Don’t let a good grilling day go to waste as we near the end of summer. Get as much lovely grilled flavour as you can before the leaves turn and everybody gets into braising and baking. Here are three of my favourite things to grill right now.
PEI Grass-fed Beef
I like to marinate this beef before grilling. Some olive oil, fresh lemon thyme, chopped garlic and black pepper do the trick. Put the steak in the marinade before you leave for work, when you get home brush off the garlic and thyme, it’s done its job and will only burn on the grill, season the steak well and fire up the barbecue. Because this cow never ate corn or grains the meat is definitely more toothsome, I like to cook it to just medium rare, the bloodier the better. Grill up some skewers of crimini mushrooms and cherry tomatoes while the steak rests and you’ve got dinner. Serve with a big and beefy red wine.
Rainbow Trout
Kolapore Springs is the best for rainbow trout especially because we like to ensure that all the fish we eat is from a sustainable source. Grilling a whole fish is a real pain if you don’t have this basket. Make sure to rub or spray oil all over the basket before you set the fish inside. We score the fish a few times on each side and season it well, seasoning the inside as well before stuffing it with fresh herbs, like chives and tarragon, and sliced lemon. Serve with Greek salad of fresh tomatoes, cucumber and feta, some tzatzkiki and grilled pita bread. Oh, and don’t forget the rosé!
Pork and Rapini Sausage
They make this sausage in-house at Fiesta Farms and it is one of our favourites to use in a sausage and pepper hoagie. To make this a full on grilled meal we don’t sautée the peppers and onions in a frying pan (save that for the cold weather months!), we skewer them instead and the flavour of the grill makes them super sensational. Grill your sausages and skewers, while the sausages rest you can turn your boring old supermarket buns into something better. Split the hoagie buns, butter them and grill them buttered side down. Once toasty spread on some grainy mustard (Kozlik’s is hands down the best mustard on earth), maybe a slick of garlicky mayo, or a drizzle of olive oil and cider vinegar instead, nestle the sausage in the bun and put the, now de-skewered, grilled onions and peppers over top. Serve it with a hearty caponata salad and ice cold beers.
