Campfire cooking, Katy Holder
Warm yourself up while camping this autumn! Katy Holder, author of Hungry Campers Cookbook, has put together a feast you can cook over the campfire.
Discover more recipes here.
Beer & pesto campfire bread damper
It’s amazing what you can create with so few ingredients. This is such a simple recipe and the addition of beer and pesto raise it from a plain old damper to one that is far more flavourful and interesting. Like all damper, it is delicious for dipping into the juices of casseroles and stews.
MAKES 1 loaf
450 g (3 cups) self-raising flour, plus about 2–3 tablespoons extra
1 teaspoon salt
250 ml (1 cup) beer, at room temperature
2 tablespoons olive oil
60 g (¼ cup) pesto
1 Combine all of the ingredients in a large bowl (preferably a metal one as it will need to sit by the heat at one point) and use your hands to bring the mixture together. If it’s sticky, add a little extra flour. Knead in the bowl for about 10 minutes, or until soft and elastic.
2 Cover the dough with a clean tea towel and place close to the fire (but not on it) or in a warm place for 30 minutes, until the dough has risen in size. At the same time, place your camp oven close to the fire to warm through, but don’t let it get too hot.
3 Very lightly dust the base of the camp oven with a little extra flour. Transfer the dough to the camp oven, sprinkle lightly with flour, then cover and sit close to the fire surrounded by coals. Don’t sit it on top of the coals or the damper will burn. If cooking over a fire pit with a grill tray that swings around, put the camp oven on this and put some coals on top of the camp oven too, to ensure an all-round heat.
4 Cook for 30–40 minutes, checking the coals every now and then, adding more as necessary, until the damper is cooked and it sounds hollow when tapped. If your damper is taking longer to cook, just keep replacing the coals. Remove from the camp oven, leave for 5 minutes, then serve in chunks or slices.
Massaman lamb curry with potatoes
This is a delicious and warming Thai curry that will cope with sitting over an open fire for several hours. If cooking over gas, once the coconut milk and tomatoes are in, cook for about 40 minutes, then add the potatoes and cook for a further 20 minutes, or until the potatoes are cooked.
SERVES 4–6
2 tablespoons vegetable oil
1 onion, sliced
2 garlic cloves, crushed
4 tablespoons Massaman curry paste
2 carrots, chopped
400 g butternut pumpkin (squash), cubed
1 kg cubed boneless lamb leg
2 x 400 ml tins coconut milk
400 g tin tomatoes
10 waxy potatoes, quartered or chopped if large
1 Heat the vegetable oil in a large camp oven or in a casserole dish on a grill rack over the fire. Add the onion and garlic and cook for 8–10 minutes, stirring regularly. Add the curry paste, stir well and cook for a couple of minutes until fragrant smells waft from the pan.
2 Add the carrot, pumpkin and lamb, stirring to coat in the paste. Cook for 5 minutes, then add the coconut milk and tomatoes and season with salt and freshly ground black pepper. Cover with a lid and bring to the boil.
3 Once boiling, the dish can be simmered over the coals, so pull a few coals out to the edge and surround the dish. Cook for about 30 minutes, topping up with hot coals as necessary and ensuring that the curry keeps simmering gently. Add the potatoes and cook for a further 30 minutes, stirring occasionally, until tender.
4 The curry is ready when the pumpkin has melted into the dish and thickened it, but the potatoes should retain their texture and shape. If you want to cook this dish for longer, that’s fine, but just don’t add the potatoes until the final 30 minutes of cooking. Check the seasoning and adjust as desired, then serve in bowls.
Find more camping recipes in the Hungry Campers Cookbook.
Hungry Campers Cookbook
