Pellet Smoker Cooking: Smoked meatballs & polenta, with tomato sauce

Cooking for five now plus trying to take photos is a challenge. I have been posting three or four times a week but I may have to drop back some. It is fun though, more rewarding to cook and have everyone like your meal.

While in Las Vegas back in Feb. I cooked some frozen turkey meatballs with sauce & pasta. Everyone liked it so that is what I decided to cook. This time I would do the meatballs with tomato sauce & polenta squares and do part on my smoker.

I found a recipe on Food TV net by Alton Brown for savory polenta. I thought home made meatballs would be better but using the frozen ones is a time saver and would make this an easy meal. Early in the morning I cooked the polenta, poured it in a dish to set up in the fridge. I pureed a can of Muir Glenn fire roasted tomatoes & added an 8 oz. can of tomato sauce to it to make my sauce.

I fired up the smoker & got my meatballs on at 4:30 to smoke for 45 min. At 5:00 I cut the polenta into squares & got it ready to go on at 5:15. At 5:15 I took the meatballs off, turned the smoker to 300 deg. and put the polenta on. Oh I forgot to mention there is an extra dog in the family too; so now I have two dogs following me from the smoke deck to the kitchen. Especially when I am carrying food!

When I had the polenta on I sautéed some red onions & green peppers in some olive oil. When the onions were getting clear I put the smoked meatballs in to cook awhile. I added the pureed sauce and seasoned with some garlic powder & Penzey’s Italian Blend seasoning. When it was bubbly I partially covered & turned to simmer. I had some take home & bake ciabata bread I baked in the oven.

At 5:45 I turned the smoker to 325 deg. to finish up the polenta. It all came together pretty well & we ate a little after 6:00. I served it all up with some extra parmesan cheese for on top. A pretty good meal!

Some ingredients