Cath and Math go camping » barbecue

Seven Things Every Camper Should Own

Math — Fri, 09 Jul 2010 09:28:43 +0000

I contributed to The Guardian’s G2 camping trip with a brief list of essential camping gear. The Guardian writers camped not far from where I live, at Wowo, which Cath and I visited earlier in the year. I provided a list of seven items, one of which was salad, inspired by Cath’s five-a-day barbecue to stave off camper scurvy; another is a campfire tripod, made for me by a local blacksmith, Terry Tynehurst in Glynde.

Totem Pole at Abbey Farm campsite in the Cotswolds

As satisfying as well chosen gear is, objects and consumption are not the point of camping; while a newspaper is not the right place to admit to feelings of mysticism in the night woods, I will give full vent to camping mysticism at my forthcoming event at Port Eliot Festival, We Are Camping.

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Camping gear – Camping cookware

Cath — Wed, 16 Jun 2010 11:43:12 +0000

If your campsite allows campfires, then the fire is the heart of your camping cookware. All you need is a grill, propped up with some bricks or hung on a chain from a tripod. A campfire is also a ravenous bin, burning up food waste and cardboard packaging.

Trangia, grill and campfire, small gas stove and camping kettle

If you are camping at a festival, don’t bother with cooking your own food. There is nowhere to wash up and you will miss all the fun while you are frying bacon.

I always prepare two “just pitched” meals and some breakfast rolls: after pitching the tent, sorting out the bedrooms and lighting the fire, I don’t want to do a big shop or cook, I want to crack open a beer, warm something on a campfire and watch the children leap about.

Grill

We have ditched the barbecue but kept the grill, propping it up with bricks or stones, and using it to cook over the campfire.

Trangia

The methylated spirit stove (Trangia) packs down small and comes with saucepans, a frying pan and a tiny kettle. But it can only cook one thing at a time. A two ring propane stove lets you extend your culinary options, but will take up more space.

Crockery and cutlery

Because you can’t always use your fingers. And pack a wooden spoon or two for stirring, a nylon sieve, and a fish slice. And tongs, for turning hot meat.

Kettle

A whistling kettle with a handle that folds flat.

Corkscrew and can opener

Not just the old rusty ones in the kitchen drawer but ones that actually work.

Skewers

Wooden or metal ones for kebabs.

Meat thermometer

If I’m cooking a joint of meat or a bird over a campfire, I like it perfectly done, and because you are not using a domestic oven, with its reliable temperature, a thermometer spares the campfire cook all that uncertain prodding and poking.

Using the grill, the tin foil, with lock-and-lock containers and mixing bowl

Paring knife

Look for a very sharp paring knife with a protective cover. A bread knife, wrapped in a tea towel to protect the serrated blade, is also required; if someone could invent a camping bread knife with a cover, I’d be very grateful.

Plates, bowls, melamine mugs and a chopping board
We experimented with folding plastic mugs and plates, which I was adept at assembling but which completely defeated Math. I replaced them with melamine equivalents that should last us until the end of time.

Potato peeler and vegetable brush

For scrubbing and peeling spuds. I have an abrasive glove that I use to clean my spuds.

Opinel knife

A sharp knife is always useful. A sharp knife that folds back into its handle is essential. Hence the design classic that is the French Opinel knife. Used for cutting vegetables, whittling kindling, removing things from bike chains, opening packets etc

Serving and mixing bowl

You can eat salad while camping, it is allowed.

Lock-and-lock containers

Any sealable plastic containers are useful for storing leftovers.

Tin foil

To cook a large joint of meat on the campfire, you will have to wrap it in tinfoil once it has been browned.

Cath’s camping gear checklist:
Camping Gear – Tent and the basics

Camping Gear – Camping cookware

Camping Gear – Food and drink

Camping Gear – Hygiene

Camping Gear – Sleeping bags and camping lanterns

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Cath’s campfire roast dinner: Lamb shoulder with aubergine and flat bread

Cath — Fri, 21 May 2010 16:35:00 +0000

On a windy field in the Cotswolds, I roasted some lamb shoulder over a low campfire. The field was around the back of Abbey Home Farm with a view of the surrounding land, upon which the lamb in question had been organically reared.

I have cooked lamb shoulder steaks on an open fire before. They are an ideal cut for the campfire, with a goodly amount of fat, so they are less liable to dry out. I reckoned a larger joint might work.
Math set the fire and balanced a grill, keeping the meat well out of the flames, but close enough so that it would cook. I rubbed the joint with salt, pepper and olive oil and placed it on the grill. After turning it a couple of times, it was browned and sealed. To speed up the cooking and keep moisture in, I then wrapped it in tin foil. I can’t give cooking times, because it depends on the ferocity of the fire. A joint like this, with a substantial bone in it and side of fat, doesn’t require exact timings.

Once it was nearly cooked, I removed the joint from the foil and exposed it to the fire again, to crisp up the outside. I am considering taking a meat thermometer on my next camping trip, Math thinks this is a utensil too far, but for cooking larger joints of meat on the fire I’m going to put it down as a necessity. I am quite good at telling when meat is cooked by pressing it and judging how bouncy it is, but the bigger the joint, the harder that is to do.
Once the lamb was ready, I set it aside to rest for fifteen minutes. Then I flapped some thin slices of aubergine down on the grill. Lightly charred aubergine has a smoky flavour that fits campfire cooking. For substance, I nudged some homemade flat bread dough onto the grill, the plan being to serve the lamb with the aubergine wrapped in garlicky, soft, warm bread. Here’s my recipe for making flat breads on a campfire.

Cath’s campfire flat breads
This takes a bit of prep at home, where I weigh out the dry ingredients and store them in a sealed plastic bag. I also take a little extra flour in case my dough turns out a little too wet.
Dry ingredients:
500g strong white bread flour
1 1/2 tsp dried yeast
1 1/2 tsp salt
What to add at camp:
300ml warm water
1 clove garlic, finely sliced
4 or so tablespoons of olive oil

Make the dough as soon as the fire is lit. You want it to rise before you cook it. In a mixing bowl, put the dry ingredients and mix the water in with your hand. You can knead the dough in the bowl. Do this for at least five minutes, ten if you can. You want a smooth dough, not too wet or dry. Add some more flour or water to achieve this. Leave it in the bowl covered with a damp tea towel by the side of the fire, so that the dough rises.
Leave it for at least forty minutes, longer if you can. Finely slice the garlic clove and mix it into the olive oil. Once you are ready to cook the breads, shape them by pulling off tangerine-sized lumps of dough, roll it into a ball in your hand and then flatten it as thin as you can, dip it into the garlic flavoured oil and throw it on the grill. Once the underside is browning and bubbling up a little, flip the bread over to cook the other side. Serve immediately.

Sliced aubergine grilled over the campfire
2 aubergines
Olive oil
1 clove garlic
Salt and black pepper

This is so simple. Aubergines thrive when cooked over a fire, getting just the right smoky crisp texture. Simply slice the aubergine 1/2 cm thick, brush with quite a lot of oil, but not so it is dripping. Cook over your fire until it is charring, flipping once. Crush a clove of garlic and put in a serving bowl with salt and pepper. When each slice is done on both sides, put it in your serving bowl with the salt, pepper and crushed garlic. Mix thoroughly, you can eat hot, warm or cold.

Abbey Home Farm

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Five-a-day barbecue

Cath — Fri, 03 Jul 2009 16:28:56 +0000

For a carnivore, a barbeque can easily become too meaty: a sausage, a lamb chop, a chicken drumstick, oh and one of those minute steaks too – it all adds up. Ketchup does not count as one of the five-a-day. Here are my recommendations for vegetable dishes to cook on the barbecue to break up the monotony of sausages.

Asparagus
New season asparagus brushed with olive oil and quickly grilled over the barbeque is perfect. At its best from late May through to June. Season with salt and pepper.

Banana chillis stuffed with halloumi

Corn on the cob
For this old favourite, the fresher the corn the better. As soon as corn is picked it begins to deteriorate, the texture goes chalky and the sweetness starts to go. If the cobs are in their husks, wet the husks so they don’t catch fire. If the cob does not have the protective husk, brush the kernels lightly with oil and cook, turning frequently. Serve the cobs with butter that has been mixed with finely chopped red chillli, chopped parsley and sea salt.

Peppers and anchovies
Halve red and yellow peppers, brush the skin lightly with olive oil and fill each half with a couple of roughly chopped anchovies, a few capers, black pepper and some oil out of the anchovy jar. Grill over the barbeque until the peppers soften and start to char. Serve with torn basil leaves.

Tangy tomato relish to go with vegetable kebabs and/or red meat

Sweetcorn relish

Vegetable kebabs

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Sardines stuffed with chermoula

Cath — Fri, 03 Jul 2009 15:34:32 +0000

Sardines are good value compared to other fish and their oil content makes them perfect for a spicy sauce and will help keep the flesh moist on the barbeque. Stopping fish from sticking on the grill can be a problem, but a light coating of oil on the skin and a fish holder will see you right. I make the Moroccan chermoula at home and take it camping with me in an airtight jar, where it will keep for a week.

Chermoula

Ingredients
1 tsp paprika
A pinch of chilli flakes or cayenne pepper
1 tsp cumin seeds, ground
4-6 tbs olive oil
2 garlic cloves, crushed
80g (large bunch of) coriander, chopped
Juice of 2 lemons
Salt to taste

Method
Crush the garlic, chilli flakes and salt together in a pestle and mortar, then add that mix to the other chermoula ingredients. Taste, spice it up if you want a stronger sauce but remember you only using a teaspoon or two for each fish. As with any marinade you need to leave it for at least half an hour, preferably longer for the flavours to soak in.

To prepare your sardines and couscous

Ingredients
1 or 2 sardines per person, if you are serving other meat or fish
Olive oil for brushing
Couscous
2 tbs herbs such as mint, parsley and/or coriander chopped
1-2 tbs olive oil
Juice of ½ lemon
Salt and pepper

Equipment
Barbeque or campfire
Fish holder
Teaspoon

Method
Gut and rinse the sardines and put a teaspoon or two of the chermoula in the cavity of each fish. Rub the skin lightly with olive oil and leave for at least twenty minutes, longer if possible. Over medium heat on the barbeque or campfire place your sardines, turning once, very carefully. A fish holder is useful as it stops you losing your fish to the sticky bars of the grill. You can see the flesh turn from translucent to opaque when they are cooked. Serve hot with couscous.

To go with your fish, serve instant couscous which is ideal for outdoor living, following the instructions on the packet. Once the couscous is rehydrated add the olive oil, lemon juice, herbs, salt and pepper, stir well with a fork to separate the grains.

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Banana chillis stuffed with halloumi

Cath — Fri, 03 Jul 2009 10:43:01 +0000

Serves 4

This recipe requires the larger pale, green, mild chillis common in Middle Eastern supermarkets, but I have known my local supermarket to stock them too. When you choose the chillis, bear in mind you will be stuffing them so get the fattest ones. They go well with tomato salad, pittas and lamb kebabs. You won’t need salt as the halloumi is a very salty cheese. Be careful with the chillis, they can easily split as you prepare them.

Ingredients
4 banana chillis
100-150g (or ½ packet) of halloumi, cut into thin lengths
Olive oil for brushing

Equipment
2 metal or bamboo skewers, not thick ones as they tend to split the peppers
Sharp knife
Chopping board

Method
Roll the chillis between your fingers, this will loosen the seeds inside. Chop the top off each and shake out the seeds, poke out the white bits with a skewer or knife, don’t break the skin though. Put a couple of pieces of cheese into each chilli, you want to be generous, but be aware the cheese will melt and fall out of the top if it is overstuffed. Brush or rub them with a light coating of oil. Now comes the skewering. The skewers will be passing horizontally through a line of vertical chillis. Pass one skewer through the top of each chilli. Pass a second skewer through the bottom of each chilli. Barbeque over a medium heat, turning once or twice using the skewers as handles. They are ready when the cheese is melting and the skin of the peppers blistering.

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Vegetable kebabs

Cath — Fri, 03 Jul 2009 09:21:07 +0000

Serves 4
These kebabs need as much love and attention as sausages and will take a similar time to cook, so don’t leave them until the last minute, nor put them on when the barbecue is at full heat.

Ingredients
1 aubergine, cubed into 2cm pieces (chop these first and salt them as below)
2 courgettes, cubed into 2cm pieces (chop these first and salt them as below)
1 onion, cubed into 2cm pieces
2 red peppers, cubed into 2cm pieces
2 sprigs rosemary, roughly chopped
Olive oil
Salt and pepper

Equipment
Barbeque/campfire
Sharp knife
Chopping board
Sieve
Mixing bowl
Skewers
Kitchen towel or clean t-towel

Method
Put the courgette and aubergine in a sieve and cover with salt, about two tablespoons worth. Leave for 15 minutes, while you prepare the other vegetables and rosemary. Rinse the aubergine and courgette under running water and pat dry with kitchen towel or tea towel. Put into the bowl with all the other vegetables and rosemary, olive oil and pepper. Mix thoroughly rubbing the rosemary into the vegetables. Thread onto the skewers, making sure each kebab has a bit of everything, probably 8 to 10 pieces per skewer. Grill over a medium heat until the vegetables start to colour and soften.

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Sweetcorn relish

Cath — Fri, 03 Jul 2009 09:18:24 +0000

This relish really goes well with barbequed chicken or home-made burgers. If you don’t like chilli or you intend feeding the relish to children, omit the chilli. Start cooking this as soon as you can on the barbeque so that you can eat it with your meat. The relish will save in a jar until the next day, in fact it might be nicer.

Ingredients
1 corn on the cob
1 red pepper
¼ red onion, finely chopped
¼ to ½ red chilli, deseeded and finely chopped (optional)
1 handful of fresh coriander, chopped
1 bulb of garlic, soaking wet
Juice of ½ lime
Pinch of sugar
Salt
Vegetable oil

Equipment
Barbeque or campfire
Chopping board
Sharp knife
Bowl
Spoon
Tinfoil

Method
If the corn is still in its husk, then wet it so that it does not burn. If the cob does not have the protective husk, then lightly brush the kernels with oil. Roast the corn, garlic and red pepper on top of the grill. Turn the pepper and corn to cook them all over. Remove the pepper when the skin has blistered and blackened. The kernels of the corn should be softening, and the the garlic needs to be soft so that its flavour is sweet rather than strong. Skin the pepper once it is cool enough to handle, squeeze the garlic out of its skin, cut the kernels off the cob. Mix it all together in the bowl, season with salt and sugar and leave for a little while before serving on the side.

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Salsa romesco

Cath — Wed, 03 Jun 2009 10:10:15 +0000

Prepare this at home before the trip and spoon it into a jar to save you having to pestle and mortar until you are blue in the face outside the tent. If you store this red sauce in a sterilized jar, it can keep for ages. Salsa romesco is mildly spicy and tangy and so great with meat and fish that has been simply cooked over a barbeque or campfire. This should make two small jars worth.
The romesco chilli is traditionally used in Spain, but ancho chillis are more likely obtained in the UK. Failing that, use dried kashmiri chillis with some smoked paprika to add barbecued sweetness. For a milder fruitier sauce, use just the one chilli. You can always add spice, but you can never take it away.

I made this for a barbeque in my back garden in London. It went perfectly with seafood kebabs and Andalusian lamb (marinaded in red wine vinegar and juniper). I recently made this in a pestle and mortar, but you can throw all the ingredients in a blender, just don’t over blend as you want a sauce with some texture to it.

How to sterilize a jar

Clean jars and new lids in hot soapy water. Put the jars in a pre-heated medium oven for ten minutes. Use as soon as they are cool enough to fill.

Ingredients

3 red peppers, roasted, deseeded and skinned, roughly chopped
2 cloves of garlic, roughly chopped
3 tomatoes, score the skin in a cross all the way around and roast for a few minutes
80g hazelnuts, roasted in a medium oven for 5-8 minutes until brown, then rub until the skin comes away
2 dried ancho chillis, if not available then 2 dried kashmiri chillies plus a pinch of smoked paprika
2 tbs red wine vinegar
75ml olive oil
Salt to taste
Sugar to taste

Crush the hazelnuts in a pestle and mortar until crumb-like, then add the garlic and ancho chillis (or the kashmiri chillis and paprika), salt, and crush some more. Add tomatoes and peppers, red wine vinegar and a pinch of sugar: you may need to decant to a larger bowl unless you are using a massive mortar. Add the oil in a fine drizzle, stirring each bit in well, otherwise you may end up with a greasy sauce, rather than a velvety one. Taste, season.

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Beach Barbeque

Cath — Thu, 21 May 2009 13:38:14 +0000

Math recently acquired a portable barbeque, the Weber Charcoal Go-Anywhere Grill. It has a pleasingly vintage shape, and is solidly constructed. We spent an afternoon at Homebase checking out the other portable barbecues, all of which felt rather neurotic and liable to fall apart in a complete collapse of nerve. The Weber has a vented lid which traps a convective circulating heat, much better for cooking larger boned joints.

Birling Gap

We took the Weber out for a test run to Birling Gap, a pebbled beach tucked in amongst the Seven Sisters chalk cliffs. A steep tower of stairs leads down from the eroding cliff edge to the beach itself. It was late afternoon and the surf was lively. High tide was at six o’clock.

Math began cooking. The grill does not have separate settings, you cannot raise or lower it in relation to the heat. Once his pyramid of coals were lit, he arranged the heat into thirds, with two hot patches either side of an empty middle section. Having a section of the grill that is not over any coals works on a lidded barbecue because the circulating heat will be sufficient for slow cooking.

“Don’t make the mistake of presuming that we know what we are doing,” he warned

Some chefs prefer arranging the coals in a gradually declined slope from left to right, but the portable barbecues lack the depth necessary for this arrangement. The trick is to create the variety of temperatures required to cook a variety of meats – in this case, boned chicken thighs, venison kebabs and sausages, all with a light coating of oil so that they would not stick to the grill.

The tide battled its way up the beach, making for an anxious moment in which we wondered if we would have to strike camp and break for the stairs. Another family arrived with their barbecue, took a doubtful look at the churning rising waters, but were reassured by the sight of us blithely cooking. Math went over to speak to them;

“Don’t make the mistake of presuming that we know what we are doing,” he warned. They set up as far the encroaching waves as was possible on the narrow strip of beach, and started cooking. Fortune favours the brave.

Here are my barbecue recipes

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