Camping Interior Cooking

From VW T25(T3)-Tech
Jump to navigationJump to search

Full Recipes

Courgette Carbonara

Fritz: I came across this simple Italian Classic recipe at our local Free music festival....Bickerstock 2008.

Ingredients:

4 Medium Courgettes + 500g Penne Pasta

4 Large Egg Yolks + 100ml Double Cream

2 Handfulls of freshly grated cheddar cheese

10 Slices of Bacon, cut into chunky lardons

Fresh or dried Thyme + Olive Oil

1) Put a large pan of salted water on to boil. Dice the Corgettes into smallish pieces, roughly the same size as your pasta. When your water is boiling add your pasta;

2) To make the creamy sauce, mix together your yolks,cream and half of your cheese in a bowl and season;

3) Heat a large frying pan, and add your corgettes to the pan and add 2 big pinches of pepper. Sprinkle in a big pinch of thyme and give a stir. Fry until the courgettes are soft but firm;

4) Now you have to work quickly. When the pasta is cooked, drain it and then immediately toss it in the courgettes and bacon before adding your creamy sauce,stirring it and remove it from the heat. Continue to sir but no more cooking is required;

5) Serve ASAP and sprinkle with your remaining cheese.

Bubble & Squeek Pasta

a1Winchester: Here's a good 'bung it all in' type recipe. You need a largish frying pan / saucepan though.

Ingredients:

Cooking Oil; Bacon rashers; Onions; Garlic (optional); Tinned Tomatos; Tomato paste / sun dried toms; Vegetable stock; Pasta; Greens (Cabbage / Broccoli / green beans - whatever!); Herbs & seasoning to taste.

Quantities - up to you. Experiment with it. It depends on how many you are feeding and how big your appetite is. I always make FAR too much!

Dice the bacon and onions and fry gently in a little oil. When translucent (not brown), add the crushed garlic and fry this gently for a minute or two. Make up a pint or more of veg stock and add to the pan with the tinned toms and tom paste / sun dried toms. Sometimes I add a slug of white wine here, but I prefer to drink it rather than boil it away in the mix if I'm honest.

Add herbs and seasoning, then chuck in the pasta. Cover and simmer until the pasta is nearly cooked, then add your greens. Keep simmering until the greens are cooked, and the fluid has reduced to a tasty sauce. Serve!

Done! Only one pan to wash up plus your plates, K & F.

There are many ways to vary this. Add a tin of drained tinned tuna in brine, or sweet corn, chicken pieces, etc. etc.

Penne all' Amatriciana

lhd: Easy to make and Yummy too

For the sauce

3-4 tbsp extra virgin olive oil

1 onion, peeled and chopped

1 pack of pancetta from Tesco

500g/1lb 2oz ripe cherry tomatoes, cut in half

Salt and freshly ground black pepper

For the pasta

1 tsp salt

2 litres/3½ pints boiling water

250g/9oz penne pasta

20g/¾oz parmesan cheese, finely grated, to serve

1. For the sauce, heat the oil in a frying pan, add the onion and cook over a medium heat for about 2-3 minutes, until softened.

2. Add the bacon to the pan and fry gently until lightly golden-brown, about ten minutes

3. Add the tomatoes to the pan and stir well.

4. Reduce the heat and simmer until the tomatoes begin to break down, about five minutes. Season, to taste, with salt and freshly ground black pepper, but take care with the salt as the bacon is salty.

5. For the pasta, place the salt into a saucepan of boiling water and add the penne.

6. Boil for 8-10 minutes, or according to packet instructions, until al dente (the pasta should give some resistance when bitten into). Drain, then add to the pan with the sauce and mix well.

Rob.

Suggestions - General

Making more space for cooking

HM: Whenever we can (3 day stay) we put our Khyam shelter-tent up and cook in that, gives us a lot more scope, and keeps cooking smells and condensation out of living quarters.

Ditto camper awnings.

Pasta Sauces

Pasta with all sorts of home-made (or Grossman-based) sauces is our standby and easy with large enough gas hobs, with a good dressed salad always the best complement.

Tomato based sauces > Lidls do good sized tins of marinaded salmon, mackerel.. for little over a quid each. That's 50p/person for the protein bit. Mushrooms are also good with tomato sauces.

Pesto based sauces > Runner beans (perfect combination in your pasta pesto) are also a good standby, runners or French beans keep very well in a plastic bag in your fridge (without blanching).

Reheated take-away food

ghost123: I know it's cheating, and I know they say you shouldn't do it, but we have done it lots of times.

Buy a couple of takeaway curries on the way to the campsite.

Leave them in the containers to go cold.

Put them in the van fridge.

Then, when required...

Gently heat the curry in a pan till "piping hot"

Plonk the rice in boiling water and just wait till it comes back to the boil.

Enjoy a nice curry :)

Remember though, it is my civic duty to point out that this procedure does go against the advice on re-heating cooked food :shock:

NB. See H&S below. Curry's should only be re-heated once.

Equipment

Coffee making

HM: Lots of people do like a nice expresso in the morning, often using a Mocha Express type, or a cafetiere.

A few of us have now bought Bialetti Mukka Express(es) which can also make a nice Cauppucino

They take a bit of learning and cleaning, but really do make a pretty good Cappucino.

Picture of a Mukka Express

HM: A good sealable tin to store your pre-ground fresh coffee - buy a plastic sealable lid tin of suitably ground coffee, use the coffee and keep the tin... Then grind your own or buy and refill before leaving on your camping trip

Economical long life foodstuffs

HM: Bought in quantity (e.g. Costco) tins of sardines, mackerel, salmon are economical, very good sources of protein and easy to use (wash tins out afterwards with hot cooking water)


Pictures

Pasta a la tent ... with essentials, good company, beer and music, warmth courtesy of the cooking process...

Camping cooking JS 01.JPG ... and don't forget the parmesan!

Camping cooking JS 02.JPG

Health & Safety

Reheating food! Particularly meat dishes... keep cool (tents & campers can get very hot in sun) - Only reheat ONCE and heat through thoroughly. Be careful with pork and foul, cook it thoroughly.

When barbecueing, it is not a bad idea to pre-cook sausages and chicken in an oven. Then one can relax and barbecue to give that nice barbie taste quickly without burning them to within an inch of their lives. And if someone nicks one prematurely, then they won't get ill.

When barbecueing, a good idea is also to break one of (the many) sausages in half to check it's cooked through, before serving them all

Children: Be aware they may not be able to tolerate slightly undercooked food as well as (hardened) adults.

NB. If you are cooking other people's food on a barbecue, make sure they know they also are responsible for the freshness of ingredients and the final outcome, and shouldn't take anything for granted (don't let children pick from the barbie unless you know its done 110%).