When we decided to relocate to upstate New York part of the agenda was to spend more time enjoying the outdoors. Living in Chicago, this was one area of life that was definitely lacking. In order to really get away from the city and into nature was not easy, and something we basically never did. We did, once, get out to Wisconsin for a brief camping trip, but overall our time in Chicago was a decidedly urban affair.
Thus, upon moving to a rural area we were interested in improving that record. We were determined to up our camping game now that we lived almost literally a stone’s throw from beautiful woodland camp shelters ensconced by towering hemlocks. A thick carpet of fragrant auburn needles cushioning the forest floor. So given this idyllic setting, and our determination to enjoy it, it may come as no surprise that in the two and a half years we’ve lived here, we’ve been camping zero times.
None. Not once.
Pitiful really. It would be funny if it weren’t so sad. It's not as though we weren't trying, however. We would make plans, but then see them foiled by the complexities and responsibilities of living life as adults in charge of our own destiny. So this summer when we made our most recent plan to camp, I was dead set on making it happen for real. To this end, I invited friends that we would be letting down if we canceled. Sometimes peer pressure can be used as a tool to improve your life. We all split up the responsibilities of organizing the trip and, as you may have guessed, planning the meals fell to me.
There have been camping trips in the past where I was too ambitious in what I wanted to prepare. This ends up not being fun for anybody. It stresses me out, and postpones mealtime for hungry campers. For this trip, I wanted to plan meals that were delicious, but simple and quick to prepare. I wanted mostly things that could just be cooked in a pot of boiling water, or directly over the fire. I had five meals to consider; two dinners, one lunch, and two breakfasts. I also had to keep in mind that on the second day we would be doing a wine tour bike ride, so breakfast would need to fuel us for that, and lunch would have to be easily portable (and also ideally pair with wine).
The last piece of the puzzle was how we would be cooking. In the past I’ve cooked exclusively over fire when camping. This is romantic and can be fun and satisfying, but can also be incredibly frustrating if you are hungry and have to wait for an uncooperative fire to be ready. It's also pretty time consuming to boil water over a campfire unless it's really ripping. To this end we opted to bring a stove to boil our water and do any sauteeing that might need to happen. Our friends have a two burner, propane powered Camp Chef stove that is absolutely nuts. It's pretty big and uses a 20 lb propane tank, so it's pretty much a car camping exclusive, but man does it make life easier. It's basically two restaurant power burners so it can boil a gallon of water incredibly fast. Having this thing on the trip made preparing food almost trivial. I highly recommend it.
For the first night, we made grilled hot Italian sausages over sautéed onions, hot peppers, and cherry tomatoes. This was served over cheesy polenta. This one ticked all the boxes. So delicious, hearty, and satisfying, but incredibly simple to prepare.
For breakfast the next day, we had steel cut oatmeal with fresh blueberries and local maple syrup, along with scrambled eggs. This was to fuel us on our long bike ride to the wineries.
For lunch at said wineries I made gargantuan ham and comte sandwiches on delicious locally baked focaccia. These did in fact pair nicely with the wines we sampled.
Happy Campers
For dinner that night, we made simple fire roasted corn on the cob, boiled potatoes, wood fired steak, a tomato and cucumber salad (made ahead and chilled), and an improvised Hollandaise-type sauce flavored with white wine from one of the wineries, caramelized onions, chilies, and lemon. To cook the steak, I went directly over the flames for the most part, but finished by placing a bunch of herbs from our garden underneath the steaks, placing them directly over the flames and essentially letting them catch fire so the steak could pick up some aromatic smoke. Simple techniques like this can infuse a ton of flavor into your food without any added prep or cleanup time. Ideal for camp cooking.
Breakfast the next day was scrambled eggs, breakfast sausages, and fried polenta cakes made from the leftovers from the first night’s dinner. All in all, the meals were quick, simple, and truly delicious. This is more and more my favorite kind of cooking.
If this kind of cooking appeals to you and you want to gain more inspiration, knowledge, or skills that can translate to camp cooking. I recommend checking out one of our many upcoming grilling classes. We have a special one coming up this Friday, September 13 at 6pm at Lincoln Square. We are partnering with Le Creuset for a hands-on grilling class Fire Up the Flavor: Grilling with Le Creuset. In this class, you'll learn how to use their new Alpine Outdoor cookware which is designed to be used on grills or even open flames, which makes it perfect for campfire cooking! And check out this menu:
- Grilled Pizza with Za’atar-Spiced Zucchini, Red Onions and Feta
- BLT Salad with Grilled Baby Artichokes, Wood-Fired Tomato Vinaigrette, Arugula, Bacon and Parmesan
- Grilled Shrimp and Orzo Pasta with Charred Scallion-Shallot Relish, Lemon and Olives
- Grill-Roasted Cumin and Garlic Meatballs with Cucumber-Yogurt Sauce
