Easy Recipes for the Grill & Cucina – Paggi Pazzo

One of the great American past times and excuses to get together for a few adult beverages is smoking meat. It is the definition of relaxing and taking it easy, especially on a warm summer day (or frigid winter afternoon as I have done in the past, but hey – I don’t discriminate against Mother Nature my friends) where you can kick back and have a few cold ones to make the time pass. It also allows people like myself to use my smoker-box (which is attached to my charcoal grill) and take advantage of an American tradition of slow cooking that few other countries celebrate like we do here in the great U-S-of-A! But there are other traditions to consider, such as males occasionally wearing USA lettered thongs in the work place (not something I would do or suggest – but I’m just sayin’!).

The Beast is fired up and smoking ribs, just how we like it!

When it comes to pork ribs or smoking of any kind, I’ll be the first to tell you that I’m no expert, but I am an enthusiast who loves to try and smoke just about anything (on the grill that is people!!! I’m a parent now). Whether it be pork loin, pork roast, whole chickens, beef ribs, etc… I’ll give it a shot, but my favorite without a doubt is pork spare ribs. I like to let them smoke for about 5-6 hours using hickory and apple wood and just easin’ back on a lazy Sunday afternoon. I keep trying until I get it right, or until it tastes good enough that I can’t wait to do it again!

When preparing your ribs make sure to wash them thoroughly and remove the membrane from underneath the bones across the rack (I would show you a photo of that but I’m trying to encourage hunger, not nausea). Once the ribs are ready, I prepare my rub of paprika, cayenne, garlic powder, onion powder, oregano, espresso, salt, black pepper, and dried thyme (you can buy a dry rub if you like but make sure it’s specific for pork). Mix all the ingredients together and then spread it generously on both sides of the ribs and rubbing into the pork. I always do this the night before to allow the rub to really sink into the meat.

To start the smoker, I use 2 chimney starters of hardwood lump charcoal and once the wood charcoal is grey, dump them into the smoker-box and add a few wood chunks and chips that have soaked over night (you might need to add more wood charcoal as the cooking progresses and you don’t want to put too many wood chunks and chips in the beginning because too much smoke will dry out the ribs quickly). Now, finally – it’s time to put the ribs on the grill! I put the ribs bone side down with a pan of water underneath the grates. Under the water, I’ve placed bricks in the grill pit, wrapped in foil to help absorb heat in the grill, while the water provides moisture for the ribs.

Maintain a temperature of 225 to 250 degrees and for the first few hours, it’s a good idea to refrain from opening your smoker-box or grill and letting the heat/smoke exit. To preserve the tenderness of the ribs, it’s important to add a “mop” to the ribs (dressing) so I like to add honey bbq sauce into a small foil pan and place on the grill. Every 30 minutes after the 3rd hour of smoking, I lather the ribs with the honey bbq sauce alternating sides (close to the 5th hour of smoking, you can also throw some corn wrapped in aluminum foil into the smoker-box for about 30 minutes – the corn comes out very succulent this way and my 2-year old loves it). Most experts, depending on the style of ribs will use an apple cider and vinegar mop during the smoking process but I like to off-set my spicy rub with a bbq sauce flavor. After about 5-6 hours, check the ribs to make sure they’re tender and use a meat thermometer to check the pork’s temperature. If the temp says 165 degrees, then you know it’s time to eat!

To go with this I’ve made Focaccia style garlic bread with fresh rosemary, basil, garlic cloves, olive oil, Reggiano Parmigiano and Pecorino Romano over fresh Ciabatta bread (you can use a French baguette as well).

Normally I might prepare some margarita’s for smoked pork ribs but there’s no replacing an ice cold beer on a hot day so crack open a Corona to go with those bad boys because you’ve earned it!

Smoked Barbecue Pork Ribs Recipe

Prep time: 1 hour

Cook time: 5 hours

Total time: 6 hours

Yield: 6 servings

Ingredients

• 1 Rack of Pork Spare Ribs
• 3 tablespoons brown sugar
• 3 tablespoons paprika
• 3 tablespoons black pepper
• 2 tablespoons salt
• 2 tablespoons garlic powder
• 1 tablespoon onion powder
• 1 teaspoon cayanne pepper
• 1 teaspoon espresso
• 1 teaspoon dried thyme
• 8 ounces honey bbq sauce

Cooking Directions

1. Clean pork spare ribs by removing membrane and washing under sink.
2. Mix all rub ingredients together within bowl (paprika, cayenne, salt, black pepper, garlic powder, onion powder, dried thyme, espresso, and brown sugar) and generously pour and rub into ribs on both sides.
3. Cover ribs in wrap and place in refrigerator overnight.
4. Soak hickory and apple wood chunks overnight, then drain before use.
5. Prepare smoker/grill with 2 chimney starters full of hardwood lump charcoal and when turned grey, place in smoker-box with some wood chunks. As ribs smoke, continue to add more wood chunks periodically.
6. Lay pork ribs onto grill bone side down, and close grill and smoker-box for several hours maintaining a temperature of 225 to 250 degrees.
7. After 3 hours, dress pork ribs with honey bbq sauce, alternating sides every 30 minutes.
8. After 5-6 hours, when ribs are tender and at or near 165 degrees, take off grill and let sit for 5 minutes before cutting into strips.
9. Take remaining bbq sauce from pan and dress over ribs.
10. Ready to serve.

When I need to make a quick pasta and I’ve got some left over ground beef, because….well who doesn’t have left over ground beef? I like to throw together, what I’ve self-proclaimed Pasta Primavera con Polpette, which can sometimes be whatever vegetables I have left in the fridge with whatever short pasta is in my pantry. By no means is this a “specialty dish” but it’s easy to throw together (perhaps not as easy as Pasta Aglio e Olio) and it’s a hardy pasta with healthy ingredients that your family will enjoy. As always, I’m going to suggest vino with this (shocker!!!) and any red table wine is a nice compliment to this dish, such as Montepulciano d’Abruzzo (that’s a shout-out to all of my Abruzzi amici…hip-hop Ah-bruzz-ohhh, hey, ho…. that’s how they roll down there). So here it is from Paggi Pazzo – Buon Appetito!

Pasta Primavera con Polpette

Prep time: 30 min

Cook time: 30 min

Total time: 1 hour

Yield: 4 servings

Ingredients

• 1/2 pound cellentani pasta
• 3 teaspoons olive oil
• 4 garlic cloves
• 6 whole basil leaves
• 1/2 sweet onion
• 8 ounce crushed tomatoes (San Marzano)
• 12 cherry tomatoes
• 1 zucchini (medium size)
• 1/2 pound ground beef
• teaspoon salt
• teaspoon pepper
• 2 bay leaves
• teaspoon milk
• teaspoon Italian breadcrumbs
• 1/4 cup Reggiano Parmigiano

Cooking Directions

1. Chop 1 clove of garlic, 2 basil leaves, 1/4 of onion for polpette.
2. Prepare polpette in a bowl by mixing ground beef with chopped garlic, onion, basil and add pinch of salt and pepper, teaspoon of milk and breadcrumbs (when I have the time I make my own but you can use pre-made) and mix together with hands.
3. Create little “meat balls” but press down to create more oval shape and place on cooking tray and into pre-heated oven for 30 minutes at 400 degrees.
4. Chop remaining garlic, basil, and onion while slicing cherry tomatoes in halves and zucchini into thin slices.
5. Begin to make primavera sauce in a large pan with olive oil, remaining chopped garlic and onion.
6. Prepare pasta pot and add pinch of salt to water.
7. Once garlic and onions begin to melt into the oil, add crushed tomatoes, cherry tomatoes, bay leaves and chopped basil, salt and pepper, and cook sauce at a low heat.
8. After 15 minutes, add cooked polpette into the sauce and stir gently.
9. When pot of water is boiling and cellentani (you can also use a variety of short pasta if you’d prefer).
10. After 4 minutes of boiling water, add zucchini to pot of pasta and stir. Continue to stir until 10-11 minutes when pasta is “al dente”.
11. Strain pot of pasta and zucchini and move to sauce.
12. Stir all ingredients together and add grate Reggiano Parmigiano generously over pasta.
13. Place into pasta bowl and devour!

La Pizza Margherita is the classic and quintessential dish of Napoli, Italia and as the locals will tell you there, no one in the world makes better pizza (although my Roman family would beg to differ and likely find a way to get some pancetta on there too). What is so fantastic about this pizza is how simple and basic it is but at the same time how delicious the few ingredients blend together. Less is more and in this case, rather than stuff your pizza with a 1,000 toppings and dilute the taste of each, the few included burst with flavor!

The recipe for La Pizza Margherita (you have to say it with the “la”, for no other reason than to lift your hands in the air and press your index finger to your thumb and wave them like you’ve been red carded in a soccer match at the San Siro in Milan) is actually very simple and will take you no time. You can cook the pizza either on the grill or in the oven. I find it easier to cook the pizza in the oven and a little bit faster than firing up my charcoal grill – although my brother loves to make pizza on his gas grill, so either way can work and it’s up to you and your available time. I also find it necessary to have a bottle of red (preferably Italian in this case) to help me through the process. A nice table wine of Sangiovese or Chianti is a typical accompaniment to this pizza. So here it is from Paggi Pazzo, “in bocca al lupo!“

Recipe by Paggi Pazzo

La Pizza Margherita

Prep time: 30 min

Cook time: 30 min

Total time: 1 hour

Yield: 8 slices

Ingredients

• Home made Napoletana dough recipe
• 12 ounces crushed tomatoes (San Marzano)
• 8 ounces fresh mozzarella
• 3 cloves garlic
• 3 tablespoons olive oil
• 10 fresh basil leaves
• 16 ounce fresh dough
• handful of flour
• pinch of salt and pepper

Cooking Directions

1. In order to make the sauce, add oil to pan at medium heat for 2 minutes.
2. Add garlic and 2 chopped basil leaves for 3 minutes
3. Add crushed tomatoes, salt and pepper
4. Let cook for 30 minutes at low heat
5. Preheat oven to 425 degrees
6. While sauce is slowly cooking, add flour to top and bottom of dough
7. Begin to poke and stretch dough slowly to flatten out
8. Take dough roller and spread dough out to a fine thin spread
9. Lightly brush pizza stone with olive oil
10. Once dough is nice and flat, put dough onto pizza stone
11. Add sauce to pizza dough
12. Slice fresh mozzarella and spread across pizza
13. Add 2 basil leaves cut in 1/2 across pizza
14. Cook for 25-30 minutes, until cheese is slightly browned and crust is crunchy
15. Take pizza out and add remaining basil leaves whole
16. Ready to serve!

One of my favorite things in the summer time to cook on the grill is paella. This Spanish dish is a classic from southern Spain that has been repeated, imitated, and replicated a million times over, everywhere in the world. What I love about grilling paella is the benefit of cooking it over a wood-fire charcoal grill. The smell that illuminates from the wood really accentuates the meats, fish, and dish itself. One of the things though I would recommend before trying this at home is to get a large paella pan or iron skillet because the heat from the wood fire could damage your nice kitchen pots and pans and we don’t want that to happen. Along with the paella, it is essential to have a nice jug of Sangria to accompany it. The Spanish had it right when it came to good eats and drinks and one day I plan on traveling over to the Iberian nation to get the real stuff. But for now, I’ll just keep trying to emulate our Spanish brothers/sisters. Below is my recipe for grilled paella, how to prepare it, and what ingredients you will need. ENJOY and Salud!

Grilling paella over a wood fire on a charcoal grill.

Prep time: 30 min
Cook time: 30 min
Total time: 1 hour
Yield: 10 servings

Ingredients

• 3 tablespoons olive oil
• pinch each salt and pepper
• 1 vidalia onion
• 3 garlic cloves
• 1/3 of a cup flat leaf parsley
• 1/2 teaspoon saffron
• 1 red pepper
• 1 tomato
• 1/3 of a cup green peas
• 2 chicken breasts
• 4 chicken legs
• 3 chorizo
• 14 mussels
• 10 littleneck clams
• 24 small shrimp
• 3 cups Arborio or Arroz a la Valenciana (rice)
• 3/4 cup Marques de Caceres Rioja Blanco (white wine)
• 6 cups Chicken Stock

Cooking Directions

1. Prepare grill with hard lump charcoal wood within a fire starter and use 2 pieces of oak and/or hickory.
2. Chop garlic, onions, red pepper, parsley, and tomato finely.
3. De-vein and skin shrimp and wash all clams prior to cooking.
4. If using frozen green peas, be sure to thaw prior to cooking.
5. Season chicken with salt and pepper and cut chicken breasts both across and sideways to create 4 halves.
6. Add saffron to small cup of hot water
7. Place large skillet or paella pan over the fire when lump-charcoal wood has turned a nice grey and dumped into the charcoal bottom pan (make sure to have a safe zone on the grill to move meats, seafood, and cooking pan if fire becomes too hot).
8. Add olive oil to pan and allow to simmer
9. Add garlic, onion, and peppers to pan.
10. Add parsley and tomato once the garlic, onions, and peppers begin to carmolize for about 5 minutes.
11. On the other side of the grill, begin to cook the chicken and chorizo over high heat, searing the outside for 3-4 minutes on each side. Once ready, remove from grill and cut chorizo into 1/3 inch pieces.
12. Begin to add arborio or arroz a la Valenciana for 2 minutes to saute.
13. Add Marques de Caceres Rioja Blanco and stir, until dish begins to boil.
14. Add saffron and chicken stock, until dish begins to boil (10-12 minutes).
15. On other side of grill, begin to cook shrimp, clams, and mussels. Only allow clams and mussels to open slightly before taking off grill.
16. Add chicken and chorizo to pan.
17. Add all seafood to pan and stir (add more chicken stock or water if dish begins to become dry and/or move pan to a safe zone on your grill) for 3 minutes.
18. Add green peas and salt and pepper.
19. Ready to serve!