I had a couple of leftover MOINK Balls in the refrigerator and while thinking about eating them it struck me that stuffing them inside a polenta ball and frying them would not be a bad thing.  And I was correct…

I cooked the polenta per the package instructions and let it cool in the refrigerator completely.  Then with oiled hands I formed the polenta around the MOINK Balls.  It worked with no problems at all.  I put the Polenta Balls in the fridge so they stayed cold and kept their shape while I cooked the pasta and made the tomato sauce.

The sauce was simple.  Peeled three Roma tomatoes and chopped them.  In a skillet I sautéed a little onion, a little finely chopped carrot and celery and some garlic in olive oil until tender.  I added some Italian Seasoning, Oregano and dried parsley.  With just a little water I cooked everything for about 15 minutes.

When the pasta was done I fried the Polenta Balls in oil until golden brown.  With some penne pasta I had myself a nice and simple dinner.  Experimentation in the kitchen can be a good thing…at least this time it was.

Copyright secured by Digiprove © 2011 Larry Gaian

I stopped at The Fatted Calf yesterday on my way through Napa to pick up a little bacon.  The Fatted Calf produces some of the most amazing cured meat products in Northern California.  Their slab bacon is simply…amazing.

I sliced off a little bacon to just cover the bread.

I used the Char-Broil RED to cook the bacon.

When it was all done I added some mashed up avocado, some heirloom tomatoes and lettuce.  A little slather of mayo made this a nice little sandwich for my entry in the Bacon Throwdown.  I’m not sure if my sensible little B.A.L.T. will be good enough to win, but it sure did taste good.  (No I didn’t eat the whole thing…in one sitting.)

Mrs. Grail’s B.T.P. Salad

Ingredients:

• 12 ounces Whacky pasta or other pasta of your choice
• 12 ounces lean bacon
• 3 medium ripe tomatoes, cut into chunks1
• 1¾ cups frozen petite green peas, defrosted
• 3 tablespoon fresh cilantro, chopped
• 1 clove garlic, minced
• Kosher salt and freshly ground pepper
• 1/2 cup mayonnaise
• 1/4 cup sour cream
• 1 tablespoon apple vinegar
• A pinch of sugar
• 4 tablespoons green onions, chopped

Directions:

Cook pasta per package instructions and set aside.

In a large skillet cook the bacon over medium high heat until crisp.  Or bake the bacon on a rack in a 400 degree oven until crisp.  Drain on paper towels.  Reserve 3 tablespoons of the bacon drippings in the pan.  Add tomatoes and garlic to the pan and cook just until warm.  Season to taste with salt and pepper.  Drain tomatoes and garlic and discard bacon drippings.

Crumble the bacon into bite-size pieces; set aside 1/4 cup for garnish. Toss the remaining bacon and the tomato mixture with the pasta.  Add the peas and 2 tablespoons of cilantro.

Combine mayonnaise, sour cream, apple cider vinegar, green onions and sugar together until well mixed.  Pour mayonnaise mixture with pasta until evenly combined.  Season again with salt and pepper if needed.

Allow to refrigerate for a few hours until cold.  Garnish with the reserved bacon and the remaining 1 tablespoon of cilantro.

One of the “Meatless Monday” challenges I face is coming up with meals that actually appeal to me.  When my copy of the Gordon Ramsey cookbook,  Cooking for Friends, arrived I was glad to find a veggie dish that both sounded good and could be done outdoors on the grill.

So here’s my take on Gordon Ramsey’s Grilled Vegetable Lasagna.  The main different between the recipe below and what I did was the vegetables were all cooked on my Weber kettle.  The original recipe also uses the oven, as I did, but it could be done in the smoker or indirect on your gas or charcoal grill.

The original recipe calls for using the broiler to char the bell peppers, I used my Weber kettle.

I also gut the zucchini into long 1/2 inch thick strips instead of rounds so they were easier to grill.

Topped with a little basil. Added some french bread and a salad for a complete meal.

Grilled Vegetable Lasagna

By Gordon Ramsey in Cooking for Friends. Published in 2008 by HarperCollins

• 10 ounces fresh lasagna sheets (about 12)
• 3/4 cups freshly grated Parmesan Cheese
• 3 buffalo mozzarella, 5 ounces each, thinly sliced
• small handful of fresh basil, leaves only

Tomato and basil sauce:

• 2 tablespoons olive oil
• 1 onion chopped
• 2 celery ribs, chopped
• 1 carrot, finely diced
• 2 garlic cloves, minced
• leaves, stripped from a spring of fresh thyme
• 28 ounce can crushed tomatoes in juice
• 1 teaspoon sugar (optional)
• small handful of fresh basil, leaves torn

Grilled Vegetables:

• 1 small eggplant
• 1 large zucchini
• 1 yellow crookneck squash
• Olive oil for drizzling
• leaves stripped from a few sprigs of fresh thyme
• 1 yellow bell pepper
• 1 red bell pepper

First, make the tomato sauce.  Heat the oil in a saucepan over medium heat.  Add the onion, celery, carrot, garlic, and thyme with some salt and pepper.  Cook, stirring frequently until the vegetables are soft, 6 – 8 minutes.  Tip in the tomatoes and bring to a simmer.  Simmer gently, stirring occasionally, until the sauces has been reduced and thickened slightly about 30 minutes.  Taste and add sugar if the sauce seem acidic.

Meanwhile, prepare the vegetables.  Trim the eggplant, zucchini and squash, then lice into 1/2 inch rounds.  Drizzle the olive oil and season.  Toss with the herbs.  Cook in batches on a hot grill pan until tender and slightly charred, 2 – 3 minutes on each side.  Transfer to a large bowl.

Preheat the broiler to hot,  Cut the bell peppers in half and place them cut-side down on a lightly oiled baking sheet.  Broil until well charred, 10 – 15 minutes.  Remove and let cool slightly before peeling off the skins and discarding the seeds.  Cut the flesh into wedges and add to the bowl of grilled vegetables.

When the tomato sauce is ready, add the basil.  Transfer to a food processor and blitz until smooth.  taste and adjust the seasoning.  Tip into a bowl and let cool.

Prehead the oven to 350 degrees F. Sppon  a thin layer of tomato sauce over the bottom of a deep baking dish.  Put two sheets of lasagne on top, then sprinkle with a little Parmesan.  Arrange a layer of grilled begetables on the pasta, followed by a layer of mozzarella.  Add another layer of tomato sauce.  Repeat the layers until reach the top of the dish.  You want to finish with a layer of lasagna sheets spread generously with tomato sauce, topped with a final layer of mozzarella cheese and a sprinkling of Parmesan.  Bake until the cheese topping is golden brown and the sauce is bubbling around the sides.  30 – 40 minutes

Serves 4 – 6.

]]> http://thebbqgrail.com/2010/grilled-lasagna/feed/ 2 http://thebbqgrail.com/2009/meatless-monday-veggie-pizza/ http://thebbqgrail.com/2009/meatless-monday-veggie-pizza/#comments Tue, 24 Nov 2009 05:20:27 +0000 Larry http://thebbqgrail.com/?p=1958 Pizza!  Is one of the greatest food items ever created.  I’ve loved pizza my whole life and it’s been part of some defining moments in my life.  I’ve eaten the worst pizza on earth at the Navy Exchange Cafeteria in Yokuska, Japan while going to high school there as a Navy brat.  I’ve spent many

Continue reading ... Meatless Monday: Very Veggie Pizza with Marinated Artichokes

Pizza!  Is one of the greatest food items ever created.  I’ve loved pizza my whole life and it’s been part of some defining moments in my life.  I’ve eaten the worst pizza on earth at the Navy Exchange Cafeteria in Yokuska, Japan while going to high school there as a Navy brat.  I’ve spent many a Friday evening in high school eating pizza at Fillippi’s in Lemon Grove, California after Mount Miguel High School football games.  In 1982 when I gave up drinking I even thought I’d never be able to eat pizza again because the thought of not having a beer with my pizza was beyond my understanding.

Tonight was another of those defining moments.  Pizza without meat!  I’m sure I broke some obscure law of nature with a veggie pizza.  It has to be so.  But what’s worst of all is that I actually enjoyed it.  This will have to be our little secret.  Now before anyone thinks I’ve gone off the deep end and become a vegetarian I’d still prefer a pizza loaded with sausage but for Meatless Monday this was one darn good pizza.

The recipe I used was the “Very Veggie Grilled Pizza with Marinated Artichokes from Grill Every Day: 125 Fast-Track Recipes for Weeknights at the Grill by Diane Morgan.  It was flavorful and I really didn’t feel the need for meat at all.

Very Veggie Grilled Pizza with Marinated Artichokes

(Courtesy “Grill Every Day 125 Fast-Track Reipes for Weeknights at the Grill” by Diane Morgan.  Published 2008 by Chronicle Books)

• 1 16- to 18-ounce package of fresh or frozen dough
• 1/2 small Walla Walla or other sweet onion, cut into thin wedges
• 1 small yellow or red bell pepper, halved lengthwise, seeded, deribbed, and cut into long, narrow strips.
• 1 large clove of garlic, minced
• 1 tablespoons extra-vergin olive oil
• 1 teaspoon chopped fresh oregano
• 1/2 teaspoon red pepper flakes
• 1/4 teaspoon kosher or sea salt
• vegetable-oil cooking spray
• All-Purpose flour for dusting
• 1/4 cup store-bought marinara sauce
• 1 jar (6 ounces) marinated artichoke hears, well drained and halved
• 2 plum tomatoes, cored and thinly sliced
• 1/3 cup pitted and halved canned ripe olives
• 2 cups (8 ounces) coursely shredded whole-mile or part-skim, low-moisture mozzarella cheese.

If using fresh dough, remove it from the refrigerator 30 minutes before you roll it out.  If using frozen dought, transfer it to the refrigerator a day before you plan to make pizza, so it can thaw slowly, and then let it sit at room temperature for 30 minutes feore you roll it out.

Prepare a hot fire in a charcoal grill or preheat a gas grill on hight.  If the grill has a built-in thermometer, it should register between 500 and 600 degrees.  Have ready a 14-inch, non perforated pizza pan, preferably an inexpensive aluminum one.

While the grill is heating, place the onion, bell pepper, and the garlice in a bowl.  Toss the vegetables with the olive oil, oregano, red pepper flakes and salt.  Set aside.

Coat the pizza pan with vegetable-oil spray.  Remove the dough from the plastic bag and place on a lightly floured work surface.  Lightly dust the dough with flour.  Using a rolling pin, roll the dough into a 10-inch road without rolling over the edges.  Lift the dough occasionally to make sure it isn’t sticking to the work surface.  Shake the excess flour from the dough.  Lay the dough on the prepared pizza pan and gently stretch it into a 14-inch round.

To top the pizza:  Spread the marinara sauce over the crust, leaving a 1-inch border.  Arrange the mixed vegetables evenly over the sauce.  Scatter the artichokes over the top.  Arrange the tomatoes in a single layer over the vegetables.  Strew the olives over the top.  Evently distribute the cheese over the vegetables.

Place the pizza in the center of the grill directly over the hot fire and cover.  (Work quickly so the grill temperature doesn’t drop too much.)  grill the pizza until the crust is crisp and golden brown and the cheese is melted and bubbly, about 9 minutes.

Using a pizza peel or think oven mitts, remove the pizza from the frill.  Slice the pizza into wedges and serve immediately.

To make life easier you can use store bought or frozen pizza dough but with a wife who bakes having homemade dough is a great addition to any pizza.

With sweet onion, bell peppers, olive, tomatoes and marinated artichokes the pizza was loaded with flavor.

I used a pizza stone on my Traeger smoker instead of a grill. This pizza can be grilled very easy using an indirect method on a kettle or ceramic smoker

By cranking the smoker up to 425 degrees I got a nice browning on the crust. Not only did I never think I'd eat a meatless pizza but I never thought I'd eat a thin crust pizza. The cracker like texture of the thin crust was fantastic with the veggies.

This was a great pizza.

The recipe calls for store bought marinara sauce.  If your house is like mine you often times have a jar of store bought marinara sauce, but on those occasions when you don’t here is a simple, easy to make marinara/pizza sauce recipe you can use in a pinch.

Quick And Easy Marinara Sauce

Ingredients

• 2 tablespoons olive oil or vegetable oil
• 1 cup finely chopped onion
• 1 clove garlic, minced
• 1 28-ounce can crushed tomatoes in puree

• 1/2 teaspoon each dried basil and oregano
• 1 teaspoon sugar
• 1/4 teaspoon salt, plus more to taste
• Pepper, to taste

Instructions

1. Heat the oil in a medium-size saucepan. Stir in the chopped onion and sauté it for about 8 minutes, until translucent. Stir in the garlic and sauté for another 30 seconds.
2. Stir the remaining ingredients into the pan, then cover the sauce and bring it back to a simmer, stirring occasionally. Cook the sauce for about 10 minutes, stirring often. Add more salt and pepper to taste. Makes about 4 cups.

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Ingredients:

• 12 Vine Ripened Tomatoes
• 2 tablespoons Olive Oil
• 2 garlic gloves, peeled and smashed
• 3 cups Vegetable Stock
• 1 cup Tomato juice (I used V8 Juice.  Next time I’ll use Spicy V8 for a little more kick.)
• Pinch of Chili Flakes
• Pinch of sugar
• Salt (Kosher or Sea)
• 2 tablespoons Parmesan cheese, grated
• 1 tablespoons Oregano
• 1 tablespoon Extra Virgin Olice Oil
• 3 sprigs of Fresh Basil leaves, coarsely chopped

Preparation:

Pre-heat your grill.

Brush tomatoes with a slight coating of olive oil and grill them for 15 to 20 minutes or until the skin scorches and begins to peel.  Place tomatoes in a plastic bag and set aside to cool.

Peel and roughly chop 8 of the tomatoes.  Save all the juices and discard the peels.  Place the flesh and juice of the peeled tomatoes in a sauce pan with the remaining olive oil, garlic, vegetable stock, tomato juice, chili flakes, sugar, salt.

Simmer for 15 minutes.  Season with pepper and additional salt to taste.  Remove the garlic.

Place the four saved tomatoes in four warm bowls and ladle the soup over the top.  Garnish with a bit of parmesan cheese, oregano leaves and the fresh chopped basil.  Drizzle the soup with the extra virgin olive oil.