Hearty camping recipes – and they’re easy too

When you’re camping in the great outdoors you’ll want your food hearty and quick. Luckily, camping food doesn’t need to come out of a packet or tin (most of the time at least). There are lots of delicious recipes that can easily be cooked on a barbecue.

Recently Andrew Dickens, representing the Club’s Eat Local campaign, showcased these recipes on the Club’s stand at the 2016 Motorhome and Caravan Show at Birmingham’s NEC. Here are Andrew’s delicious recipes and we hope you enjoy them just as much as we did at the show. Bon appétit!

Blueberry pancakes with maple syrup, streaky bacon and fried eggs






















Ingredients

• 2 eggs

• 6 strips of streaky bacon

• Salt and pepper

• 150g plain flour

• 1 level teaspoon of baking powder

• Half a teaspoon of bicarbonate of soda

• Pinch of salt

• Half a heaped tablespoon of unrefined golden caster sugar

• 250ml whole milk

• 1 medium/large free range egg

• 1 tablespoon of vanilla bean paste

• A handful of blueberries

For the pancake mix

1. Blitz all the ingredients in a blender, or shake vigorously in a clip-top container until a smooth batter is formed.
2. Pour carefully into small rounds on to a non-stick pan on a medium heat.
3. Drop a few blueberries on to the top of the rounds and push down.
4. Cook until golden on the underside and then flip over and cook until golden on the other side.
5. Cook eggs and bacon as you normally would, pour on the maple syrup and serve.

 
Muffin, poached egg, cherry tomatoes, streaky bacon and mushrooms in butter






















Ingredients

• 2 muffins
• 2 eggs
• Dash of white wine vinegar
• 6 cherry tomatoes
• A handful of chopped mushrooms
• A knob of salted butter
• 6 strips of streaky bacon
• Rapeseed oil
• Salt and pepper

Extra kit needed

Four tapas dishes on a preheated barbecue plate – two with boiling water and a cupful of vinegar each for the poached eggs, one with butter and a dash of rapeseed oil for the mushrooms, and one dry for the tomatoes.

Get cooking

1. Brush the cherry tomatoes with rapeseed oil and place in the dry tapas dish on the barbecue plate.
2. Carefully break the eggs into their tapas dishes with boiling water and vinegar in them and cook until the white is just set. Then remove and drain on kitchen paper.
3. Place the chopped mushrooms in the tapas dish with butter and rapeseed oil and leave to cook for a few minutes.
4. Cook the streaky bacon on both sides until golden, remove, drain on kitchen paper and keep warm.
5. Cut the muffin in half and toast directly on the griddle plate.
6. Assemble all ingredients when cooked.

 
Hickory smoked, stuffed portobello mushrooms in toasted flatbreads






















Ingredients

• 3 large portobello mushrooms
• 1 red roasted pepper straight from the jar
• About 50g of any crumbly cheese
• 4 or 5 stalks of asparagus or green beans cut finely
• A handful of stale breadcrumbs
• Chopped stalks from the mushrooms
• Juice and zest of half a lemon

Green sauce recipe

• A big handful of parsley
• Half a handful of tarragon
• Half a handful of basil
• Half a handful of mint
• 1 teaspoon of Dijon mustard
• 1 clove of chopped garlic (or 2 teaspoons of garlic puree)
• 1 teaspoon of red wine vinegar
• Juice and zest of half a lemon or lime
• 3 to 6 anchovies (jar or tin)
• A good glug of cold pressed rapeseed oil
• Pepper to taste

Please note, don’t be a slave to the green sauce – use any green herbs you have at the time.

Extra kit needed

For this recipe I used a kilner jar, soaked woodchips and a smoker box.

Get cooking

1. For the green sauce chop all the ingredients, mix together and put in a kilner jar (it will keep for a week in the fridge).
2. Drain the soaked woodchips and place in the smoker box and place on a hot barbecue until they start to smoke.
3. Cut the stalks from the mushrooms to put into the stuffing mix, brush both sides of the mushrooms with rapeseed oil and place on the barbecue for about five minutes.
4. In a bowl mix all the other ingredients together and then place a few tablespoons on each of the mushrooms and warm through for a few minutes.
5. Toast the flatbreads on the barbecue for a few minutes and then place the cooked stuffed mushrooms in the flatbreads – and enjoy.

Autumn cider chicken






















Ingredients

• 1.2kg of trimmed chicken pieces with the skin on and bone in
• 5 to 6 tablespoons of plain flour seasoned well with salt and pepper
• 4 to 5 tablespoons of rapeseed oil
• 500ml vintage dry cider
• 1 chicken stock cube
• 1 large cooking apple, cored, peeled and chopped into large pieces
• 400g thickly sliced new potatoes
• 400g chunky sliced carrots
• A few sprigs of thyme, a tablespoon of chopped tarragon and a tablespoon of Dijon mustard, salt and pepper
• 100ml full fat crème fraiche
• A handful of chopped parsley to decorate

Get cooking

1. Put some hot water in the moat of the barbecue (for steam effect cooking and easy clean up).
2. Dredge the trimmed chicken in the seasoned flour.
3. Heat the rapeseed oil in the roasting pan.
4. Shake the excess flour from the chicken and get a golden colour on the skin (work in small batches if necessary).
5. Deglaze the roasting pan with the cider and crumble in the chicken stock cube.
6. Add the thickly sliced potatoes and carrots, the large chunks of cored and peeled apple, tarragon, thyme, Dijon and top up with hot water so it’s level with the ingredients.
7. Turn the heat down to medium, cook for half an hour, then stir in the crème fraiche and cook for another five minutes.
8. Serve in bowls and dress with the reserved chopped parsley.

 
Venison on ciabatta with roasted red pepper and green sauce























Ingredients


Green sauce

• Big handful of parsley
• Half a handful of tarragon
• Half a handful of basil
• Half a handful of mint
• 1 teaspoon of Dijon mustard
• 1 clove of garlic (or garlic puree)
• 1 teaspoon of red wine vinegar
• Juice and zest of half a lemon or lime
• 3 to 6 anchovies (jar or tin)
• A good glug of cold pressed rapeseed oil
• Pepper to taste

Venison

• Venison tenderloin, haunch or fillet (300–500g)
• Cold pressed rapeseed oil
• Small knob of salted butter
• Roasted red pepper from a jar

Get cooking

1. Pat the venison dry and cut into slices roughly the thickness of two pound coins. Season with salt and pepper and brush both sides with rapeseed oil.
2. Get the barbecue hot, place the venison on the barbecue plate and cook until you get nice caramelisation on one side (about one min). Then flip over and do the same to the other side.
3. Immediately place in some foil with a knob of butter, wrap up the venison and place a tea towel over it to rest.
4. Take a large roasted red pepper from the jar, slice it open and pat it dry on both sides. Place on the barbecue and cook until it’s warmed through with some nice colour on both sides.
5. Toast the ciabatta on the barbecue, then spread a layer of green sauce on one side, top with the red pepper and venison plus the other half of the toasted ciabatta and tuck in!

Andrew also made campers’ flatbreads. You can find the recipe here.

If you enjoy these why not send in your pictures to the Club via Facebook or Twitter? You’ll find plenty more recipes on our Eat Local page here as well as a look into some of the fantastic local producers surrounding our Club Sites.