Category: Camping recipes

Cath has devised a selection of delicious camping recipes for adults and children that are ideal for cooking and eating outdoors

Chana masala

This chickpea curry will serve four people if other curries are on the table.

Ingredients

1 jar or tin of chickpeas, drained (my favourites are El Navarrico)
1 tomato, deseeded and chopped
3 tbs plain yogurt
1 onion, chopped
1 tbs garlic and ginger paste
1 tbs garam masala
1 red chilli, deseeded and finely chopped
2 tbs fresh coriander, chopped
Juice of half a lemon
Salt
Vegetable oil for frying

Equipment

Chopping board
Sharp knife
Lidded saucepan
Spoon for stirring
1 ring cooker

Method

Heat the oil in the pan, add the onion, garlic and ginger paste and fry until soft. Add the chilli, garam masala and fry for a minute or two. Add the chickpeas, tomato and a little water. Simmer for ten minutes or until the chickpeas are nice and soft. Stir in the yogurt, squeeze in the lemon and turn in the coriander. Add the salt at the last minute, taste and serve with bread and another veggie curry dish.

Garlic and ginger paste

Make this at home and use in curries, Moroccan and Chinese dishes.

Ingredients

Equal quantities of garlic and ginger, peeled and roughly chopped
Water
1 tbs vegetable oil

Method

Finely chop the garlic and ginger, use a mezzaluna or a food processor, add a splash of water. Store in a jar for a week or two, covered with oil.

Puy lentils and spicy sausage stew

Serves 4
Sausage stew was the first meal we cooked when camping, made with red table wine from a plastic bottle and a Mattesson’s sausage that Math’s Mum had pushed into his rucksack. Things have moved on since then but the principle remains the same: a warming and easy dish that does not require finesse. Here the sausages should be sturdy bangers and sufficiently dense to withstand boiling without turning into mush. A string of fat cooking chorizo is ideal. If you don’t want a particularly spicy flavour then omit the chilli. The dish could be made with Toulouse sausages, chives and parsley.

Ingredients

250g puy lentils
8 sturdy spicy sausages, such as cooking chorizo. Brindisa make some good ones
1 small or 1/2 large onion, chopped
1 long red chilli, spliced length ways
2 garlic cloves, peeled but left whole
1 red pepper, deseeded and diced
Juice of ½ lemon
1 carrot, peeled and diced
1 stick of celery, diced
8 baby tomatoes (or 4 standard tomatoes quartered, the important thing is they are the tastiest you can get)
2 tbs olive oil
Salt and pepper
3 tbs fresh herbs, flat leaf parsley and/or coriander, chopped

Equipment

Chopping board
Sharp knife
Sieve
Large bowl
Large lidded pan
Wooden spoon

Method

Rinse the puy lentils and put in the bowl, cover with cold water and soak while you get the other ingredients ready. Heat the oil in a pan and gently fry the onion, carrot, red pepper and celery until soft. Drain the soaked lentils and add to the pan, add the whole garlic cloves, pepper, the split chilli and sausages. Cover with water and bring to the boil. Once boiling, turn down the heat to a simmer and cover. Stir regularly, but carefully, making sure the lentils don’t stick to the pan. You want enough liquid to make a soupy sauce, but not so much that the dish is watery. After ten minutes, add the tomatoes. Once the sausages are cooked through (should take about twenty minutes in total) and the lentils are soft, but still whole, then you’re ready to serve. Turn off the heat, squash the garlic cloves, against the side of the pan and throw them in, along with the herbs, season with salt, stir and serve with chunks of bread and olive oil.

Paella

Serves 4
You can buy an outdoor paella pan but that would too extravagant for us.  But you will need a large frying pan with deep sides to cook this dish.
avignon-04-188Paella can accommodate different seafood and meat – such as rabbit – but this is a basic recipe with chicken and prawns. The dish doesn’t need constant stirring like risotto, but just make sure it doesn’t stick. The rice should be served moist, not wet.

Ingredients

1 red pepper, finely sliced
1 onion, finely sliced
2 cloves of garlic, finely sliced
100g green beans, topped, tailed and chopped into 1cm lengths
1 x 250g tin or jar of butter beans
200g paella rice
2 x chicken breasts, sliced
200g raw prawns, de-veined
1 lemon, quartered
½ tsp of paprika, plus more for sprinkling
Pinch of saffron
1 ltr vegetable or chicken stock, made with either a stock cube, concentrate or fresh from the supermarket fridge
2 tbs olive oil
1 tbs parsley, chopped
Salt and pepper

Equipment

Large frying pan
Single ring stove
Chopping board
Sharp knife
Spoon
Bowl or jug

Method

Heat the olive oil in the pan and gently cook the red pepper, onion and garlic for ten minutes until soft.  Add the chicken and cook until it starts to colour, then add the rice and saffron.  Stir for a couple of minutes and add enough stock to cover all the ingredients.  Season with pepper and cook for ten minutes.  Top up with stock as it cooks, making sure it isn’t sticking to the pan.  Throw in the butter beans, green beans and parsley.  Cook for five more minutes. Check the rice. When it is nearly cooked add the prawns and paprika and cook for a few minutes until the prawns are pink all over.
Check the seasoning and serve with lemon wedges and extra paprika if you want a spicier kick.

Fish stew

Serves 4

This is a nod to the bouillabaisse I ate on the balcony of the Peron restaurant in Marseilles, which hangs over the sea.  Perfect if you are staying near a market and can pick up a variety of
fresh white fish. 
avignon-04-1831
Ask the fishmonger to skin and bone your fish if necessary, as this is an effort at home, let alone in a field.  Use one or more varieties of fish, whatever is available. You can add more kick with a sprinkling of paprika.



Ingredients

1kg of firm white fish such as monkfish, haddock or conger eel, cut into 2cm chunks
8 new potatoes, scrubbed and thickly sliced
1 small onion or the equivalent in shallots, diced
1 leek, white part only, finely sliced
1 fennel bulb, peeled off its tough outer layers and remove the heart before dicing
1/2 tin of tomatoes or 4 decent sized fresh tomatoes, deseeded and diced
1 carrot, diced
1 clove garlic, finely sliced
½ tsp paprika
Pinch of saffron
1 lemon, wedged
1 tsp fennel seeds
1 clove garlic, finely sliced
1 small glass of white wine
1 tbs flat leaf parsley or chives, oregano, chopped
Olive oil for frying


Equipment
Chopping board
Sharp knife
One-ring stove
Large saucepan


Method
Heat the oil and gently fry the carrot, onion, leek, fennel and garlic until soft.  Mix in the saffron and fennel seeds.  Add the wine and cook off the alcohol for a few minutes.  Add the tomatoes, paprika, herbs, salt and pepper.  Stir well and adjust your seasoning if necessary.  Layer the potatoes in the pan, you may need to add some water to just cover them, but not drown them.  Cover the pan and cook until the potatoes still hold their form, but are just cooked.  Add your fish.  Cover and cook for a further two minutes, check and cook for longer if necessary. Serve with lemon and chunks of bread to mop up the gravy.