Sunday, March 23, 2014

Buffalo Chicken Meatballs, Pizza, and a Party


The college basketball tournament has unquestionably earned its nickname so far this year with all of the upsets and overtime games, hasn't it? Another slew of games is lined up today and I have just the ticket for some game day eats - buffalo chicken meatballs. 


First, with their spherical shape and orange buffalo sauce, the even look like mini-basketballs.  Second, the Buffalo chicken flavor profile is long associated with the big games.  Third, these fantastic treats can be used in a variety of ways - from snacking on them individually, making them into sliders, or using them to create a hearty sub. 

These Buffalo Chicken Meatballs are my first contribution as a member of the Char-Broil All-Stars team and you can see the entire post here at Charbroil Live: It's A Slam Dunk!  Buffalo Chicken Meatballs.  


Pizza on The Grill
Kamado grills (Big Green Egg, Primo, Kamado Joe, etc) are well known for cooking spectacular pizzas.  The trendy pizza places like Brixx Wood Fired Pizza and Hard Knox Pizzeria are all using high temp wood fired ovens to get a unique crust.  A kamado grill can easily replicate the brick oven pizza because it's basically a small brick oven.  

I know that 95% of you don't have a kamado grill on your back deck.  But one of the emails that hit my inbox touted a new product that converts most 3 burner or larger gas grills into a gourmet pizza oven - the Bakerstone Pizza Oven Box.  I haven't tried it but it seems like a very interesting idea.
Photo Credit:  BakerStone

Here's the blurb from the email:

BakerStone’s patent-pending design raises the temperature of outdoor gas grills to that of a real wood-fired brick oven, reaching temperatures of 600-800° F.  By fusing a remarkable cooking chamber made of refractory stone surrounded by a unique air flow system to utilize convective, conductive and radiant heat, BakerStone’s Pizza Oven Box achieves unparalleled baking and cooking performance. The BakerStone Pizza Oven Box bakes not only pizza, but is also great for baking breads and cookies, as well as roasting meat, fish and vegetables. 

They should roll out this month at Bed, Bath, and Beyond and Do It Best stores in the US.  In Canada they are available at London Drugs and Home Hardware.  They appear to run about $149 at Bed, Bath, and Beyond which is probably a reasonable cost if you will use it often, especially if you already have $400-500 invested in your gas grill.
I've also seen "pizza kits" for standard kettle grills, too.

Photo Credit:  Amazon
The most frequently referenced one is the KettlePizza Basic Kit for 18.5-Inch and 22.5-Inch Kettle Grills.  I think Weber has introduced their own insert and were rolling it out in the UK but maybe I was dreaming that because now I can't seem to find a link for that one. 

If anyone out there has any of these or has tried using one, I'd love to hear your thoughts.

Blogger Party
We are happy to announce that the 5th rendition of our annual blogger party will be held at Almost Heaven South on either June 7 or 8.  We still have the final date and theme to work out but wanted to tell you the possible dates in hopes you would pencil it in on your calendar.  We would appreciate if you would mention it on your blogs as well so more people will be aware of the event.  

Everyone has been so busy we haven't even met to nail down the details but that should come out very shortly.  It's been a fun event for the past 4 years and we'd love to add a few new bloggers.