Camping Food

It occurred to me you guys might've wondered what we ate while we were camping. So I thought I'd post it today.

Thursday:

Seared scallops in a butter/white wine/lemon/caper sauce; grilled lemon halves were served on the side
Shallot and Chanterelle risotto (similar to this, but with white wine as well, way more shallots and only chanterelles)

Friday:

Bacon and scrambled eggs for breakfast
Sandwiches for lunch (I was making a huge lunch for 50 other people, recipe posted below)
Steaks, potatoes simmered with onion and rosemary in butter, Sarah's grilled onion soup (the onion soup I will be making again soon; it was so simple and amazingly delicious, so I'll post the recipe at that time)

Saturday:

Bacon and Matzot Brei (I'll post my recipe for this at some point too, if someone will remind me) for lunch (we woke up late)
Hebrew National hotdogs with lemon onions (recipe follows) for dinner

Sunday:

Pasta and meat sauce for lunch
Seared beef salad with lemon vinaigrette for dinner (recipe follows)

Recipes, with no pictures (camping is not always optimal for photo ops):

Lemon Onions

1 large red onion, sliced into half moons
pinch salt
1 tablespoon olive oil or butter
juice of three lemons

Heat fat in a pan over medium heat. Add remaining ingredients and simmer until the juice of the lemons is gone and the onions and almost creamy. Serves 4 as an accompaniment to another food.

Seared Beef Salad with Lemon Vinaigrette

1 1/2 pound beef tenderloin
1/4 cup each: olive oil, lemon juice
3 tablespoons pomegranate molasses
1 teaspoon salt

1 bunch asparagus, trimmed then cut in half
pinch salt
1/4 cup olive oil

1 cup sugar snap peas
1 tomato, sliced into half moons
1-2 bags mixed salad greens

Slice the tenderloin into 3/8" slices. Put in a zip top bag with olive oil, lemon juice, salt and pomegranate molasses, then marinate 15-30 minutes. Put asparagus in another bag with salt and olive oil. Mix well, then grill over medium heat. Remove from grill and set aside. Sear both sides over medium high heat on a grill (you can do this in a pan, but I got a spiffy new travel propane grill that I cooked them on). On plates, load up greens, tomato and peas, then equally distribute meat and asparagus. Top with dressing. Serves 6.

Lemon Vinaigrette

1 tablespoon dried marjoram
2 tablespoons stone ground mustard
1/2 teaspoon salt
1 teaspoon ground black pepper
5 lemons
1/2 - 1 cup good quality olive oil

Cut lemons in half. Grill until the cut side is lightly caramelised. Combine juice from these lemons, marjoram, mustard, salt and pepper in a shaker bottle. Shake well. Add olive oil.

Note: This recipe makes way more dressing than you need for the salad, though I used it as an additional condiment for the large meal I made.

Grilled Vegetable Pita Wraps (okay, seriously? This is an insane amount of food. Really)

10 globe eggplants, peeled, sliced in half, then sliced crosswise
10-15 each: zucchini, yellow squash, sliced in half, then length-wise into planks
15 onions, sliced into rings
15 bell peppers: green, red, yellow (5 each), sliced
10 potatoes, sliced thinly
10-15 tomatoes, sliced
2 tablespoon each, per bag: marjoram, basil, sumac, aleppo pepper
1/2 cup each, per bag: lemon juice and olive oil

4 cups julienned cucumbers
4 cups lettuce

After all the veggies of the first group are cut up, put them in gallon zip top bags (I put only one kind of veggie per bag). Add seasonings, lemon and oil to each bag. Zip up bags and massage to evenly distribute seasonings. Grill (yes, this takes freaking forever; I was at it for 5 hours). Serve with pita and the following condiments on the side: tzatziki, hummus, harissa, lemon vinaigrette, tahini, julienned cucumbers and lettuce. Serves about 50.

Comments

  1. Here's the plan. Next time you go camping I'm your BFF. There are peoples who eat in dining rooms and don't come near having the food you ate while camping :-). I love it!

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  2. It sounds like you ate really well while camping!

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  3. Mary,

    I'm with you. We often eat better while camping than we do at home. Something strange about that, really!

    Kevin,

    Thanks - our annual camping trip is one of my favourite food times of the year!

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  4. this is camping food? Really? I personally hate camping but w/a menu like this, somebody find me a tent!

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  5. Darius,

    It's car camping food, more accurately. By car camping, I mean that you can get your car to the site to unload (which means you have coolers and such). Backpacking food is never that decadent, but for car camping there's really no reason not to be able to eat very, very well. Usually I use just one butane burner while we camp (and we eat basically the same stuff, though there's some switch on and off with the burner), but this year I had that burner plus a small propane grill. I think we used 2 pounds of fuel on the trip, mostly because of the food for 50 meal. You should totally get a tent and try it out! There's something very satisfying about eating gourmet food out in nature.

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  6. Sheesh, even for car camping, that is an amazing menu. Ours tends more towards eating cereal for brekkie, stuffed pitas (an not fancy like yours) for lunch, and rehydrating the dried beans for basic burritos. LOL

    I agree with the others. Toss in some more vegan entrees and I'll be there for your next camping trip!

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  7. Chile,

    Have you tried the overnight cooking method for oatmeal while camping? I brought it along, but we had other stuff for breakfast each day instead.

    The pitas, minus the yogurt dip were completely vegan - usually for the Ranger meal I try to make it vegan so everyone has the opportunity to eat. The meat eaters are still satisfied because the food is hearty enough, but the vegetarians and vegans aren't excluded since anything w/ an animal product is always an optional dip or side.

    Outside of meals like breakfast (aside from oatmeal, since everyone always wants bacon or something w/ eggs) and baking, vegan cooking is pretty easy, so I never have trouble modifying most meals so that there are vegan options when we have vegans in our camp - you're welcome to come along too!

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