, bell peppers, red onions and zucchini (maybe next time I’ll make a veggie kabob). You can also drizzle over pan-seared fish (I bet it would be good on Tuna steaks). The recipe is 1 cup frozen blueberries, 1 t. Dijon mustard, 1 roughly chopped shallot, ¼ c red-wine vinegar, ¼ c olive oil, ¼ c water, freshly ground salt and pepper to taste. Testers felt there wasn’t anything special about the taste pairing but the color and concept was great. Maybe go a little less on the vinegar and I think a veggie kabob would be a better way to pair the veggies and flavor.

Dessert: Old-fashioned Peach Pie (4 Stars)

I was surprised that this recipe had a streusel/praline type topping rather than a crust, but it was very good with the extra sugar and nuts. Obviously the flavor of peach pie is only as good as the peaches but I did let the peaches sit for a while in the sugar, flour, lemon juice mixture. The extra brown sugar and butter in the topping really bring out more juice and sweetness in the peaches as well.