A barbecue recipe... and a barbecue invitation!

 Man, we had some fun yesterday!

I mean, aside from watching the New York Philharmonic's production of Company starring Neil Patrick Harris (which is being shown in movie theaters across the country for three more days - tonight & Tuesday at 7:30 PM, Sunday at 2.)  If you're a fan of NPH or musical theater, you should catch it.

Some of that fun was had in the kitchen, where Tom attempted to recreate the specialty of the now-closed Pure Luck restaurant... which, you may recall, was the location of an Adventure Wednesday last month. 

We found jackfruit! It's available at most Asian or Indian food stores.
Some recipes recommend getting it in brine, but we think it's better in water.

 Jackfruit is an Asian fruit that is sweet when ripened, but can be used in its unripe (or "young green") stage as a vegetarian base for curries or other dishes.  We LOVED Pure Luck's barbecue jackfruit sandwich, but now that it's closed, we're SO(Pure)L.  Or so we thought.

Thanks to a little Googlin', we got wind of a cooking method for jackfruit.  So yesterday, we tackled a recreation of that magical sandwich.  And it worked!

Here's how jackfruit looks before cooking.  Drain well and squeeze out whatever liquid you can.

Dice two cloves of garlic, and saute in a spritz of Pam for a few minutes. 
Then add the jackfruit and saute for another few minutes.

Move the mixture to your slow cooker or crock pot, and add your favorite barbecue sauce.

After about an hour, the jackfruit will start to fall apart.  It will look surprisingly like pulled pork.
Help it along with a fork - keeping in mind that the core may not shred as well. It's still edible.

Use your preferred bun and toppings (we used Trader Joe's rustic rolls, Vegenaise, dill pickles and onions)
and you've got a barbecue sandwich that is not only scrumptious, it's low-cal.

Can you believe it?

There are 100 calories in a cup of barbecue jackfruit... 

as compared to 528 calories in barbecue pulled pork.

Jackfruit really is surprisingly delicious.  But a word of warning - it is not chewy and firm like actual pulled pork.  It has a softer texture.  If you're a meat fan, you'll probably want to still enjoy pulled pork as a treat, but if you've got a hankering for barbecue sauce and don't want to spare those 528 calories, jackfruit will definitely hit the spot.

And speaking of hitting the spot...

Announcing...

That's right, everyone.  At our next Supper Club 600, we will serve a mouth-watering barbecue feast, complete with summery salads, home-made condiments (including our new concoction, tamarind barbecue sauce) and a dessert that is... the bombe.

We'd like to host it on Saturday evening, July 23.  And consider this your invitation!  Please RSVP here, on Facebook, Twitter, or to me directly. 

We don't yet have a firm location, but it occurs to us that our home isn't big enough to host this party series as it grows.  We have had one offer to host, and we'll try to firm that up soon.  And if you'd be interesting in hosting a Supper Club in the future, let us know.

In fact, this thing seems to be growing like a weed (a tasty, tasty weed) so we're going to do a little something different this time.  Tom and I are thrilled to plan, prepare, and cook for everyone.  In fact, we're passionate about it.  But in order to keep up with the pace we're setting, I don't think our finances can cover every ingredient for a huge dinner ever other month.  And instead of making it potluck (since the aim is to balance the calories, and push our culinary creativity) we'd like to open it up for donations, instead.

Just to make it clear - donations are in no way required of our guests.  And they don't have to be financial donations.  There are all kinds of ways you could contribute to this.

• Open up your home for the party
• Assist with set-up
• Donate money to cover an ingredient/course/decoration for the meal (for instance, the jackfruit. We'd even list you as Official Jackfruit Sponsor on the menu!)
• Lend plates, or tablecloths, or folding chairs/tables
• Offer to drive a carpool to the location
• Entertain the guests after the meal with your fancy dancing
• Help clean up (this'll be an important one, especially if we're not in our own home.)

If you'd like to contribute, please let me know and I'll keep everything organized.  Any extra donated funds will NOT be kept by Tom and I; we'll simply keep a SC600 pool and apply it to the next party.  We want to make this a community celebration - not a business in any way.

OK!  We're really looking forward to sharing this with you.  So think about joining us - and take care of you today!