Basic Recipes and Techniques

There are one or two things that happen in most meals, so let’s store them here, where we can all find them! That way I wont have to bore you and me with longish repeats.

Basic Kit

In a camper you’ll generally have a small under counter cupboard, am I right? This will mean that every pot, pan and kettle will be crammed in there when travelling, so make every item count. No shirkers on this ride.

Our basic pan kit, stacked up, minus the kettle. It’s not gorgeous, but it sores in a tiny cupboard.

Your Basic Pan Kit: could be, a wok with lid, a cast iron pan (la Creuset is best dwarlinks- posh shops and charity shops are the places to hunt them down), a large lidded saucepan, a little lidded saucepan, a large chefs lid, a metal rack (from a bbq kit/cooling rack etc) and an electric kettle (wild camper? Hob top kettle).

Basic pots, pans, electric kettle and gas cooker.

Your Basic Cutlery Kit: 1 teaspoon, 1 tablespoon, 1 cup or mug (your drinkng mug will do), 1 large sharp knife, 1 small sharp knife, a couple of thin plastic chopping boards, a flat fine grater, large stirring and serving spoon, a good metal fish slice, a spud masher, a pair of scissors. With these things you and your camper van can take on the world.

Basic utensils with the teaspoon and tablespoon missing: well nobody’s perfect!

Your Fancy Kit – made from your basic pan kit above

Wallys Pan-Oven: use your cast iron pan, your grill rack and the wok lid. You can also pop a couple of folded tea towels on top of the lid as insulation.

Heat the ‘oven’ on a high heat. When the pan is good and hot, turn down the flame and you’re ready to bake.

Griddle Baking: miss out the rack and wok lid from the Pan-Oven and plop your bakes straight onto the pan’s surface. Use a lid that will sit in the BOTTOM of the pan without squashing your creations. This method suits thin food; pizzas, flat breads etc. You need to watch them like a hungry hawk, as this is a good way to cremate the one you love. And we don’t want that, do we?

Abbreviations of Basic Measurements (taken from the previous blog)
t = teaspoon
T = tablespoon
c = cup
.5c = half a cup

The 3 Food Skills

As we’re trying to use as little gas as possible, it makes sense to do all prep before you strike that match. It’s not always easy to find space to lay out all that food, but you’ll find a way!

Skill number 1: get everything ready, chop food, put pans in place on the stove, and all other ingredients laid out ready to start. Add cooking cutlery and matches and you’re good to go.

Skill number 2: rather than opting for the usual rice, pasta and potatoes, try something new, healthy and hob free such as :-

Why not try the two ‘no cook’ options shown here, or the quick cook red lentils?

Bulgur Wheat or Cous cous – both come in whole grain versions, should you fancy having a healthy gut biome (google it, we haven’t gone nuts … yet) and are ‘cooked’ in the same way as each other; half the learning, twice the food options.

Ingredients for 2 people
A shy 1.5c of BOILING water; not hot, not boiled a minute ago; BOILING
.5c Bulgur Wheat or Cous cous.

Method
Put dry ingredient into your small saucepan.
Pour over your boiling water
Sir once to whet all the grains
Pop on the lid
10 -15 minutes later – serve, or get creative by adding whatever makes you smile for an awesome one pot wonder.

Skill number 3: One Pot Wonders – are often based on a good carbohydrate, this one needs very little cooking, which is why it’s made the cut.

Small Red Lentils – a staple food in many countries, this is a chameleon in terms of colour and flavour, it all depends on what you do with it. Red lentils cook more quickly than other lentils. Additional ingredients will vary according to what’s on the menu! These are the lentils that lentil haters hate to admit they like!