Author: Round & About

Join in a free weekend of delicious food and fun in Abingdon

Tips and hacks
Recipe – Roasted Sheet Pan Salmon with Spring Veg and Pesto

With spring around the corner and gardens being spruced up for the warmer weather to come, Traeger – makers of world-leading premium wood pellet BBQ’s – are holding a Trager Fest Weekend, at Webbs of Millets Farm, Kingston Rd, Frilford, Abingdon OX13 5HB on 15th and 16th April.

There’s something for all foodie tastes at Traeger Fest. On the Saturday, Traeger will be showcasing Classic American themed food, including dishes such as delicious Smashed Burgers, Chicken Wings and Cookies.

Sunday’s theme will be traditional English Roast Dinner, including a range of tasty classics such Roast Pork with Roast Potatoes and Yorkshire Puddings – all cooked on Traeger grills.

BBQ lovers can pop along at any time, to experience music, delicious food, and Traeger’s famous wood pellet grills. A Traeger chef will be on hand all weekend to showcase the grills, share top grilling tips, and hand out delicious samples to try.

Everyone is welcome to come along and soak up the Traeger atmosphere and you might even pick up some lovely new plants for your garden whilst you are there!

Traeger tips, hacks and recipes – 2023

What’s your top trick for cleaning your grill?

• Clean little and often rather than letting it build up. Using a Traeger cleaning spray helps.
• Wipe it down while it’s still hot! It’s much easier to do than when it’s cold. If you don’t have a wooden Traeger scraper, a ball of tinfoil works really well. Do this either at the end of your cook or once you’ve preheated the BBQ.
• For the grill grate itself, grill brush to scrape away large pieces and then a half onion on a hot grill to sterilise and flavour. The acids in the onion will help lift the grease.

What’s your top BBQ cooking hack?

• Always give yourself more time than you think you’ll need! Worst case scenario, the food is done a little early. Wrap it up, put your oven on the lowest setting (usually around 60c) and keep it warm.
• No matter what happens with a cook, even if it goes wrong, it can more than likely be recused and still turned into something amazing.
• Re-season your food with the rub you have used to start with, it adds a big depth of flavour.
• To BBQ the juiciest chicken wings with the crispiest skin – cook them at two different temperatures. Start by smoking them low and slow to lock in the flavour, then half way through – turn up the temperature to crisp up the skin.
• Wrap an assembled burger in foil and put it back on the grill. Takes it to the next juiciest level!

What trends do you think will be big this year in BBQ?

• Cheaper/ different cuts of meat will feature heavily as people want better value for money with the cost of living crisis and want as much bang for their buck.
• Mexican food such as tacos and easy one pot recipes such as  Goulash or stews.
• Smoking food and cooking low and slow are going to be big trends this year. This method of cooking is definitely becoming more popular in the UK with dishes such as smoked pulled pork, ribs and wings.
• We see more and more foods getting ‘smashed’. It started with the avocado, then we had burgers last season… Now we can see smashed potatoes next
• We should start to see more plant based and gluten free products as health comes to the top agenda.
• Batch cooking will return and with the mindset of healthy meal planning and reducing food waste.

What’s your go-to veggie dish to cook on a BBQ?

• Moroccan vegetable tagine or buffalo spiced cauliflower steaks.
• Corn on the cob with any Italian hard cheese and chilli melted on top.
• Grill Hispi cabbage, then while still hot, drizzle a jalapeno or chipotle honey sauce, making sure it gets between the layers. Finish with crumbled feta and crispy onions.
• Smoked cream cheese is a great little snack when you have people round. Sprinkle some rub onto the cheese and then drizzle on some hot honey once it’s done. Break out the ritz crackers and boom, your finest smokey, cheesy sharing dish.
• A smoked, confit vegetable tart.
• Vegetable pockets. Mix together Carrots, peas, cauliflower and broccoli mix together in a white or cheesy sauce and wrap it all up in puff pastry.

What’s your go-to veggie or vegan dish to cook on a BBQ?

• Braised carrots in a stock that’s flavoured with everything you will find in pickle vinegar, then smoke then and serve them as ‘not dogs’.
• A tray bake is always a good one to do. Throw in some new potatoes with a load of veggies. Sprinkle some Traeger Veggie rub over the top and bake in the Traeger until everything’s lovely and soft.
• Some smoked confit tomatoes which make an incredible bruschetta or a fantastic brown sugar and cinnamon slow smoked butternut squash.

Why are pellets the best way to grill?

• Wood pellets are clean, efficient, cost effective, family friendly and they produce the most incredible clean smokey flavour.
• Pellets are the best way to grill as they enhance the flavour of whatever you are cooking, depending on which wood flavour you use. You get such a big punch of flavour even from a small number of pellets.
• Wood pellets give you all the smoke flavour you need, with none of the hassle. You don’t have to worry about fire management like other methods of grilling, which means you can put 100% of your focus on the food and have 1 less thing to stress about.

How to cook the perfect steak?

• Use the reverse sear method. Season your steak with Traeger coffee rub, set your Traeger to 110c and insert the built in probe or Meater probe. If you like a medium rare steak, once the internal temperature hits 46c, remove the steak from the grill.  Put the Traeger cast iron on the grate to heat up first, then add the steak and turn up the temperature as high as it goes. Sear each side for just a couple of minutes until you’ve hit 56c internal.
• Always use a good rub that’s made for the type of meat you are cooking. With Steak – use a beef rub.
• Use a steak that is at least a 1-inch thick and has the same thickness throughout, to ensure a uniform cook throughout the steak: Reverse Seared Ribeye Steaks Recipe – Traeger Grills
• Most importantly, let the meat rest, so any juices have come out before serving.

Ingredients

• 1 Thick cut steak (no less than 1″) of your choice
• Traeger Blackened Saskatchewan Rub
• Steak needs to acclimatise to room temperature, so allow it to rest out of the fridge for around 30 minutes. If you hit your steak with heat straight from the fridge, it will contract and seize up and you will have a tough piece of meat.

• Pat your steak dry with some kitchen roll and season liberally with traeger blackened Saskatchewan and leave it on the side for 30 minutes.
• Set your traeger for 100 degrees c using Traeger Signature pellets where possible.
• Place your meat probe into the thickest part of your steak, making sure you avoid any fat as this will increase your temperatures.
• Grill on both sides as you prefer.

How important is it marinade meat or fish before you BBQ?

• It’s important for a few reasons. A marinade will add flavour, help tenderise the meat and lock in important juices. Try adding marinade or re-season while the meat or fish is resting to add even more flavour.
• Don’t overpower with too much rub or marinade, so that the star of the show doesn’t lose its identity.

What would be the perfect dish to create on your grill to celebrate the King’s Coronation?

• Coronation roasted rack of lamb with an asian style marinade served with roasted potatoes and green salad.
• Probably a suckling pig, with smoked apple sauce, red cabbage, beer gravy, loads of roasted veg and roasted potatoes!
• A coronation Chicken burger! A classic BBQ food, with a coronation twist. Who doesn’t love a good burger?
• King Charles is a very keen farmer so perhaps a classic roast beef with all the trimmings, championing the UK produce would be the best BBQ meal, fit for a king!

Roasted Sheet Pan Salmon with Spring Veg and Pesto

Prep time: 10 mins | Cook time: 12 mins | Serves: 4

The beauty of this recipe is that it all cooks together in 10-12 minutes! Salmon is such a crowd-pleaser on the grill and is a perfect match for these spring vegetables with pesto. But how often do we focus on crispy salmon skin? This recipe cooks the salmon with the skin side up for a beautiful presentation for those who love the skin. And if you don’t care for it? No worries! Cook it skin-side down and it will still be beautiful.

Ingredients

• 4 Salmon pieces (100g), skin on, pin bones removed
• 3 tablespoons olive oil
• Rock salt and freshly ground black pepper
• 16 fresh asparagus spears, sliced into 2.5cm pieces
• 180g cherry tomatoes, rinsed and halved
• 300g sugar snap peas
• 1 1/2 lemons halved
• 85g fresh pesto
• 2/3 lemon, zested
• Fresh basil leaves for garnish

Steps

1. When ready to cook, set the temperature to high and preheat, lid closed for 15 minutes.

2. Rinse the salmon and pat dry with paper towel. Brush all sides of the salmon with 2 tablespoons of the olive oil, and sprinkle generously with salt and freshly ground black pepper on all sides. Place the salmon pieces skin-side up on the sheet tray (or down if preferred) leaving 2 inches between each piece.

3. Place the asparagus, sugar snap peas and cherry tomatoes in a bowl. Gently mix the vegetables with the remaining tablespoon of olive oil, 1/2 teaspoon salt and a fresh grinding of pepper. Scatter the vegetables evenly onto the sheet pan.

4. Place the sheet pan on the grill. In addition, place the lemons cut-side down directly on the grill grate towards the front of the grill. Close the lid and cook for 5 minutes at 80°C

5. After 5 minutes, remove the lemons from the grill and stir the vegetables. Close the lid and cook for 5 more minutes, or until the fish reaches an internal temperature of 60°C and can be flaked with a fork.

6. Remove the sheet pan from the grill. Place the fish and vegetables on a serving platter and drizzle with the pesto. Sprinkle the lemon zest over the top of the fish and vegetables and add a few basil leaves for garnish. Serve immediately. Enjoy!