Tuesday, April 6, 2010

Oh Hell Why Not Spaghetti?

It was a gorgeous evening tonight. The white blossoms and green leaves of the Bradford pear trees were cast across the brilliant blue canvas of the sky. A frisky male cardinal shrilled loudly, trumpeting the arrival of Spring. And the smell of spaghetti sauce on the grill wafted through the air.

What? What do you mean you can't cook spaghetti sauce on a grill?

This isn't a recipe, I wasn't even planning on posting this. It was just a fun cook tonight. I took our normal spaghetti sauce outdoors.

Got the Big Green Egg up to 350f and put on the cast iron dutch oven to preheat. Then we browned Italian sausage.

When the Italian sausage is almost browned, I added in our aromatics (chopped onion, peppers, and garlic).

Next came the spices & stuff (oregano, basil, red pepper flakes, salt, pepper, brown sugar), tomatoes and water. By now, the opening and stirring brought the Egg temp up to 400f.

I let it simmer uncovered in the closed Egg until the sauce thickened almost to the consistency I wanted. Then I put the lid on the dutch oven and let it go another 10-15 minutes.

Here is the one serious tip from tonight: Ever notice how "spaghetti" is often so much better leftover than the first night? I made "leftover spaghetti". I added about 3/4 lb of cooked angel hair into the Dutch Oven, stirred it around, put the lid back on and let it sit for 30 minutes. The cast iron kept it warm and the noodles soaked up the sauce. It was perfect "leftover spaghetti" on the first night.

Now if only I could figure out a way to keep those *%$&ing noodles from falling through the #(@* grill grate when I try to grill them.....

PS: I promise a real recipe is coming Friday night but this one and the next post were just me having fun.