Grillin’ Italian

Ciao and Buongiorno!

Welcome to Grillin’ Italian

We love to grill, we love Italian, therefore it makes sense that we would create a page dedicated to Grillin’ Italian.

Italian food showcases a lot of food that we love.

For example, tomatoes, mushrooms, garlic, olive oil, cheese, artichoke, eggplant, herbs, etc.

So, here we bring to you some of our favorite recipes that are Italian inspired for the grill.

We hope that you will enjoy them as much as we do.

Arrivederci!

Gordon and Julie

(Be sure to check back periodically to see what new we have grilled.)

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Grilled Colorful Bell Peppers with Mozzarella, Pesto, and a Basil Leaf

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Grilled Stuffed Portobello Mushroom Sandwiches w/ the Works!

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Grillin’ All The Peppers and Portobello Stuffed Mushrooms

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A Lovely Appetizer

Quinoa Stuffed Peppers with Feta and Spicy Pepperoncini Oil

(Baked in the Oven)

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Fresh Peppers

Sourdough Bread

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Our Sandwich Spread Ingredients

(For our Portobello Stuffed Mushroom Sandwiches)

This was a delicious sandwich spread and very easy to make.

My suggestion is to just eyeball the ingredients to your liking.

Of course you will need a Mayonnaise and a Mustard.

(I, Julie, used Dukes Mayonnaise and a Grey Poupon Dijon Mustard.)

I chopped some leftover Marinated Artichoke Hearts that we had in the refrigerator into small pieces.

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Just place the Artichoke into a bowl.

add some Mayonnaise and Mustard to your tastes.

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Grate in some Parmesan Cheese…

Stir Together

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Leftover Quinoa

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Beautiful Colorful Sweet Peppers

This was actually an afterthought.

We had some leftover Quinoa and these beautiful Sweet Peppers.

I, Julie, thought it would be great to stuff them with the Quinoa and bake them with some Cheese.

Here Gordon is slicing them down the middle and removing the seeds.

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Stuffing the Peppers w/ Quinoa

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The jar you see in the photo top left, is a favorite food of mine.

Cheese stuffed Peperoncini.

The oil has some heat and I love it! I will sometimes cut up other cheeses such as Manchego to marinate in that delicious oil. We don’t tend to throw it out. We use it whenever we can in our cooking and eating. Here I wanted it drizzled over the Quinoa and Feta Stuffed Peppers to be baked. Simply place them into a 350F oven for about 15 minutes or so until they are done to your likeness.

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Gordon Creating the Colorful Bell Pepper, Mozzarella and Pesto Appetizers

(This write up by Gordon)

Here, I am cutting our Bell Peppers into wedges using the natural curves of the pepper to hold the ingredients.

Now, lay the cut sections on a baking tray.

I like using the Fresh Mozzarella as it melts easily and tastes great.

Being pre-sliced is another good option.

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Use your knife to slice the Mozzarella sections to fit into the peppers.

Fill the pepper sections with the cheese as seen above.

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Jarred Pesto

Use about a tsp. of some nice Pesto to accent the Mozzarella as it needs some additional flavor.

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Here I scraped out the black gills of the mushroom with a spoon, as they don’t taste good when they are this big. I left the stem of the mushroom in, but it can also be removed and chopped up and mixed with the stuffing.

The Stuffing Ingredients for the Portobello Mushrooms

To make the stuffing we used Cream Cheese, Sharp Cheddar Cheese, Parmesan Cheese, Pecorino Romano Cheese. Fresh Garlic, Roasted Garlic, and Bacon. How can this combination of ingredients not taste delicious on anything?

To start, grate your cheeses into a large bowl

Sharp Cheddar

Now, add your Cream Cheese…

Then slice your Garlic thinly using as many, or as little as you like.

Once sliced, continue to chop them into a small mince.

Add the minced Garlic to the cheese mixture.

Chop the Roasted Garlic as well.

I like using the varied flavors of Garlic which make the stuffing mixture more flavorful in my opinion.

Add the Roasted Garlic to the bowl.

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BACON

Into The Microwave

We like to cook our bacon using this cup like device which keeps the cooked bacon away from the grease.

Using the microwave to do this is another plus!

Here are the results.

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We recently used most of the Grilled Artichoke Hearts which are in a nice seasoned oil. I thought it would be good to use this olive oil on the mushrooms to keep them from sticking and add some great flavor.

Use a brush to coat the olive oil onto the mushroom caps as shown above.

Here I am breaking up the bacon to place into the stuffing mixture. Be sure to taste the bacon to ensure it’s good!… Yeah right! Add some freshly cracked pepper then mix the bacon into the cheese mixture until well combined, then taste the mixture. You shouldn’t need any salt as the Parmesan Cheese and Bacon should have enough salt in them. Either way, add more ingredients as needed to suit your taste.

Use your best tool to load up the mushroom caps. Stuff them staying just below the stem as if stuffed too full, the cheese will run out creating a big mess.

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Here you can see all the items I am about to grill for this great meal.

I usually preheat the grill on high for about 5 min. then scrape off any excess items using a grill brush. Then I turn the heat down to medium and spray the grill grates with a high heat oil. Pam makes a brand especially for the Grill. Now, place your stuffed mushrooms on the main part of the grill.

I placed the stuff Bell Peppers on the top rack to bake.

When the mushrooms become pliable, remove them and place them back onto your baking sheet.

I then grilled the long sweet peppers for a few minutes on each side until they were soft and slightly charred on each side. When the cheese melts and the peppers are slightly softened, you can remove them and place them on a baking sheet. You may have to remove some liquid around the cheese during the cooking process or as least before you place them on the tray.

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Take the baking sheet and place the stuffed mushrooms under the broiler until browned as shown above. It will take a few minutes to broil them to this color.

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