This may not be the last time I’ll serve dinner on the terrace with a meal cooked almost entirely on my fire-pit style barbecue with its smoking woods and hardwoods aglow, giving off the aromas of fruit woods and real charcoal. But it turned out to be the essential summer meal, a great backyard barbecue with a menu of stick-to-the-ribs goodness.

It was a perfect night for alfresco dining

With drinks I served guacamole from a recipe I’ve made for years adapted from cookbook author Rick Bayless.

Classic guacamole

The meal itself started off with the simplest tomato soup fortified with a tarragon cream.

The beginning of the buffet table inside

I served the soup and the main course with plenty of buttermilk biscuits.  I usually make my own, using freshly rendered lard for the fat and farm-fresh buttermilk.  But I followed a short-cut, one that I use to simplify time spent in the kitchen.  These biscuits—always perfect—are from a mix made by a small mill in North Carolina called Renwood Mills.  They just don’t get any better than these—light, flakey and rich.

The main event was a leg of pork from Spring Brook Farm in Cumberland.  They either sell it fresh or smoked, and this version was cured in a smoke house.  I further added to the flavor by rubbing on a spice mixture (paprika, sugar, cumin, chili powder, granulated garlic, black pepper and salt)  before smoking it slowly over hickory, applewood and charcoal for several hours; finally the roast is brushed with a peach barbecue sauce during the last 30 minutes.

Along with the pork I roasted new potatoes in a cast-iron skillet smoked on the covered grill for at least an hour before the pork is ready and in the last 10 minutes I add a mess of green beans in their own skillet to cook and smoke on the covered grill.

Dessert was bumbleberry pie with homemade vanilla ice cream.  There is no such berry known as bumbleberry but rather the name given to a pie that has a mix of berries.  I had what was on hand: blackberries, blueberries and sour cherries.

I’m not giving you formal recipes because it’s all pretty simple.  But here is the basic outline of each dish.

Guacamole: scoop out the flesh from 3 avocadoes.  Char a jalapeno pepper, cut in half, remove seeds and mash in a mortar and pestle.  Add to the avocados, which you have crushed with a potato masher.  Add 1 chopped tomato and a small chopped onion, plenty of chopped cilantro and the juice from 1 or 2 limes.  Season with plenty of sea salt.  Cover and refrigerate until needed.

Biscuits: Renwood Mills, “Southern Biscuit,” Formula L Complete Buttermilk Mix, available online.

Fresh tomato soup: I adapted this from a recipe I found in the food section of the Wall Street Journal.  It was terrific. Peel and seed about 4 pounds tomatoes (field and heirloom mix), placing the tomatoes in a strainer set over a mixing bowl.  Cut into chunks.  Process in a food processor until nearly pureed.  Add the chunky mixture to a blender and puree, adding the reserved liquid to get the medium thin consistency.  Chill for at least 8 hours or overnight.  Cut the leaves off a big bunch of fresh tarragon and chop roughly.  Add to 1/2 cup heavy cream (the best you can buy).  Cover and let steep in the refrigerator overnight.  To serve, fill soup bowls with the soup and stir in the tarragon cream in attractive swirl patterns.  Optionally add croutons to the soup.

Fresh, uncooked tomato soup with tarragon cream and croutons to garnish

Smoked pork:  Prepare a fire using mixed briquettes, hardwood and soaked fruit woods in warm water for 30 minutes before using (apple, hickory, maple and cherry of your choice but at least two).  Add to the coal embers.  Rub the pork with the spice rub and set on the grill away from the heat source for  indirect heat.  Close grill cover.  The temperature will range from 400 down to 300 as it smokes for several hours; cook until it has an internal temperature of about 140 degrees.  In the last half hour of smoking cover the roast with the peach barbecue sauce (see recipe).

Spring Brook Farm smoked leg of pork with peach barbecue glaze

Peach barbecue sauce: mix together 1 cup peach preserves, 1/4 cup brown sugar, 1 teaspoon paprika, 1 teaspoon dry mustard powder,  1/4 cup apple cider vinegar, 1/4 cup Worcestershire sauce, 1 to 2 tablespoons ketchup, salt and pepper and 1 onion finely chopped.  Bring to the simmer and simmer uncovered for 15 minutes or until it thickens, stirring occasionally.

Potatoes.  Put the potatoes in a cast iron skillet, moisten with olive oil and a sprig or two of thyme, garlic salt or fresh garlic and salt and pepper.  Roast on the grill, somewhat away from the heat source, turning occasionally, for at least an hour or until flesh is soft. Note: you can put the pan directly over the heat if you want to char the potato skins.  But be careful not to burn them.

Smoked potatoes roasted on the grill

Green beans.  Mix different colors of green beans, topped and stemmed.  Moisten with butter or olive oil.   Add to cast-iron skillet. Season generously with salt and pepper.  Put on the grill, somewhat away from the heat and cover the grill to smoke for about 15 minutes.  Do this towards the end of your cooking time so as not to overcook the beans at high heat.

Cast-iron smoked green beans

Bumbleberry pie.  You’ll need about 6 cups of mixed berries.  I used 2 cups blackberries, 2 cups blueberries and 1 to 2 cups of pitted sour cherries.  Put these in a mixing bowl.  In a smaller bowl whisk together 1 1/4 cups sugar and 1/4 cup flour.  Add these to the berries.  Season with a pinch of cinnamon and 1/4 teaspoon almond extract.  Mix it together by hand gently.  Fill a 9-inch pastry case with the berries. Top with 2 tablespoons butter  cut into cubes. Refrigerate the pie while you prepare the top crust.    For the top crust you can do a lattice top or a far easier method, one that Martha Stewart likes to  do, is to cut out holes in the top of the rolled out second dough, using a 1-inch biscuit cutter.  You need to have some air space either from the lattice or cut outs so the berries bake properly to produce a thick syrup.  Brush the top with milk or cream and sprinkle with sugar. Place on a foil lined baking sheet and bake at 450 degrees for 15 minutes; lower heat to 375 and continue to  make for about 45 minutes or until the crust is nicely colored and the juices become syrupy and are bubbling nicely.  Remove from oven and brush the top with melted butter (this is a great touch and adds loads of flavor).  Serve warm with vanilla ice cream.

Bumbleberry pie with blackberries, blueberries and sour cherries