This is the time of year for camping and festivals, and this video aims to show how camping cookery can be more exciting than baked beans and quick cook pasta. The two recipes I show here are Baked Apples (because, let’s face it, it’s often chilly in the evenings when camping) and Grilled Pear and Blue Cheese Salad.
I’ve used a ‘Dutch Oven’ technique to bake the apples on a camping stove. Using a heavy casserole dish such as Le Creuset, with a tightly fitting lid, means you can imitate oven cookery on the stovetop.
Baked apples recipe:
Serves 4
For the Mincemeat:
100g (2) apples, grated
50g (half a stick) butter
80g (1/2 a cup)raisins
50g (1/3 cup)sultanas
50g (1/3 cup) currants
50g (1/3 cup) mixed peel
100g(1/2 cup) soft dark brown sugar
1/4 tsp cinnamon, ground
1 tsp mixed spiced, ground
1/4 tsp nutmeg, ground
a swig of brandy
4 whole apples, cored
200g (1 cup) caster sugar
2 vanilla sticks
A glass of white wine
Water
300ml (1 1/2 cups) double cream
Grate the apples, no need to peel.
Melt the butter in a heavy Dutch Oven style casserole then add grated apple and dried fruits.
Mix well, add the sugar and spices.
Allow to simmer until sugar is dissolved and the fruit is nicely combined.
Add the brandy and simmer for ten minutes.
Set aside this mixture into a bowl.
Meanwhile core 4 apples. Stuff the holes with the mincemeat mixture.
Using the same pan, place the apples inside so they fit tightly.
Add the sugar, vanilla sticks, white wine and fill the pan up with water until it reaches halfway up the apples.
Close with the lid and simmer for 20 minutes.
Serve the baked poached apples with cream.
Pear and blue cheese salad
This is a classic combo.
Serves 2 to 4 as a starter
2 pears, sliced
A knob of unsalted butter
150g blue cheese, sliced
150g (3 cups) rocket leaf salad
50ml (1/2 cup)Olive oil
Juice of 1 Lemon
1 tsp of Malden sea salt
1 loaf Crusty bread
Core and slice the pears. Warm up the pan and add a little butter. Griddle the pear slices until slightly golden.
Add a bed of rocket leaves on the plate. Lay out the slices of blue cheese on the lettuce. Then add the warm pear slices.
Make the dressing in a cup. Pour the dressing over the pears/cheese and salad
Add a sprinkle of crunchy sea salt
Serve with bread
Other camping cookery suggestions:
Serge Lescouarnec
July 29, 2014 at 11:58 pmKerstin
In the 'fish in newspaper' department, I shared this Mackerel, Trout Recipe from the 'Scandinavian Kitchen' by Camilla Plum some 3 years ago
Serge
theundergroundrestaurant
July 30, 2014 at 8:42 amYes it's an oldie but goodie. A real fisherman's trick.
Cate Lawrence
July 30, 2014 at 9:17 amLove the salad, I'm not camping but living in a teeny apartment for a year in Germany so these kind of recipes are really helpful
Kerstin Rodgers aka MsMarmiteLover
July 30, 2014 at 1:43 pmCate, I spent almost 6 years cooking on a two ring burner in my Paris flat. Read the cooking sardines on a Parisian fireplace post. We were six floors up, with no access to the outside so ended up doing 'barbeques' in the fireplace and growing vegetables in the window box. Nevertheless I managed to do some pretty amazing meals on my camping gaz 2 ring burner (this was years before Rachel Khoo's tiny Paris kitchen programme, but all Paris kitchens are minute).
Cate Lawrence
July 31, 2014 at 1:52 pmsadly no fireplace or balcony but we are blessed to have a dishwasher and I used to teach preserving back in Australia so I've got a head start already. We're also going to start some underground dinners 🙂
Kerstin Rodgers aka MsMarmiteLover
August 1, 2014 at 10:53 amOh great well do register on Find a supper club and put up your dates!
Helen
July 30, 2014 at 6:09 pmLove it! Kerstin Rodgers cooking show, please.
Also love how there is a giraffe just ambling about in the background.
theundergroundrestaurant
July 30, 2014 at 10:09 pmThanks Helen! And congrats on your Sainsburys piece. At first I was a bit tense in the video because I had to do two recipes in one take in three minutes which wasn't easy, have to really summarise everything in one or two sentences, but once I got cooking I relaxed. This was filmed at Africa Alive in Norfolk which is a really cool place. We were trying to recreate Africa, geddit? 🙂
Beach Hut Cook
July 31, 2014 at 3:22 pmLove it Kerstin. Always good to hear you you proper. I "hear" you when I read your book but this is just great. Elinor x
Kerstin Rodgers aka MsMarmiteLover
August 1, 2014 at 10:52 amThanks Elinor x