Cookin'

Ridiculously easy, inexpensive, and delicious; behold the glory of oven-roasted pulled pork. To serve a crowd, we pulled it and made sandwiches. But nothing beats plopping down the entire monster on the dining table and letting everyone have at it while it's still warm. The crust is unbelievable. And your house will smell of piggy goodness.

I followed this recipe exactly, but the second time I made it I cut the paprika by one tablespoon and was glad I did. I haven't made the accompanying sauce or coleslaw recipes yet. Next time. Truly, making this is so easy that it feels like cheating to call it cooking.

And now a recipe that's far more elegant but JUST AS EASY: Gruyère cheese puffs.

The choux pastry is just like what you'd make for a cream puff, but adding bits of cheese turns it into a savory appetizer called a gougere. They taste best still warm from the oven, but the recipe says you can freeze and then reheat them later, which I would imagine would be good too. I always get intimidated by the thought of a piping bag; these are just dropped by spoonfuls onto a baking sheet.

And finally, to maintain balance in the universe, here are some labor-intensive miniature soft pretzels. I actually found it relaxing to roll these out and form them. I'd been wanting to try this recipe for a while (I used to eat a soft pretzel every day when we lived in Germany) and a church small-group clam chowder night (mmm, it was good) gave me a reason to go to the trouble. I accidentally undercooked them a bit, but it worked out perfectly after sticking them back in the oven to warm up at our destination. Phew.

Well, shoot. Now I'm hungry.