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Grilled Meatballs, Smokey Tomato Sauce & Grilled Garlic & Cheese Bread-Pix Intensive

jfm0830
jfm0830 Posts: 987
edited June 2013 in EggHead Forum
I attended my dealer's BGE event on Friday & Saturday, so I was not able to cook those days. Meanwhile I had picked up Cuisine Grilling's Great Grilling summer magazine supplement. I started looking at the recipes mid morning Sunday. I'd decided by noon time I was going to grill something for supper. This meal was 3 separate dishes that taken together made for a wonderful Italian meal.

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The Smokey Tomato Sauce used: Garlic, onion, tomatoes, basil, smoked paprika, salt, chicken broth, red wine vinegar, tomato paste, olive oil and black pepper.





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The onions were cut into 1/2" slices &  the tomatoes were cut in half before going onto the Egg, The Egg is set up for indirect grilling with the plate setter installed legs up and the s/s grill grate over. The Egg has been stabilized at 400 degrees & some oak chips have just been added. The tomatoes were smoke roasted until they softened.





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  Once cooled, the tomatoes & onions were cut up & placed in a food processor together with the minced garlic and were pureed until smooth in consistency.





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The pureed tomatoes, onion & garlic are in a sautee pan where they will be brought to a boil. At that point the smoked paprika will be added and the heat will be reduced to a simmer while the sauce thickens for 5 minutes. Then I lowered the heat to keep the sauce warm until the meatballs get added.




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The next step was the Grilled Meatballs. A zero tare Kitchen scale makes quick work of measuring some of the ingredients: for example the meats. I placed my mixing bowl on the scale and zeroed out the weight. Then I added the 12 ounces of beef (shown here). Next the scale was zeroed out again and the 12 ounces of ground pork were added.





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The other ingredients for the Grilled Meatballs are added: Egg, minced onions & garlic, minced fresh basil, parmesan cheese, mozzarella pizza balls, oregano, red pepper flakes, salt & Italian bread crumbs.





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The meat was divided into 1/4 cup portions and formed into balls. Before the ball is completely formed a mozzarella cheese pearl (ball) is inserted into the middle & sealed up inside the meatball.





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The meatballs are on skewers & have been brushed with vegetable oil.





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The skewers are on the Egg which has been stabilized at 375. Just before putting the skewers on the grill, I added a handful of wood chips.





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The meatballs are done. I rested them, tented in foil, for 5 minutes.





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Some minced fresh basil, red wine vinegar, salt & pepper  plus the meatballs are added to the sauce and the sauce will continue to be heated on a low simmer until the pasta & garlic bread are done.





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Time to make the Grilled Garlic & Cheese Bread. The ingredients are Softened butter, garlic, minced fresh basil, parmesan cheese, mozzarella cheese pearls (balls), salt & pepper.





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The Egg is set up for indirect grilling at 350. I installed the half moon cast iron grill griddle to crisp up the buttered side of the bread.





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The parmesan cheese & mozzarella cheese pearls are on the garlic bread which is back on the Egg where it will be grilled indirectly until the cheese is melted, about 12 minutes.





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As part of our recent Kitchen renovation I purchased a new electric cooktop. One of the nice features is called Turbo Boll which is a burner with triple the wattage of a normal burner of this size. It brought 6 quarts of water to a rolling boil in under 4 minutes. This compares to 35-40 minutes for the old cooktop. I know I am going to love this feature going forward. The pasta was cooked on the stove while the garlic bread was finishing up on the Egg. The sauce is on a low simmer on the right burner.





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The rigatoni is done & it is time to get the garlic bread off the Egg.





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The garlic bread is done after about 12 minutes which conveniently was the time the rigatoni took to cook.





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Time to eat! The pasta & sauce were served directly out of the pan on the stove.





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The cheese garlic bread was amazing!! It had great flavor from the fresh herbs and a wonderful crispy crust. This is relatively easy to make and is so much better than the garlic bread in a foil bag that you buy at the supermarket to heat in your oven. My wife, who is not a bread lover, had 3 slices.





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The Smokey Tomato Sauce & Grilled Meatballs were excellent. The flavors from the fresh herbs & spices were well worth the effort. Both the meatballs & sauce had picked up a bit of a nice smokey flavor from the oak chips. 

This was a case where this recipe looked great on paper and was truly excellent when made. My house still smalls like a wonderful Italian restaurant the morning after, 12 hours later. Next time I plan to make a double batch of this meal.

Jim


Website: www.grillinsmokin.net
3 LBGE & More Eggcessories than I care to think about.

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