Cheese and potato bake cooked on the Traeger Timberline 850 wood pelle

Comfort food cooked over smoke as a side to a meat dish is sensational

Every barbecue meat dish needs a side and this comfort food dish is ideal for those less than warm days we see so much in the UK. In this recipe we have used raw potatoes but you could just as easily use par-boiled or cold leftovers. Just make sure you cook them until they have nice golden crispy edges. If you want to add a little more flavour just add some grated garlic or some finely chopped shallots.

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Ingredients:

1.5kg (3lb 5 oz) salad potatoes; quartered
3 tbsp extra virgin olive oil
2 teasp garlic powder
2 teasp dried Italian herbs (oregano, thyme, parsley, basil, rosemary)
sea salt
fresh ground black pepper
250g (9oz) mozzarella; grated
120g (4oz) Parmesan; grated

Equipment:

Dutch Oven or casserole dish

Pre-heat the Traeger and the Dutch Oven or casserole dish, to a medium heat, 175C (347F), with an indirect zone. You don't need a Traeger to cook this dish it can be cooked on any gas or charcoal barbecue.

Place the potatoes, olive oil, herbs, salt and pepper into a bowl and thoroughly coat the potatoes. Tip them out into a Dutch Oven, cover and cook over the indirect heat for 15 – 20 minutes until the potatoes are cooked. This will depend upon the size of your potatoes, so if you want them to cook faster cut them up into smaller pieces.

Sprinkle with the cheese and cook for a further 10 minutes with the lid off until the cheese has melted into the potatoes. You can use any of your favourite cheeses but the mozzarella gives a lovely gooey element to the dish.

Serve with any meat dish, especially delicious served with steak.