Recipe Camping Recipes

My husband and I recently returned from a trip on which we did some camping. Because we were canoe-camping at one location, we were able to pack in our Dutch oven. I created this recipe out of what we had on hand following a 10-mile hike. It is named for the peak we hiked around that day. I used black beans, but I think this would be really excellent with chickpeas too. We didn't bother to drain off the bean liquid; you certainly could and it would improve the color of the dish, but as we were camping, we didn't really care. This was my first time cooking on a campfire with a Dutch oven. I highly recommend it!

Broken Top Stew
1 cup black beans, rinsed and soaked
1 large sweet onion, chopped
2 tbsp. butter (or oil)
1 Russet potato
2 Yukon Gold potatoes
1 sweet red pepper (or other sweet pepper)
1 cup rice (we used brown)
salt to taste
pepper to taste
1 tsp. red pepper flakes
1 tbsp. curry powder

Cook the black beans in your Dutch oven on the campfire. Make sure to add some salt to the beans as they're cooking; it keeps the skins intact. Top up the water on the beans as necessary. Once the beans start to turn tender, add the onion and butter. Cook for ten minutes or so before adding the potato. Add more water if needed. Ten minutes after adding the potato, add the red pepper and seasonings. Add the rice and more water if you need. Cook for thirty more minutes, until the rice is al dente. Take the Dutch oven off of the fire and let it sit for ten minutes before serving. Adjust seasoning before serving.

Post your camping recipes--Dutch oven, foil packet, whatever!

 

I love ramen noodles when I camp. They're lightweight and easy to pack, and it doesn't destroy the meal if they get crushed. Little packets of soy sauce and teriyaki are a great alternative to the seasoning packets.

Knowing the edible food of the area where you're backpacking/hiking/camping also helps, it's fun adding a touch of something native to a meal. Just make sure you also know what to avoid... there are plenty of edibles that have similar-looking poisonous cousins.

Dehydrated meals are also pretty handy, though expensive to purchase from outdoor stores. It's often preferable to mix them myself, purchasing things like dried green beans, peppers, nuts and fruits in bulk, also minute rice is handy. It's best to pick items that are especially quick and easy to cook over a can of gel fuel. It's easy enough to mix little bags with the desired ingredients and appropriate spices, then pack them up in water-tight bags. When it comes time to eat it's an easy process at that point: light the gel fuel, toss them in a mess kit with a little water, and enjoy the aroma of a spicy, delicious meal.

Then again, I'm used to camping in places that don't permit campfires. Gel fuel-cooked meals are far less exciting than dutch oven-style meals...

 

I agree, genuinegirly. Our campstove is a MSR Dragonfly--it runs off of white gas. Typically, cooking on it involves boiling water and adding the boiling water to something. Mountain House makes a really tasty pasta primavera. Oddly, the cheapest place to get them around here is at the grocery store--one of the grocery stores carries them in the section with the beef jerky. I also like Mountain House because they're local

This is also why one of our favorite places to camp is just outside of the Three Sisters Wildnerness--campfires are allowed, but you can hike into the wilderness for the day easily.

 

My best friend's mom does the same thing with onions. She takes a whole sweet onion, peels it, x's the top, and sticks some butter in the middle of it before wrapping it up in foil. It's soooo good.

 

Actually, I think the sweet onions out here are bigger than Vidalias, unless they save all the softball-sized Vidalias for markets back East. When I say "sweet onion", I mean Vidalia, Maui, or Walla Walla.

We used a firm, waxy potato (Yukon Gold) and a starchy potato (Russet) to achieve two different textures. The Russet broke down over cooking and added a silkiness to the soup that just made it delicious. The beans were firm but creamy, and the rice was brown rice, so it stayed pretty firm too. It was definitely a good meal to have after a 10 mile day in the mountains with thousands of feet of elevation gain.

 

It's camping season again! I'll confess that on recent excursions, we've eaten a lot of these: Tasty Bite They're cheap, easy to pack, and delicious. It helps that we both love Indian food.

Here's a linky with some great information on cooking while camping: Good Question: Best Meals to Cook On Camping Trips? | The Kitchn

 

Depends on the store. Sometimes they're with the Indian groceries, and sometimes they're with the health food (they're all vegetarian).