Food,  glorious  food

I have a confession to make: I’m not a foodie. In fact, sometimes I’m quite envious of people who seem to find far more pleasure in food than I ever would. To me, food is primarily fuel. As a result, I’m not a good source for recipes.

However, the people I interact with on Twitter are different, and many of them are foodies. As a result, I turned to them for help in compiling a list of recipes. The request was simple: I’m looking for delicious, single-pot recipes, to be prepared on a single-burner camping stove. I’ve linked to each person’s Twitter name, so if any of these recipes are of particular benefit to you, please do go thank the person who suggested it?

Update

All these recipes were available in a booklet I had professionally printed, but that was a very limited print run, and I have no more copies left. I only ever sold these at cost, covering my printing costs per booklet.

Challenges

Camping cooking, particularly when cycle touring, brings with it several challenges. I’m specifically focusing on wild-camping here. That means there will be no taps nearby to refill water bottles, and no dishwashing area. You will be limited to just the water you carried with you, and that has to be used for drinking, cooking and cleaning. You will only have your little camping stove to cook on, and that means only a single pot. Crucially, you will have no means of refrigeration. Summers in the UK can get surprisingly hot, certainly hot enough to spoil food and help you on your way to a bout of food poisoning. Because of this, I didn’t include a number of recipes calling for seafood, except those that use tinned food.

The  Recipes

These are all single-pot recipes (though some just scrape in). I would love to hear what you think of these, after having tried them. They are listed in no particular order, and some are far more detailed than others. Also, if you have any more recipes to add, please post them as comments?

Joe Grey’s Gypsy Love

If the name’s confusing, that’s easily to explain: Joe Grey is the name of a dish popular in the Romany community, and I was sent it by a man called Joe Grey!

Ingredients:
2 sausages, 2 rashers of bacon, 1 tomato, 1 large potato, a small onion and a stock cube of your choice.

Method:
Fry the sausages, bacon and sliced onion until brown. Cover with water, and add the peeled and sliced potato. Let it simmer and after 10 mins, add the chopped-up tomato, then sprinkle the stock cube all over. Let it simmer until the potato is soft. You may want to pre-boil potato at home, to reduce cooking time.

Simon’s Medieval Red Lentil Stew

OK, I added “medieval” for dramatic effect, and because Simon’s an expert in using medieval weaponry.

Soften onions in the pan, add chopped chorizo & gently fry till they start to brown & the oil comes out.
Add in red lentils, butter beans & veg stock cube(s) & cover with water.
Bring to the boil & simmer till the water is absorbed. A bit of chili is nice too.

Tim’s Egg Surprise

Poach eggs in tinned chopped tomatoes. Splash of Tabasco.
Can add spinach and / or chopped chorizo. Eat with corn tortillas or pita bread

Kath’s Exotic Sun Dal

Sun Dal. 5 min prep, 5 min cook. Teaspoon each black lentils, black mustard seeds, 1/2 teaspoon asafoetida popped in a teaspoon of hot oil, add 400g chickpeas, 2 chopped chilies, handful of desiccated coconut, some mango (fresh or dried, rehydrated), lemon juice. Delicious.

David’s Chilli Sin Carne

I can do a very spicy ‘chilli sin carne’.
Serves 1 glutton or two normal people

Ingredients

2 red onions
1 pack of vegan mince
1 tin of chopped tomatoes
1 tin of red kidney beans
4 cloves of fresh garlic
1 tube of tomato puree
chilli powder
cumin
tabasco
salt and pepper
olive oil
1 vegetable stock cube

Method

* Heat a tablespoonful of olive oil in a saucepan
* Add finely chopped red onions and reduce until translucent
* Add garlic and stir for a few minutes
* Add the vegan mince and reduce
* Add the stock cube to 1 pint of boiling water and stir until dissolved
* Add stock to saucepan
* Add chopped tomatoes, tabasco, cumin, chilli powder and salt and pepper
* Simmer for about 10 minutes
* Add red kidney beans and continue to simmer
* Taste and adjust seasoning

Serve with crusty bread and grated vegan cheese

Emily’s No-fuss Couscous

Premix couscous, dried apricots, pine nuts, spices and stock. Boil water, add mix, leave for 5 mins, stuff in gob. Minimal fuel, lots of taste, zero skill, vegan.

The Future Mrs O’s Delicious Beef Stew

Tin of beef pie filling, tin of mixed veg, tin of potatoes. Strain veg and potatoes. Add all three tins to pot and stir, do not allow to boil but simmer gently. Serve with crusty bread well buttered. Less than ten minutes, one pot, dead cheap, and very filling.

Petrichor’s Dublin Coddle

You could try the dish of the Dublin poor: coddle, otherwise known as The Widow’s Regret: sausages, rashers, chopped potatoes and carrots, Bitta stock, lots of pepper; boil till you can’t wait any longer

Sarnian’s Chicken Stew

Fry diced chicken and chopped onion. Add peeled & diced sweet potato. Add drained tin of white beans, tin of chopped tomatoes, water to cover everything and stock cube. Boil then simmer until potatoes are soft. Mash the potatoes a bit or leave chunky. Smoked paprika on top.

Liz’s French Cuisine

Can of cassoulet, can of ratatouille, heat up and serve with bread. The French campsite special.

Steph’s Hearty Soup

Hearty soup; base good quality tin of Tomatoes, handful chopped dates, dried red lentils, chilli powder, dried onion granules, dried celery granules pasta twists, salt & pepper bring to boil, simmer for 20mins. Use tiny plastic bags that came with Covid tests for your spices. You can swap your spices, Smoked paprika instead of Chilli, Garlic instead of onion. Or miss out the hot spices & use dried Basil remember you only need small amounts of herbs & spices but they add max flavour. Weigh next to nothing on your bike too!

Si’s Comforting Couscous

Single pot + plate/bowl.
Chop onions, peppers, courgette, garlic, tomatoes.
Boil water + pour into bowl with couscous (leave to cook).
Fry veg, add mixed herbs, salt (electrolytes), can of chick peas (drained) & chopped tomatoes.
Couscous back in pan.
Mix & serve, 15mins tops.

Dave’s Corned Beef Hash

Wide frying pan, cook some chopped onion for a few minutes, add tin of potatoes cut into 1″ bits then tin tomatoes chopped up, tin of drained peas, tin of corned beef cut into 1″ bits, salt and Worcester sauce, use as much WS as you think then double it. Cook together for a few minutes, then using a spoon make some indentations and crack eggs into them, cook until eggs are set to your taste

Beth’s Camping Curry & Rice

Oh, also, one of my camping staples is curry with rice. You need two pots but some mess tins (with a lid) are great. As soon as I make camp I bring some water to the boil, add rice, then wrap the pan in a towel and then sleeping bag and set to one side. Then I faff on a bit and get myself sorted. Then in another pan I add some tempeh cubes and some spices from one of those nice curry meal kits. Cook that then add the curry sauce bit. Then by that point the rice is cooked without using a stove and it’s ready to eat.

Lucy’s Luscious Tuna Pasta

Cook some pasta, add tinned tuna, tinned sweetcorn and cream cheese, heat until hot. Serve. Delicious and so easy when camping.

Phil’s Paella

Paella. Lots of different ways but I find shallowing frying chicken, some veg (mushroom, pepper courgette) add a tin of tomatoes and some arborio rice. Spices to taste (I like turmeric and smoked paprika) then heat until the rice is cooked.

Joe’s Carbonara Surprise

A proper carbonara has to be there, dead easy, quick and delicious. No cream, no sauce. Just pasta, eggs, pancetta/bacon, parmesan, garlic and black pepper.

Emily’s Tropical Porridge

Break fuel – premix oats, milk powder, sugar, desiccated coconut and dried mango in lidded tub. Night before, add 1/3 cold water so oats soak. Don’t leave the lid off, unless ants and flies are desired for extra protein. In the morning, add 2/3 boiling water. Stir. Nom nom – tropical porridge.

The next recipe is for trail mix, and is something to do before leaving home.

Jo’s Tantalising Trail Mix

Here’s a trail mix one instead. 1/2 cup almonds 1/2 cup pecan, 1/3 cup coconut chips, 1/4 cup pumpkin seeds, 3 tablespoons of maple syrup, 1/8 teaspoon sea salt. Mix all the ingredients in a bowl and place on lined baking tray. Bake at 200 Celsius for 20 mins. Leave to completely cold. Put in a bowl with 1/4 cup dried cranberries or dried blue berries. store in a silicone bag and your all set to go.