Tag / Recipe

Books Camping Recipe

Meals on the Move: A Campsite Cooking Journey

I am excited to announce that my new book Meals on the Move: A Campsite Cooking Journey is being released on 12 September 2023 and is available to buy now! You can order it from my shop shop for a 10% discount (and free shipping). It is also available at Alan Rogers, Amazon, Waterstones, and Darling Reads bookshop in Horbury.

This new book follows the 30-day campsite journey I took this summer through France, Italy and Switzerland. It is not just a travel book but a recipe book too as I share 30 recipes – one for each day of the trip. I created recipes that used local or regional ingredients or were typical of the area of country that we were staying in. All the recipes can be cooked in around 30 minutes, using only basic equipment so that cooking on a campsite can be both simple and delicious!

The book also includes diary entries for each day of the journey, describing the fun, the stunning scenery, and the highs and lows of the tour. Through this book I hope to give insights and inspiration for both seasoned campsite users and those taking to the road for the first time.

The book is hardback and has 200 fully illustrated colour pages.

Fasten your seatbelts, prime your taste buds and get ready to discover Meals on the Move!

by Karen
Recipe

Vegan Chickpea Curry

This is a quick curry that is perfect for a speedy dinner. Great on its own or with rice, chips, or – like I have included here – a quick pan fried naan bread. I developed this speedy store cupboard recipe for the NEC Caravan, Camping and Motorhome show live food demo.

Ingredients (serves 4)

  • 2 tbsp olive oil
  • 1 large sliced white onion
  • 1 heaped tsp garlic paste
  • 1 heaped tsp ginger paste
  • half tsp chilli paste
  • 1 tsp salt
  • 2 tbsp curry powder
  • 1 tin chopped tomatoes
  • 1 tin chickpeas
  • 1 tin coconut milk (stirred well with 3/4 cup removed for the naans)
  • 1 tin spinach (optional)

Optional Extras

  • 2 Chopped fresh tomatoes
  • 2 red chillies thinly sliced lengthways
  • 3 Handfuls fresh baby spinach
  • Handful crushed cashew nuts
  • Handful coriander

Method

  1. Chop all the vegetables and rinse the chickpeas
  2. Put a frying pan on a medium heat. Once hot, add the oil and onions.
  3. Sautée onions for five minutes until soft.
  4. Add the garlic, chilli, and ginger with the curry powder. Cook for 30 seconds.
  5. Add the tomatoes, chickpeas, and coconut milk. Bring to the boil and then reduce to a simmer.
  6. Cook for 10 minutes and serve.

Quick Panfried Naans

Ingredients

  • One and three quarters cups plain flour
  • 1 heaped Tsp Baking Powder
  • 1 Tsp Salt
  • 2 Tsp Sugar
  • 2 Tsp Oil
  • 3/4 Cup coconut Milk
  • Olive Oil and garlic paste mix for basting
  • Garlic Oil Fry Light

Method

  1. Add the dry ingredients to a bowl and mix together.
  2. Add the coconut milk gradually and mix until smooth.
  3. Split into four and shape into balls.
  4. Roll out to the thickness of a £1 coin.
  5. Spray a frying pan with FryLight and cook the naans for few minutes on each side.

by Karen
Recipe

Brazilian Picadillo

This week I have been doing live demonstrations at the Caravan and Camping Show. As part of this, people were invited to submit their favourite camping recipe for me to cook on stage. I had a wonderful day with my husband John and my girls Kit and Vanessa plus the amazing Terry from Bake Off to support me.

Press pass!

I selected this recipe because I had never heard of it and it sounded delicious. I have cooked it a couple of times since and have added it to my rotation of recipes.

Ingredients

  • 750g lean minced beef
  • 1 tbsp coconut oil
  • 1 sliced red onion
  • 1 sliced white onion
  • 4 crushed garlic cloves
  • Half green pepper sliced
  • Half red pepper sliced
  • 50g black olives sliced
  • 50g green olives sliced
  • 75g raisins
  • 75g capers (rinsed)
  • 2 cans chopped tomatoes
  • 2 tbsp white wine vinegar
  • 1 tsp ground cinnamon
  • 1 tsp ground cloves
  • 1 tsp smoked paprika

Method

  1. Soften the vegetables in the coconut oil in a large pan.
  2. Add the minced beef. Stir until meat has browned.
  3. Add the spices, olives, capers, raisins, and the white wine vinegar along with the tomatoes.
  4. Simmer for about twenty minutes and serve.

by Karen
Christmas Recipe

Uncle David’s Favourite Mince Meat Recipe

I was just thinking this morning how it will be Christmas before we know where we are and I just happened to have all the ingredients in my store cupboard to make a huge jar of mincemeat for mince pies. It only takes ten minutes and little effort, with the resulting mincemeat much better than anything you can buy in the shops.

I have an Uncle David who is mince pie crazy. One year as a young man, he scoffed all my gran’s mince pies in one sitting. The following year she played a joke on him, baking him a tray full stuffed with cotton wool; each year he still remains optimistic that he will be plied with the real thing!

Ingredients:

700g Mixed Dried Fruit (any combination you like, cranberries, mango or (like me) just the standard currants, raisins, sultanas and mixed peel)
100g Glacé Cherries (chopped)
1 Cooking Apple (peeled, cored and chopped)
125g Unsalted Butter
50g Chopped Nuts (any will do)
225g Dark Brown Sugar
1 tsp Cinnamon
1 and 1/2 tbs Mixed Spice
1 tsp Mace or Nutmeg
Grated rind and juice of 1 Lemon
150ml Brandy

Method:

1. Warm the sugar, butter and lemon in a large pan on a low heat
2. Add all the other ingredients (with the exception of the brandy)
3. Cook over a low heat for about ten minutes, stirring regularly
4. Remove from heat and leave to cool
5. Add the brandy and stir thoroughly
6. Place in a large sterilised Kilner jar or four small jam jars

Who still puts mince pies out on Christmas Eve? Not my Uncle that’s for sure!

by Karen