Can we share camping recipes?

[Suz]

If we can, I made a great meal tonight that will definitely be part of the camping collection of recipes with very little adaptations.

I found it on a blog - smittenkitchen.com

Only adaptation I would make is to use olives w/o pits as they get confusing when eating the non pitted ones with the toasted almonds on top. I also always prefer dried chick peas and soaked mine throughout the day today before making it.

Squash and Chickpea Moroccan Stew

Serves 4 to 6

1 tablespoon unsalted butter

1 tablespoon olive oil

1 medium yellow onion, small dice

4 medium cloves garlic, thinly sliced

2 teaspoons ground cumin

1 (3-inch) cinnamon stick

Salt and freshly ground black pepper

1 pound butternut squash, large dice

3/4 pound red potatoes, large dice

2 cups low-sodium chicken or vegetable broth

2 cups cooked chickpeas, drained

1 (14-ounce) can diced tomatoes, with juices

Pinch saffron threads (optional)

1/2 preserved lemon, finely chopped

1 cup brined green olives (Aida recommended Cerignola)

Steamed couscous, for serving (directions here and elsewhere on the web)

Fresh cilantro leaves, roughly chopped, for garnish

Toasted slivered almonds, for garnish

Plain yogurt, for garnish

Hot sauce of your choice (for serving)

Heat butter and olive oil in a 3- to 4-quart Dutch oven or heavy-bottomed saucepan with a tight fitting lid over medium heat. When oil shimmers, add onion, garlic, cumin, and cinnamon, and season with salt and freshly ground black pepper. Cook, stirring occasionally, until spices are aromatic and onions are soft and translucent, about 5 minutes.

Add squash and potatoes, season with salt and freshly ground black pepper, stir to coat, and cook until just tender, about 3 minutes. Add broth, chickpeas, tomatoes and their juices, and saffron, if using. Bring mixture to a boil then reduce heat to low. Cover and simmer until squash is fork tender, about 10 minutes.

Remove from heat and stir in preserved lemon and olives. Serve over couscous garnished with cilantro, almonds, and yogurt.

[Katherine]

Yum!!! What are "preserved lemons"??

[gyork]

CAMPING recipe? Suz, it has not been a pleasure to be WITHOUT your company on my many kayaking safaris!

[Suz]

I couldn't find preserved lemons and so left them out. I did find a recipe though and it was just quartered lemons salted and they make their own brine. In a few weeks time, the whole thing becomes edible, skin and all. I think I might try making some as it is Meyer Lemon season and they are so tasty.

Yes, camping recipe. I look for things that would last for a trip but still be fresh. The onion/potatoes/squash/dried chick peas will all travel well. That yummy goodness all over a bed of whole wheat couscous would be delicious after a cold day paddling.

[jason]

Suz,

Thanks for the pointer at that blog!

This won't be for camping but I think that I am going to have to try to make the scones this week:

http://smittenkitchen.com/blog/2012/10/roasted-pear-and-chocolate-chunk-scones/

[John Martinsen]

Not a recipe but a great piece of gear I've found essential for backcountry culinary delight:

https://www.frybake.com/ I have the larger one and it's fabulous.

Morning's I'll make biscuits using bisquick and a few other ingredients, nuts, dried fruit, oatmeal and grapenuts go into the mix for some long burning goodness. The trick is to make the batter thick so you can cook three or fourat a time. Great to make a larger batch and eat them throughout the day, great for peanut butter.

A Thai stir fry with rice is easy and tasty for dinner. Cook the rice set aside. Stir fry veggies of choice and add a jar of Thai green curry and a can of coconut milk. Simple and easy to make with lots of flavor.

[jason]

Looking at the cookware I found the "The NOLS Cooking Show" channel:

Looks fairly interesting.

-Jason

[Suz]

The frybake pan looks similar to the one I use:

http://www.altrec.com/backpackers-pantry/outback-oven-ultra-light?cm_mmc=Mercent-_-Google+PLA-_-Backpacker%27s%20Pantry-_-131542&mr:trackingCode=1FA37F38-FC0B-E111-AC9E-001B2163195C&mr:referralID=NA&mr:adType=pla&mr:ad=18027139617&mr:keyword=&mr:match=&mr:filter=21201823497&origin=pla&gclid=CPLKztrB77MCFQ-e4Aod3G8Axw

Although, I don't use it much as I find it is great for two/three people but I am usually traveling with more. I do bring the tent parka as it is very useful in saving fuel and keeping things warm when the stove is off.

[Michael_Crouse]

"I find it is great for two/three people but I am usually traveling with more"

They do make a larger 10" oven, but it does start to get a bit excessive since it comes with the 10" pan too. You can use the pan as a standard frying pan though. The 8" ultra light used to come with the pot/pan as did the 14" oven, which was called the "Outfitters Oven". I've seen people use the diffuser (scorch buster) and a fry pan with the pot for a lid. It did a respectable job for biscuits but I wouldn't want to make pizza in it.

[kate]

Not a recipe but a great piece of gear I've found essential for backcountry culinary delight:

https://www.frybake.com/ I have the larger one and it's fabulous.

Morning's I'll make biscuits using bisquick and a few other ingredients, nuts, dried fruit, oatmeal and grapenuts go into the mix for some long burning goodness. The trick is to make the batter thick so you can cook three or fourat a time. Great to make a larger batch and eat them throughout the day, great for peanut butter.

A Thai stir fry with rice is easy and tasty for dinner. Cook the rice set aside. Stir fry veggies of choice and add a jar of Thai green curry and a can of coconut milk. Simple and easy to make with lots of flavor.

I was the happy recipient of both these recipes. The frybake was the smash hit of our trip. I wish it would fit in my little NDK hatch openings.... maybe the smaller one....

My own recipes will probably not hold a candle to Suz's offerings. Maybe I'll dig out the cobbler recipe though. Soup with dumplings, and cobblers with steamed biscuit crust are easy to make in a single pot from dry ingredients. These are my standard go-to meals for camping.

[Pintail]

Can anyone tell me why "cobbler" is called cobbler, please? (Excuse the bl**dy font: I am flummoxed in my attempts to get the correct one -- it seems to change itself at will) Cobblers are (were) people who soled shoes, surely? Where is the connection between <them> and a dessert? (Maybe the first attempts tasted...like old leather?) ;^)

[EEL]

Christopher:

From that authoritative source Wikipedia:

"Cobblers originated in the early British American colonies. English settlers were unable to make traditional suet puddings due to lack of suitable ingredients and cooking equipment, so instead covered a stewed filling with a layer of uncooked plain biscuits or dumplings, fitted together. When fully cooked, the surface has the appearance of a cobbled street.^[1] The name may also derive from the fact that the ingredients are "cobbled" together."

Ed Lawson

[gyork]

HOMEMADE OATMEAL:

Mixed this up last week and tested on my little stove and passed the test. (Big batch to enjoy at home; adjust as necessary)

3 c. oat bran

9 c. rolled oats

1/2 c. quinoa flakes

1.5 c. dried fruit, your choice (mine=apples, peaches prunes, apricots), dice in food processor

1 c. raisins

1. c. seeds, your choice (mine=pumpkin, sesame, sunflower, chia)

1 c. nuts, chopped, your choice (mine=almonds, walnuts)

Add 1/3 to 1/2 c. mixture to cookpot and add enough water to cover, and then some, stir, cover, and let set overnite.

This allows fruit to rehydrate and starts some kind of germination process on the seeds that releases ?valuable nutrients/enzymes or some such thing (so I am told). In A.M. heat over stove to boil, while stirring and adjusting water content to desired consistency. Add homemade maple syrup to taste, find a sunny ledge, and blissitate (your choice).

Edited December 6, 2020 by gyork

[rfolster]

Is anyone dehydrating their own foods (fruits, veggies, meats, etc.)? What process are you using and how successful is it compared to store-bought?

[EEL]

Rob:

The process to dehydrate fruits and veggies in a dehydrator at home is not that hard, but does take time. Basically takes longer than you might expect to prep and leave in dehydrator. Otherwise, the end product is fine.

Except for things to chew on, I'm not a fan of dehydrated foods since you need to hydrate them and that means using up water and spending time messing about. Well, experiences in the Boy Scouts do not help either.

Of course I have the quirky old mountaineer attitude that food is just fuel, and the main priorities for meal preparation are quick and easy.

Ed Lawson

[JohnHuth]

I'm seriously thinking about getting a dehydrator, if so, I'll report back. As it is, I will smoke things and take them along on trips.

Bluefish is so plentiful in August, that it's a great time to smoke it, and it lasts quite a long time. I suppose you have to have the taste for it, but it works for me.

In terms of recipes, I've found that you can do a lot with ramen as a base starch, have some premade sauce in a baggie, and them some dried meat to add to it.

Another trick that I like is to put dried beans in a baggie to soak, maybe around noon, and then it doesn't take a lot of cooking in the evening to get them to work out. Rice and beans make a good cheap power-food.

Now, on the very low end of things, I talked with some thru-hikers in the hundred mile wilderness about how they did stuff on a budget. One guy said he bought a couple of jars of peanut butter, two or three of those 'stacks' of bagels, and just accordion-squashed them to fit into his pack, and powered from Monson to Kahtadin on that (also cranked out 30 mile days)

[Suz]

I have dehydrated but only when I have an excess of something from the garden/CSA. It isn't worthwhile to dehydrate from the grocery store as there is no financial or nutritional benefit to it. I do have a pasta meal where I dehydrate veggies - eggplant, zucchini, onions, peppers, kale and then add it to a box of pomi and cook up the sauce while camping.

What I like better than the dehydrator is the food saver. I find that is immensely useful for food prep for trips. I bag up prepped veggies and seal them up. They keep nicely for a couple of days when stored this way. Veggies I do this way: peppers, onions, celery, carrots. I bake ahead of time sweets for dessert and then package them up in blocks and they keep nicely this way.

Alternate between canned beans and dried beans for camping. (When using canned, you use less water. They are higher in sodium and not as healthy as dried beans. Plus they just don't taste as good.) When rehydrating, I like to put the dried beans in a nalgene and add water. Watch them though because if you put too many beans in, they soak up all the water and are very difficult to get out. Much easier if you use two nalgenes! Also using dried, you get to use different beans than the run of the mill beans found in cans.

[jason]

Is anyone dehydrating their own foods (fruits, veggies, meats, etc.)? What process are you using and how successful is it compared to store-bought?

I have dehydrated a lot of apples over the last two falls. I like to core them, then cut them fairly thin (medium blade on the mandoline) . I dry them in the oven cracked a little set to ~140F. It doesn't take that long and it makes great apple chips.

[Michael_Crouse]

Dehydrating food from the grocery store can make good financial sense.

Just shop the reduced rack! You can pick up mushrooms for 50 cents a package then dehydrate them. Compared to the price of dried mushrooms it's a bargain.

[gyork]

It's been several years since I posted the recipe above for OVERNIGHT OATMEAL, but have refined it slightly to look like this:

3 c. oat bran

6 c. rolled oats

1 c. each of steel cut oats, farro, and whole oat groats

1/2 c. seeds each: pumpkin, sesame sunflower, chia, flax

1 c. each raisins and shredded coconut

1 tsp each of cinnamon and allspice

Mix all above and store in cupboard.

Before retiring for the night, Add ~1/3+ c. dry mixture to cookpot and add equal amount or more of water, stir, cover, and let set overnite.

Warm first thing in the morning and enjoy with ~1T (homemade) maple syrup.

 

Note: I found the grain samples above at my local food co-op, first testing a small sample soaked overnight. They add a chewiness that I rather enjoy, and is a substitute for 1 c. nuts which are always optional. The ratio that works for me as a starting base is bran:oats/grains = 1:3. The rest is left to (your) imagination.

[PeterB]

Dehydrated hummus was one of the prepared foods (prepared by others))  that I benefitted from on a kayak trip.The beauty of dehydrated hummus is that it can be rehydrated in a number of forms: less water makes it the consistency of  , say, oatmeal or mashed potatoes  , more water and  it can be very  creamy, and anything in between. It stores and travels well , and rehydrating is easy.  

Edited December 6, 2020 by PeterB