Pellet Smoker Cooking

Oct 06 2016

A simple supper for tonight, simple to fix and fun cooking out on a nice 80 deg. fall day. I did this on my Traeger pellet smoker and Weber gas grill and cooked the pasta inside.

I got a pound of pork sausage from my butcher, added a Tbs. of Penzey’s Italian sausage mix and in the fridge for an hour. I then added an egg and 1/3 cup of Panko bread crumbs then in the fridge another hour. I then made the meatballs about a Tbs. each and ended up with 20; they went in the fridge about 2 hours until ready to smoke.

I smoked the meatballs at 195 deg. on my Traeger for an hour. 45 minute sin I heated a CI skillet on my Weber gas grill and browned the meatballs for 10 minutes stirring once. I added a jar of Newman’s Own fire roasted tomato and garlic sauce. I let it heat for 5 minutes then transferred to the pellet grill set at 200 to simmer while I cooked the pasta and toasted some garlic bread.

I had some nice crusty bread with some gorgonzola chive butter, a little dried garlic and some Penzey’s sandwich sprinkle I toasted under the broiler.

The wife and I both thought it was pretty good. We both had a simple Romaine salad on the side. I know some homemade sauce might have been better but I am getting older and shortcuts are getting to be welcome in my kitchen! At least I made up the meatballs myself!

Meatballs made up

Smoked an hour

Browning on the grill

Sauce added

My salad

My supper

Jun 10 2016

I had seen where someone used Cheez It crackers in meatloaf in place of regular crackers and raved about it. I decided to try them in some Italian meatballs I planned to have for our supper. Our son and wife gave me one of my Father’s day presents early, a cast iron garlic roaster I wanted to try for some garlic bread. You just have to have some good garlic bread with spaghetti!

I made up the meatballs early; a pound of ground chuck, a tablespoon of Penzey’s Italian sausage seasoning, one egg and a cup of Cheez It’s crushed. I covered with plastic wrap and then in the fridge until cook time. I spent the afternoon trimming grass with beer breaks!

The grandson came down at 4:00 to water the tomatoes and flowers for me. He said he would stay for supper; he called his Mom and she said sounded good and would come after work, our son was working.

I put the meatballs on the Traeger on smoke 185 deg. for about 50 minutes. I then pre-heated a cast iron skillet with olive oil on the stove and then out on the smoker and put the meatballs in it for about 15 minutes to brown some. I had turned the smoker to about 275 deg. grill level. I added my sauce; Newman’s Own tomato basil sauce, and was in another half hour. Total cook time about 1 hour 50 minutes.

With an hour to go I had fired up my Weber Spirit on med. about 400 deg. and added the garlic roaster. I had cut the tops off of two whole garlic bulbs, added some olive oil and a little salt. I used the gas grill to toast some rolls coated with butter and to grill the Romaine sprayed with olive oil. I had my pasta cooking inside and ready to serve all at 6:30. I had some balsamic vinegar infused with honey for the Romaine and parmesan for toppings.

We all thought it was a good meal but the verdict on the Cheez It’s was save them for snacks!  No one liked the meat balls that well. The roasted garlic was a hit with the wife and DIL. I think because it is a milder garlic taste, I like a more sharp garlic taste.

Ingredients

Meatballs made

On the smoker

In the skillet

Sauce added

Garlic, Romaine & rolls toasting

Ready to serve

My salad

My supper

Mar 30 2016

I made up the meatballs before mowing the grass. I got 19 meatballs from the 2 lbs. of ground meat. I smoked them on my Traeger for an hour at 190 deg. I browned them up with some brown butter and then in a Crockpot while I made the gravy and cooked the spaetzel noodles.

My gravy did not thicken up the way I wanted it. I just am no good at gravy from scratch and better off using the packets. I had some hard crust rolls I buttered and sprinkled on some Penzey’s sandwich sprinkle for garlic bread.

It was good but just not enough flavor there for me. I guess I am too used to meatballs with onions, garlic and seasoning and some good rub! I just now looked over the photos and realized I forgot to add the onions to mine. Duh, that might have made them better!

The recipe came from a young lady named Chungah who has a cooking blog damndelicious.net. If you are like me and enjoy changing the cooking method and adapt to my smoker or grill she has a lot of good looking recipes so check her out.

Click Here for link to recipe

Ingredients except tho onion!

The meatballs

After an hour of smoke

Browning them a little

Making the gravy

Spaetzel noodles

Toasted garlic rolls

My salad

My supper

Nov 19 2015

I was glad the day turned out pretty nice for doing the meatballs out in the smoker. I made up the meatballs early using the gift of Turkish spices, Kofte Bahari (mixed spices), Pul Biber (red pepper) and Kisnis (Coriander). I set the bowl in the fridge for a little over an hour to let all the flavors meld.

Turkish meatballs I think are typically made with ground lamb but the recipe I adapted had substituted ground beef. I wanted to mix in some ground lamb but could not find any so I used some ground pork sausage. After the meat mix had set I made up the meat balls and covered with plastic wrap and they set in the fridge about 3 hours before smoking. I got 13 meatballs from the pound of meat.

The meatballs are usually served with flat bread or pita bread. I found some mini Indian naan bread that looked perfect to use. Red cabbage is a good side, either as a slaw or cooked. I used a recipe by Bobby Flay from food network that looked good, it had orange and lime juice, olive oil, garlic and onion pureed for a dressing.  I made up the slaw a couple hours before cooking. For another side I nuked some cauliflower and then browned it in a skillet with butter.

 I had my Traeger heated to 200 deg. about 215 deg. grill level when I put the meatballs on. After 35 minutes I eased the temp up to 315 deg. grill level. They cooked a total of an hour 15 minutes and were done at 6:00 PM. I checked about 10 minutes before and they were at 156 deg. IT so went inside and nuked the cauliflower for 2 minutes then in a skillet with some butter to brown a little.

I brought the meatballs inside in a covered dish while the cauliflower finished browning. I served the meatballs on the naan bread topped with some garlic yogurt sauce and parsley for garnish. I served the slaw and cauliflower on the side.

Click Here for printable meatball recipe
Click Here for link to slaw recipe

For the meatballs

Mixed up

Meatballs made

For the yogurt sauce

For the slaw dressing

Slaw made

Meatballs about done

My Supper

Sep 11 2015

I was hungry for something different so I took a quart jar of Italian gravy from the freezer and thought of having it with pasta. I thought some spaghetti squash would be better and would make some Italian meatballs.

It was a cool day and rained all afternoon so my plans to do it all outside was nixed again. I had a small spaghetti squash and did it early in the oven then just reheated it at supper time. I like to cut them in half raw and remove the seeds and bake on a sheet pan. I place foil on the pan, a little water and a pat of butter then place the halves over the butter cut side down. I bake at 385 deg. and this small one was done at 45 minutes. When a fork easily pierces the skin they are done.

You can cook them whole first then cut in two but for me it’s easier to remove the seeds when they are raw. It is probably safer since they are hard to cut in half when raw, it’s a wonder I have never cut myself!

I made up the meatballs and in the fridge a couple hours before smoking and cut up some small sweet peppers. I put the sauce on to simmer and cook down for a couple of hours. The Italian gravy is on the thin side and wanted to thicken it some.

I did the meatballs in my Traeger at 180 deg. for an hour and a half. I had a sweet onion with the top cut off and sliced part way through with some olive oil sprayed on and the cut up peppers I added the last 45 minutes. The onion could have been in the whole time. I was glad my smoker is on my covered deck so I could get them smoked.

When they were done I took inside, heated a skillet and browned the meatballs some, added the onions I had cut up. Cooked a minute then added the peppers and then the sauce. I simmered it for 15 minutes then heated the oven to 375 deg. and did some garlic knots for 4 minutes.

I served the meatballs & sauce over the spaghetti squash I had reheated and topped with some parmesan cheese. That sure tasted good.

Click here for printable meatball recipe
Click here for printable gravy recipe

For the meatballs

Meatballs made up

Squash cut & ready to bake

Done baking

Removing the meat

Onion cut, ready to smoke

Peppers ready to smoke

All done on the smoker

Ready to cook with sauce

Sauce cooking down

Meatballs browned

Onions added

Peppers added

Ready to serve

Garlic knots

My supper

Jan 24 2015

It has been ages since I made some Italian gravy. The recipe is from the Frugal Gourmet. I used to watch his show and have most of his cookbooks. I liked the guy until I found out he liked little boys. I made a batch early so it was ready to use for supper. It makes a large batch and will keep about a week. I will freeze some of mine too. The gravy would be great with any BBQ meats too.

I had bought some Italian meatballs at Krogers that looked good, Margharita brand. I got the idea of fried ravioli from the Mississippi Current cookbook and followed a recipe by Giada of food network for using frozen cheese ravioli.

Toasted or fried ravioli comes from the Italians in St. Louis. When I hear St. Louis I think of ribs and BBQ but the fried ravioli is another favorite food there.

I breaded the ravioli ahead; dipping in buttermilk then coating with Italian seasoned breadcrumbs. I shallow fried them in a skillet with ½ inch of olive oil at 325-350 deg. about 1 ½ minutes per side. The meatballs I placed in a skillet and in my convection oven at 375 deg. for 20 minutes turning half way. I then poured the grease off and wiped out the skillet, put the meatballs back in and poured some Italian gravy over and heated up while I did the ravioli.

The grandson was here since his Mom had to go in for work and his Dad was working. I served the meatballs in a bowl with some of the gravy to dip the ravioli in too. I warmed up some of the Red Lobster biscuits to have too. The wife and I liked the ravioli but the grandson wasn’t crazy about them. He ended up eating 5 meatballs though!

The daughter in law didn’t get here until 7:00. I had 3 ravioli left so heated up the oil and fried them for her. She made a salad and had a biscuit. She liked the ravioli.  The ravioli would make a great appetizer or part snack too. It is usually served with marinara sauce and I think ranch or blue cheese dressing would be good too.

Ingredients for the gravy

Sauteing the veggies

Gravy on to simmer for two hours

Breading the ravioli

Meatballs baked

Italian gravy added

My supper