Easy Recipes for the Grill & Cucina – Paggi Pazzo

Preparing Grilled Stuffed Tomatoes is not something that came easily to me. At first I thought, “oh what to do with all of these tomatoes?!!?!?!?” That was a dilemma I had recently when my father-in-law presented me with half a dozen large tomatoes. Did I want to make pasta or pizza sauce? Did I want to chop them up with some basil and garlic for bruschette or crostini? The choices were limitless… or maybe not limitless, but you get the message. What I did instead was review what ingredients I had in the fridge and….wait a second, yes, come up with an idea for these very large pomodori. Today I’m sharing my recipe for Grilled Stuffed Tomatoes filled with Feta cheese, orzo pasta, onion, and peppers that are a perfect appetizer or meal to impress family, guests, or business partners and total strangers from Switzerland.

To prepare Grilled Stuffed Tomatoes, carve out the insides of the tomatoes with a spoon leaving close to a quarter-inch thickness (I saved the fillings and made pasta sauce the next day). Leaving a thick outside exterior will allow the tomatoes to absorb the heat and soften the inside while not allowing the stuffing to pierce through. Prepare the filling by boiling some water and cooking orzo for 10 minutes (al dente). Once the orzo is done, chop the onion and green pepper finely and add to a bowl with olive oil, salt, pepper, and crumbled Feta cheese. Stir for several minutes and then add the filling to the tomatoes (stuffing as much as you can), topped with a drizzle of olive oil.

It’s time now to get the grill started for our stuffed tomatoes, so add lump hardwood charcoal to a chimney starter (feel free to add some apple or cherry wood chunks) and ignite with a paper towel dressed in olive oil. Once the charcoal wood is grey, dump into the grill pit at one end. Now, since these stuffed tomatoes are large and filled to the brim, we don’t want to put them over direct heat, so place the tomatoes at the opposite end of the fire (with the sliced tops covering the filling) cooking indirectly with the grill closed. After 25 minutes move the tomatoes directly over the high heat zone of your grill for 5 minutes (without the sliced tops). Once the 5 minutes pass, remove the tomatoes from the grill and be prepared to feel overwhelmed with flavor! That’s all there is too it! So there you have it, Grilled Stuffed Tomatoes from Paggi Pazzo, enjoy!!!!

Grilled Stuffed Tomatoes Recipe
Published: October 23, 2012

Prep time: 20 min
Cook time: 30 min
Total time: 50 min
Yield: 4 servings

Ingredients

• 4 large tomatoes
• 1 small onion
• 4 tablespoons olive oil
• 1 teaspoon salt
• 1 teaspoon pepper
• 1/2 green pepper
• 1/2 cup Feta cheese
• 1 cup Orzo (Barilla)

Cooking Directions

1. Boil pot of water and when boiling, add orzo and cook for 10 minutes (until al dente) then, drain and add to large bowl with teaspoon of olive oil and stir (let sit and cool for 10 minutes)
2. Chop onion and pepper finely and add to large bowl with orzo. Then add Feta cheese (crumble if bought in whole block), with pepper, salt, and two teaspoons of olive oil. Stir for several minutes
3. Slice top of tomatoes and put aside, then carve out inside of tomato with knife to create a a bowl (save the inside of the tomato filling for sauce or another recipe)
4. Take orzo, feta, onion and pepper filling and place inside hallowed tomatoes then add a little extra olive oil to top
5. Start grill (if using gas grill fire up burners and maintain medium-to-high-heat) and use one 1/2 chimney starter filled with wood lump charcoal. Once wood charcoal is grey, empty into grill pit on one side of the grill
6. Oil grates with paper towel and then place tomatoes (with the sliced tops on top of the tomatoes) on grill at opposite end of the charcoal for indirect grilling
7. After 20-25 minutes, the tomatoes should be softening so remove the sliced tops and place directly over heat for 5-10 minutes
8. Remove from grill, drizzle top of tomatoes lightly with olive oil and rest for 5 minutes. Then ready to serve