Carolyn™ - Outdoor Cooking In Oz

2011-12-30T12:49:00.000+11:00

Weber BabyQ Chorizo & Parmesan Tasty Bites

I just love these and have reduced the quantities to make 12 in the Weber BabyQ. Perfect for Happy Hour or New Year. Could also be cooked at home or as I have done previously in a Camp Oven that fits the mini muffin tin.

Put a double layer of alfoil and trivet in BabyQ and preheat to 190C

Spray or grease mini muffin tin

Mix:
1 cup Self Raising flour
1/2 teaspoon Baking Powder
1/8 teaspoon chilli powder
Salt and Pepper
1/4 cup grated parmesan cheese
¼ cup parsley or rocket

In another bowl mix
1 beaten egg
½ cup milk
2 tablespoons olive oil

Mix wet into dry only mixing enough to combine.

Divide and spoon into 12 minimuffins

Bake at 190C 15-18 minutes until brown on top

Cool but can be eaten warm.

2011-12-21T12:58:00.003+11:00

Weber BabyQ Blush Apple Tart

No Knead Dough

Adapted from the Artisan Pizza & Flatbread in Five Minutes a Day Book

The fridge needed to be emptied a bit to fit the Xmas goodies so I decided to use some of the left over dough from the Skillet Apple Pie and make the tart from the same book. This I would definitely make again. I just loved the raspberry flavour with the apple. It was just the right size for a couple or one. You might have to go larger or make two for a family. A dollop of cream or ice cream would have enhanced it but after all the recent cooking I am calorie counting :)

Blush Apple Tart

For a small 8" tray Adapted from the Pizza and Flat Bread in 5 Minutes a Day Book

1 small orange sized piece of enriched dough

1 Red Apple unpeeled sliced thinly

1 Tablespoon Apple Sauce mixed with

1 Tablesppon Rasberry Jam

1 tablespoon sugar for sprinkling

1 teaspoon butter to grease tray (or spray) (I used the bottom of a springform pan)

Preheat oven to 350F/180C

Roll or stretch dough 1” thick to fit tray

Fit on tray – I cut the slight excess

Spread over raspberry jam & apple sauce mixture going nearly to the edge and sprinkle with sugar

Put in preheated oven on a trivet with double alfoil layer under

I checked at 20 minutes and gave it another 5

Cool on a wire rack and decorate as desired

I had some dough and a red apple left so I tested how a long rectangular tin would work with the same recipe. Although I rather like the curled apple in the above version I cut the apple thicker and cooked it for about 5 minutes longer. The overall browning was pretty even which was a pleasing result. Whilst most of what I have baked in the Weber BabyQ could be easily done in a camp oven, an advantage for me is the rectangular shape as I dont have an oval camp oven.

2011-12-20T18:35:00.002+11:00

Weber BabyQ Skillet Apple Pie

I am having a lot of fun with the Weber BabyQ and my Pizza and Flatbread in Five book. This was made with an enriched dough and there is another recipe for an apple tart I will try using the same dough but thinner.

Weber BabyQ Apple Pie

Carolyns Outdoor Cooking In Oz

Adapted from the Pizza and Flatbread in Five

Minutes a Day Book – makes two

Dough - Mix

7/8 cup warm water

¼ cup melted butter

¼ cup honey

2 teaspoons dried yeast

2 beaten eggs

2 teaspoons salt

Then add 3 1/2 cups plain flour

In large lidded not airtight container and put aside with lid on but not sealed for 2 hours and then chill overnight. It can be used for up to 2 weeks if kept refrigerated.

Put doubled foil over the grill then a trivet and preheat the Weber BabyQ to 350F/180C.

Grease skillet with 2 teaspoons butter (I used a sizzle platter which fitted perfectly)

Streusel Topping

¼ cup old fashioned oats

¼ cup plain flour

¼ teaspoon salt

½ teaspoon ground cinnamon

¼ cup brown sugar

¼ cup melted butter

Apple Filling

Peel and Core 3 Green Apples. Thinly slice preferably on a mandolin

Combine with apple

½ cup brown sugar

½ teaspoon ground cinnamon

1 Tablespoon plain flour

1 teaspoon lemon zest

Cut off half the dough mixture and shape into a ball, dusting with flour and stretching the surface of the dough around to the bottom on all four sides.

Flatten dough with your hands and a rolling pin to a 1/4" thick and slightly larger than the pie plate or skillet your using.

Place over plate.

Fill with apple mixture.

Put on Streusel.

Flop overhanging dough over filling

Brush this dough with l teaspoon melted butter and sprinkle with l tablespoon sugar

Check for doneness by inserting a knife to see if apples are tender at about 30 minutes and if dough is browning a bit much cover loosely with alfoil. Continue cooking checking about every ten minutes. Mine was ready at 40 minutes.

Cool on a wire rack, cut in wedges, serve with cream, ice cream or custard.

2011-12-18T09:07:00.002+11:00

Weber BabyQ Christmas loaf
(Stollen) made with Brioche Dough

adapted from Artisan Bread in Five Minutes a Day

Makes two loaves - Although I have cooked this in my Weber BabyQ it could be baked in a home oven or as a round loaf or buns in a camp oven.

1 ½ cups dried fruit (plump by covering with hot water for about five minutes then drain and allow to cool)

3/4 cup lukewarm water

3 teaspoons dried yeast

3 teaspoons salt

1/4 cup honey

4 eggs, lightly beaten

3/4 cup unsalted butter, melted, cooled

3 3/4 cups unbleached all-purpose flour

½ teaspoon cinnamon’

¼ cup of Brandy (cold tea may be substituted)

Egg wash (one egg beaten with 1 tablespoon of water)

Icing sugar to decorate (cherries, nuts optional)

The dough:

1. Mix water, yeast, salt, eggs, honey brandy and cooled melted butter in a large lidded (not airtight) container.

2. Mix in cinnamon, plumped dried fruit and flour without kneading, using a spoon, or 14-cup capacity food processor (with dough attachment), or a heavy-duty stand mixer (with dough hook). You may need to use wet hands to get the last bit of flour to incorporate if you're not using a machine. The dough will be loose but will firm up when chilled.

3. Cover (not airtight), and allow to rest at room temperature until dough rises and collapses (or flattens on top), approximately 2 hours.

4. Dough can be used as soon as it's chilled after the initial rise but its best to refrigerate overnight. You can use it over the next 5 days.

The Christmas Loaf (Stollen):

Pull out half of the dough onto a well floured board or pizza peel.

Divide it into 5 equal pieces

Roll each ball into a long sausage I made mine the length of the peel which

is approximately 12 inches.

Join one set of 5 end together dividing them with 3 on one side and two on the other

Pull the outside sausage of the three into the centre now making three on the other side

Take the outside of the bottom 3 and cross it to the centre

Continue taking the outside to the centre in this way until you get to the end and squeeze and tuck under the ends.

Cover loosely and put in a draft free place for 90 minutes if chilled.

When its been resting for 60 minutes put a piece of double foil on the grill plate and using a trivet and a pizza stone preheat the BabyQ for 30 minutes on the 6^th marker from the bottom to achieve a 350F/180C temperature. This will vary in different climates.

Brush with beaten egg and water glaze.

Carefully slide onto the stone

Cook for 30-40 Minutes

Cool completely on a wire rack

You can decorate it with sifted icing sugar

I make a glaze of approx ½ cup icing sugar and hot water to make it just runny and decorate with cherries and nuts.

2011-12-12T09:13:00.003+11:00

PIZZA WITH SEMOLINA & OLIVE OIL CRUST

COOKED IN THE BABYQ

It was a wet and miserable for most of the weekend. It had been suggested to me that I should try a pizza crust containing semolina. I found one in the Pizza&FB in Five book and altered it slightly by adding 1/3rd cup of olive oil.

Ingredients I used for a batch which should make at least 8 12" pizzas.

2 2/3rd cups lukewarm water

1/3rd cup virgin olive oil

1 Tablespoon dried yeast

1 Tablespoon salt

3 cups of semolina flour (it took one whole packet)

3 1/4 cups of bread flour

Mix water, oil, salt and yeast together in a large container.

Add the flours, I use a danish whisk but a spoon will do. If you have a 14 cup food processor with dough attachment you can mix using that. If necessary use wet hands to mix in the last of the flour.

Put into a large container with a lid but not airtight. (I used the container I mix it in)

Put it aside for 2 hours or until dough rises and flattens. It can be used but it is easier to use and the flavours develop if you refrigerate it overnight. It will keep up to 14 days refrigerated.

Using the BabyQ I put a double sheet of alfoil, then a trivet, then stone and preheated on full heat (for approx 20 minutes) while I prepared the pizza.

For this one I used an orange sized piece of dough which I roughly rolled out to 1/8" thickness on a well floured pizza peel. If you dont have one floured baking paper on a board would be fine.

I used sliced pepperoni, mushrooms, grated tasty, parmeasan and slices of boccocini cheese on top.

I turned down the heat two bars and cooked it 12 minutes before I tested it, I decided to then give it 3 more minutes.

This is the best crust I have made to date.

2011-12-03T23:20:00.002+11:00

WEBER BABYQ - PRAWN PIZZA

Still reading all the fascinating recipes in my AP+FBin5 Book. One that caught my eye was a white clam pizza. Not being a real fan of clams the idea of a white pizza as a change from my usual tomato based ones was appealing. I used some of the Master Dough I have in the fridge and defrosted some raw prawns from the freezer. I have never made Bechamel sauce before and used the recipe in the book. I decided shallots and chilli flakes would add a little zing and so I added those instead of the parsley in the original recipe. Quite a rich pizza the suggestion of a wedge of lemon to serve with it is a good one. Be warned I have enough dough for at least four more pizzas but might use some for flat bread.

2011-12-02T14:55:00.002+11:00

WEBER BABYQ - PIZZONE

I made up the Master Recipe from the Pizza+FBin5 book yesterday and this morning tried some flatbread stuffed with cheese and fried with some ghee. Later I adapted the Piz-zone (half pizza half calzone) recipe and cooked one in my BabyQ. I was pleased with it and it gave two quite different textures and flavours with very little effort. I now have the rest of the dough to experiment with further recipes as the week goes by.

2011-11-28T10:22:00.005+11:00

BabyQ Breakfast Egg Nests

Still playing with the BabyQ and the stone. I had dough on hand and made these this morning for breakfast. I was pleased with the result and its the kind of thing you can vary the filling to suit your own tastes. It also can be cooked in large muffin tins and the camp oven.

2011-11-27T14:11:00.004+11:00

BabyQ Mushroom Pizza

I pre-ordered the book Artisan Pizza and Flat Bread in 5 Minutes a Day way back in April. I don't usually buy books as there are so many recipes and ideas on the web but these I feel are special. This one arrived yesterday which is a week earlier than the date I was given and lived up to its promise. All sorts of information and recipes. I guess many cook like me and get the general idea from a recipe and then adapt it to their own tastes and ingredients that happen to be handy. I had made the seeded bread I love and still had some dough in the fridge to be cooked and decided to try that as the pizza base. I felt the seeds and grains would blend well with mushrooms. They did for my personal taste. For others I probably would make a dough from the book as with the sugar content it browned almost a bit much but ok for me and it was for my lunch afterall. The mushroom topping is from the book and I just loved it.

2011-11-24T19:09:00.007+11:00

BabyQ No Knead Seeded Bread

Bread was something I wanted to try in the BabyQ. I made my favourite No Knead Seeded Oat Bread from the Healthy Bread in Five Book adding some of my Sour Dough Starter Herman. It cooked fine except that I had the temperature up just a little and I will adjust that next time. I still have two thirds of the dough left to experiment with. Their Pizza and Flatbreads Book is in the mail and I cant wait to try some of these recipes in the BabyQ and when next camping.

Here are thAdapted from Betsy's Oat and Seeded Bread in HBin5

2 Cups Wholemeal Flour

3 Cups Plain White Flour

1 1/2 cups old-fashioned oats

2 Tablespoons Flaxseed

3/4 Cup Pumpkin Seeds plus extra for sprinkling on top

3/4 Cup Sunflour Seeds plus extra for sprinkling on top

1/4 Cup Sesame seeds plus extra for sprinkling on top

1 1/2 Tablespoons granulated yeast

1 Tablespoon salt

1/4 cup vital wheat gluten

3 cups warm water

1/2 cup honey or agave syrup

1/4 cup neutral flavoured oil

1 cup Sourdough Starter (optional)

2011-11-22T09:28:00.004+11:00

Baby Q Scotch Eggs

Just had a lovely extended weekend at Macquarie Woods with the Australian Campertrailer Group. I cooked these for Happy Hour in the Baby Q. Just waiting on photos to do a Youtube and maybe one of something else I cooked in the Camp Oven. I was busy and didnt get a finished photo to use.

Various photos taken at Macquarie Woods which is a free camp site between Bathurst and Orange in NSW.

2011-11-13T11:41:00.004+11:00

FRUIT SCONES COOKED IN MY BABYQ

These are the second batch I made. I didnt get the tops brown on the first lot. I put out a cry for help and Captain Cook at Aussie BBQ Forum came to the rescue. There are lots of great ideas there for BBQ and other Cooking.

Ingredients:

3 cups Self Raising Flour + l teaspoon baking powder (optional)

pinch of salt

1 cup dried fruit

250ml cartoon of cream

200ml approx. dry ginger ale

Method:

Place a piece of doubled alfoil on grill not totally covering it. Preheat BabyQ on the highest setting for ten minutes. Grease tray. Mix dried fruit, flour, salt and baking powder, add cream and dry gingerale. Turn out onto floured board and knead lightly. Shape. Cut and brush with milk. Turn back heat 3 1/2 slots and bake for 30 minutes. Should sound hollow if you knock on the bottom.

2011-11-10T19:54:00.003+11:00

ROAST BEEF - SIMPLE DINNER IN THE BABYQ

I will still be cooking using my Volcano and Camp Ovens but today expanded my choices by purchasing a BabyQ. I have had a few bad experiences with gas and started this one off with a bang when someone......thought the high was low.

We were given good advice by the saleslady and the end result was a nice dinner cooked the way we like it. (well done).

I found I needed to turn it nearly almost off to get the heat down but this should work well when I do some bread or rolls in it and I will make some soon to test them out as well.

2011-10-31T08:45:00.003+11:00

CHICKEN & BACON SKEWERS

Probably my favourite blog is Food Wishes. Chef John cooks very tasty dishes and this is yet another one. The photo is my efforts last night. Often ingredients are not available in Australia for overseas recipes but this one is simple. You can make a homemade Ranch Dressing for the marinade but the Paul Newmans one is rich and delicious and at most supermarkets here. For two (6 sticks) I used the following:

2 medium chicken breasts cut each into 12 pieces

1/3rd cup Ranch Dressing

1 Teaspoon hot chilli sauce (or more to taste)

12 red onion wedges (I only had a white onion)

6 long strips of thin bacon
6 bamboo or other skewers. If you use the bamboo ones dont forget to presoak them before making. Also if your using a bbq or grill with flame put a double or more folded strip of alfoil underneath the stick only ends to stop the sticks burning.

Marinade the chicken pieces in the ranch dressing and chilli sauce for at least three hours or overnight in the refrigerator.

Thread a piece of onion then the bottom of a strip of bacon, on goes a chicken piece, keep up near the top and loop over the bacon, put on the other chicken pieces likewise pushing down as you need to fit them (4 in all) ending with bacon and onion wedge.Grill or BBQ till done. The outside bacon will be crispy the small inside bits soft but still cooked. He suggests using more ranch dressing for dipping. I served them with a rice and vegetable combination. For Chef Johns Video which shows how to make this receipe and details of the threading go here Chef Johns Ranch Chicken Skewers.

We are stopping at our favourite place were no fires are allowed but we will bbq a lot of our meals. Its somewhat a male paradise where fishing takes priority over regular meal times. Its also a place of many birds and in fact you can see as many as 7 in 7 minutes so I will work on some photographic challenges. Below is the first butterfly I have ever photographed and I was pleased with it.

Today we went to a fish market and bought some fresh prawns and bread rolls. Mangoes are in season and I just love them. A marvellous lunch and absolutely no cooking. We sat looking at the view and enjoying just being alive. Summer is really here at last.

2011-10-14T17:44:00.002+11:00

HAZELNUT & CHOCOLATE BAKLAVA

I thought I would give this a try as an alternative to my usual walnut, brown sugar and cinnamon filling.

Although I didnt make it in the camp oven, I would have made it exactly the same as I usually do in the camp oven.

Its a little more work putting the nuts and chocolate through the grinder and I tend to get into a mess.

Ingredients:

1 Packet filo cut in half

250g butter melted

125g ground hazelnuts (1 1/2 cups)

200g cooking chocolate grated (1 1/2 cups)

250g butter (2 sticks)

1/2 cup honey, 1/2 cup sugar, 1/2 cup water

Make the filling:

Simply grind and mix together the hazelnuts and the chocolate and add the sugar.

Divide into 3 equal amounts.

For the syrup:

Mix together honey, sugar and water and gently simmer for about 7 minutes and set aside to cool.

Should be thinner than honey thicker than water.

Layer Fillo 2 sheets brushing with the melted butter 5 times = 10 sheets.

Spread 1/3rd of the filling mixture across the top layer. Repeat twice.

Finish with a last layer of 2 sheets brushed with melted butter till all the sheets are used up and brush the top with melted butter.Cut into pieces approx 30

Cook in a 350C 170F oven for about 20 minutes then recut and cook a further 10-20 minutes until it is a nice golden colour.

Pour slightly cooled syrup over and leave to cool.

It is recommended to leave it over night for the syrup to soak in but it never lasts that long here.

I am undecided as to whether I like it as made with the more traditional filling but will test it out at an afternoon tea tomorrow.

2011-10-05T11:39:00.007+11:00

MY COOKING AT CAMP CYPRESS BARADINE

WITH THE CAMPERTRAILER GROUP

I had not planned on doing a major cookup this year but felt I wanted to use my sour dough starter "Herman from Tennessee" and for the first time had frozen a cup full to take with me and then reactivate. I defrosted it and then fed it with bread flour twice and it started bubbling. Approximately a half a cup of flour and 2/3rds that amount of water each time. The photo is pre activation.

My friend Jenny P. had brought me a premix Sour Dough Rye Bread from the Mills at Dubbo. I used approximately the recommended quantities of dried yeast and water and added a cup of my activated starter and made some cheese and bacon rolls.

Morning Tea

I again made the Baklava which I have posted in here previously. I had another version come through on my blog reader and this time divided the filo into four which was about 10 sheets per layer and the nut, sugar and cinnamon into three layers. I also reduced the heat to 6 beads under and 18 on top moving them around about 3/4s the way through to help with getting the browning spread out. The hotter oven is ok but you need to keep an eye on it as it browns quickly.

Happy Hour

Cream Cheese Sausage Balls

www.plainchicken.com

500 grms hot sausage, uncooked (I used Australian Sausage Mince with l Tablespoon of Hot Chilli Sauce)
250 cream cheese, softened
1 1/4 cups Bisquick (see below)
4 oz cheddar cheese, shredded

Preheat oven to 400F. (I used the camp oven 6 Beads under and 20 on top). Rolled them over at about 15 minutes.

Mix all ingredients until well combined. Roll into 1-inch balls. Bake for 20-25 minutes, or until brown.Sausage balls may be frozen uncooked. If baking frozen, add a few minutes to the baking time.

Here is a copy cat recipe for Bisquick (1+ cup)

1 tablespoon baking powder
1 1/2 teaspoon sugar
1 1/8 cup flour
2 1/2 tablespoons canola oil
Directions:
Sift together powder and sugar into flour. Sift together twice into large mixing bowl. Slowly add oil, cutting in with pastry blender (or 2 knives), until mix is consistency of corn meal. Store in tightly covered container at room temperature or may be refrigerated. Spoon lightly into cup and level with spatula. Use for pancakes, waffles, biscuits

Camp OvenTomato Cobbler adaption from One Perfect Bite (Martha Stewart)

Next time: I wouldnt use a foil dish as not having a deep camp oven I had to flatten the topping

Filling
1/4 cup extra-virgin olive oil
2 medium onions, thinly sliced
4 garlic cloves, thinly sliced
3 pounds cherry or grape tomatoes
1 tablespoon fresh chopped basil

3 tablespoons all-purpose flour1/4 teaspoon crushed red-pepper flakes

Coarse salt and freshly groundpepper

Topping
2 cups all-purpose flour
2 teaspoons baking powder
Coarse salt
1 stick cold unsalted butter, cut into small pieces
1 cup grated Gruyere cheese (2 1/4 ounces), plus 1 tablespoon, for sprinkling
1-1/2 cups heavy cream, plus more for brushing
Directions:1) To make filling: Heat oil in a large high-sided skillet over medium heat. Cook onions, stirring occasionally, until caramelized, about 25 minutes. Add garlic, and cook until fragrant, about 3 minutes. Let cool. Toss onion mixture, tomatoes, basil, flour, and red-pepper flakes with 1-1/2 teaspoons salt and some pepper.

2) Preheat oven to 375 degrees F.
3) To make biscuit topping: Whisk together flour, baking powder, and 1 teaspoon salt in a bowl. Cut in butter with a pastry cutter or rub in with your fingers until small clumps form. Stir in cheese, then add cream, stirring with a fork to combine until dough forms. (Dough will be slightly sticky.)
4) Transfer tomato mixture to a 2-quart baking dish (2 inches deep). Spoon 7 clumps of biscuit dough (about 1/2 cup each) over top in a circle, leaving center open. Brush dough with cream, and sprinkle with remaining tablespoon cheese. Bake until tomatoes are bubbling in the center and biscuits are golden brown, about 1 hour 10 minutes. Transfer to a wire rack. Let cool for 20 minutes. Yield: 6 to 8 servings.

I had some left over and found it reheated well for breakfast.

To keep his hand in Sparky made some "scones" for the boys in his gas oven.

Peter wasnt to be outdone and captured the "wild yeast" at the camp to make this great looking sour dough loaf in his Cobb Oven.

We had a great time with over 110 rigs attending. Many activities to see and learn from as well as each other. The official write up and photos will be available at http://www.campertrailers.org/ as soon as the organisers can sift through the many photos taken.

One of our members made this cake for our 10th Birthday Celebration.

2011-09-11T09:02:00.000+10:00

As I have been a bit lazy in camp oven cooking of late I thought I would share a couple of excellent Youtubes showing some outdoor cooking in the Kimberleys in Australia.

Auntie Junie Pederson has spent many decades cooking at stock camps at cattle stations all around Australia's wild Kimberley region. In this video she and her old friend Roy Wilson make one of Junie's famous Kimberley dampers

KIMBERLEY CAMP OVEN DAMPER

KIMBERLEY STOCKCAMP STEW

2011-08-27T19:49:00.007+10:00

CAMP OVEN SPINACH CHEESE & ONION BREAD

A cold winter has had me cooking indoors. Today I got out my camp oven and cooked a recipe generously sent to me by "The Dukes Dutch Oven Cooking Team". I made it at the Camp Oven Cooking In Australia meet at Thora. It was somewhat too large for my 12" camp oven and although it was eaten and enjoyed I felt I could do better by halving the quantities. Mentioned in the previous posts is the fact that I now have "Herman" from Tennessee working hard as my sourdough starter. I substituted this for the rapid rise yeast in the original recipe and added more liquid to make it in the no knead fashion.

Whilst it doesnt look as good as the original its a very nice tasty loaf.

The recipe as I used it is on the drop down of the Youtube. I have copied it to make it easy for those who dont like Youtubes.

CAMP OVEN SPINACH CHEESE & ONION BREAD
Carolyns Outdoor Cooking In Oz adapted from a recipe by
The Dukes Dutch Oven Cooking Team

Put into a bowl:

3 cups white flour
1/4 cup milk powder
1 Tablespoon sugar
2 teaspoons salt
1 teaspoon garlic powder
1 teaspoon onion powder

Mix dry ingredients thoroughly

Add to the dry ingredients:

1 Cup of Sour Dough Starter (Alternatively you could use 1 Tablespoon Rapid Rise quick acting yeast and mix in with the dry ingredients)
1 1/2 cups warm water
1 beaten egg
2 Tablespoons vegetable oil

You should have a sticky dough. Put it aside in a warm place until it doubles approx. 2 hrs depending on the climate

While its rising prepare the filling:

Defrost 250gram pack of frozen
spinach (approx. 2 cups)
1 Tablespoon butter
1/4 cup chopped onion
1 chopped clove of garlic
Pinch of salt, nutmeg and pepper
3/4 cup grated parmesan cheese
(extra 1/4 cup parmesan needed for top)
Fry together butter and onion for three minutes.
Add spinach, salt, nutmeg, pepper
and garlic. Cook a further three minutes
Stir in cheese and put aside to cool.

Place risen dough on a floured board. (I used baking paper)
Roll out into a 12" x 18" rectangle
Spread filling on the dough
Roll up tightly from the 18" edge
Pinch ends to seal and put seam side down
in a 12" greased camp oven. Make cuts about
1" apart. Cover and let rise in a warm area
for 45-60 minutes.

Brush with whipping cream just before putting on the heat.

Heat up 24 beads, when they are ready put 6 under and 18 on top of your camp oven.

After 30 minutes it had turned golden and I brushed with melted butter and sprinkled with parmesan cheese.

15 minutes later the cheese was melted and brown and I felt it was cooked.

I tipped it out to let it cool, but couldnt resist a slice to see how it looked inside.

While I had the camp oven nearby and the sourdough starter alive and well I decided to do something the MOTH would like. I used Georges Roll recipe below which contains starter and dried yeast and also added 1 1/2 teaspoons of cinnamon and 1 cup of dried fruit. I also added extra liquid and did a short 2 hour rise with no kneading. I might have to adjust the liquid ratio I normally use when I am also adding the starter as the rising went more sideways than up. I rolled out the mixture 12" x 18" spread it with softened butter, sprinkled with brown sugar and cinnamon. Then rolled up from the 18" side much the same as the above.

I then cut it into approx 1 1/2" pieces and put the cut side down in the camp oven with each piece touching. I rested it for 45 in a warm spot. I used the same beads as above 6 down and 18 up and brushed butter over the top. I checked it at 30 minutes but then gave it another 10. Any longer and the bottom might have burnt but it tipped out fine and I drizzled some icing over it.

2011-08-26T16:41:00.005+10:00

MIXED GRAIN & SEED SOUR DOUGH ROLLS

I decided to help my waistline by making small rolls that I could freeze rather than big loaves that I ate too much of. This recipe and method is an adaption from my HBin5 Book and uses only the sour dough starter "Herman" which was sent to me by my friend George in Tennessee. I am pleased with the combinations I used. It has a nice crust and is full of flavour.

Mixed Grain & Seed Rolls

Carolyns™ Outdoor Cooking in Oz

1 1/2 cups Rye flour

1 1/2 cups White Bread Flour

1 Tablespoon Flaxseed

3/4 cup Rolled Oats

1/2 cup Pepitas/Pumpkin seeds

2 teaspoons of salt

Mix all these dry ingredients together.

Add:

1 cup Rye Sour Dough Starter

1/4 cup vegetable oil

1/4 cup honey

1 1/2 cups warm water.

You should end up with a sticky dough, cover but not airtight and leave to double in size. I went out to the movies and came back about 5 hours later and it was well risen.

With floury hands gently shape rolls, dont punch down or knead. I made mine mandarin size and got 18 from this mixture.

Cover and leave to rise, I left these l hour. They didnt double but rose quite a lot. Brush with water and sprinkle with extra seeds. I had a tray in the bottom of the oven and put a cup of warm water into it. I wouldnt bother with this in a camp oven.

Bake in a preheated oven at 210C for 20-25 minutes.

2011-08-14T07:07:00.001+10:00

GOLDEN SOURDOUGH BISCUITS

Ron at Rogue Dutch Oven Cookers suggested I try his Golden Sourdough Biscuits. I just love the sharing between countries but to me biscuit=cookie and I know generally scone=biscuit to our American friends. I used some of my Rye starter as I have put "Herman" to sleep in the refrigerator till I decide to light up the beads and do some camp oven cooking.

For the recipe visit Rogue Dutch Oven Cookers

There was no photo posted, I was just not sure what I would end up with. These are wonderful, buttery, soft, and light with a nice crust. Somewhere between scone and bread. They seemed to have risen properly but rounded in the oven. I had them with some of the rockmelon (cantaloupe) jam I still had. They are so buttery that I didnt add more butter. They would be wonderful with bacon and egg. Thanks Ron for the suggestion I have just added another kilo to my waist line.

2011-07-16T12:31:00.006+10:00

COCONUT PRAWN BISQUE

This would be easy to make in a camp oven. I had every intention of making it and Youtubing it but the weather was so cold and bleak so I made it inside. I kept the spices low to suit everyone. I adapted it from Chef John at Food Wishes Blog and suggest you check his Youtube for his method of cooking. I like a lot of his cooking and feel I can adapt it for camping or outdoor cooking.

COCONUT PRAWN BISQUE

Carolyns Outdoor Cooking In Oz

Ingredients:

500g raw prawns with shells (fresh is best but I used frozen with only tail shells)

2 1/2 cups water

4 tablespoons butter, divided

1/3 cup chopped green onions

1/3 cup diced celery

1/4 diced jalapeno (I used a Tablespoon of jalapenos from a jar)

1/4 cup flour

2 cups prepared tomato soup (My soup was one which needed to have liquid added so I used fish stock instead of water to make up the quantity)

1/2 cup coconut milk

1/4 teaspoon red curry paste, or to taste (I stuck to this amount)

salt and/or fish sauce to taste

basil chiffonade (rolled finely sliced basil) (not having any basil I decorated with coriander)

rice crackers

Shell and devein the prawns, fry the shells till pink in a tablespoon of the butter on medium, add the water and simmer while slicing the prawns horizontally and removing the vein.

Put the liquid and shells aside.

Fry the onions, celery and japaleno on medium until softened in the rest of the butter, add the flour and mix for about 3 minutes.

Mix in strained warm liquid from boiled shells to the flour mixture, then add made up tomato soup, red curry paste, coconut milk and fish sauce and bring to a high simmer (almost boiling) for a few minutes.

Add the raw prawns and cook only until the prawns turn pink.

Put a rice cracker floating in the middle and decorate with basil.

Chef John at Foodwishes blog

2011-07-01T11:58:00.010+10:00

APRICOT BLATJANG (CHUTNEY)

My friends Ian and Brenda were originally from South Africa and whenever we get together food is always the main topic. They suggested Boboetjie would be a suitable dish for me to make in a camp oven and Youtube. Attached to the recipe they emailed me was one for Blatjang and I have made it this morning in readiness as a side to go with the Boboetjie.

These are the ingredients I used to make three small jars, it could easily be doubled.

APRICOT (BLATJANG) CHUTNEY

Adapted by Carolyn - Outdoor Cooking In Oz

1 1/2 cups chopped dried apricots

1 1/2 cups seedless raisins

6 cups grape (wine or cider) vinegar

2 chopped large onions

2 crushed cloves of garlic

2 cups brown sugar

1/2 cup flaked almonds

1 Tablespoon salt

1 1/2 Tablespoons ground ginger

1 Tablespoon ground coriander

1 Tablespoon mustard seeds

1/2 teaspoon chilli powder (could be increased)

Soak overnight the apricots, raisins and vinegar to plump the fruit. The next morning add the remaining ingredients and cook uncovered over medium heat stirring occasionally at first and then constantly towards the end to prevent sticking.

Reduce to about one third. This should take between 1 - 1 1/2 hours.

Put into hot sterilised jars, seal and store in a cool dark place.

I will use it as a side to go with Boboetjie but it would go well with any meals or cheese that you enjoy chutney with.

BOBOETJIE

As I made the Boboetjie I knew I was taking a chance. I was only cooking for two so I halved the ingredients, this would have been alright if I had put the mixture into a smaller container within the camp oven but I spread it out over a 12" camp oven and it was too thin, for the full mixture I would suggest using an 8" foil dish or camp oven. I increased the full topping by 50% to cover the area to some degree but meant the slices had a greater quantity of topping and less of the meat mixture.

The flavour was good and the Blatjang certainly was a good side dish to go with it.

Here are the full quantities from the recipe I adapted and came from Epecuris.

BOBOETJIE

1K minced lamb or beef, or a mixture of the two

butter, vegetable oil for frying

2 onions, chopped

2 ml (1/2 teaspoon) crushed garlic

15 ml (1 tablespoon) curry powder

5 ml (1 teaspoon) ground turmeric

2 slices bread, crumbled

60 ml (1/4 cup) milk

finely grated rind and juice of 1/2 small lemon

1 egg

5 ml (1 teaspoon) salt, milled black pepper

100 g (3 ounces) dried apricots, chopped

1 Granny Smith apple peeled, cored and chopped

60 ml (1/4 cup) sultanas (golden raisins)

50 g (1 1/2 ounces) slivered almonds, roasted in a dry frying pan

6 lemon, orange, or bay leaves

TOPPING

250 ml (1 cup) milk

2 eggs2 ml (1/2 teaspoon) salt

(I heated 24 beads and cooked it throughout with 8 under 16 on top)

Set the oven at 160°C (325°F). Butter a large casserole. Heat butter and oil in a saucepan and fry the onion and garlic until translucent. Stir in the curry powder and turmeric, and cook briefly until fragrant. Remove the pot from the heat.

Mix in the minced meat. Mix together the crumbs, milk, lemon rind and juice, egg, salt, pepper, apricots, apple, sultanas (golden raisins) and almonds and mix in. Pile into the casserole and level the top. Roll up the leaves and bury them at regular intervals. Seal with foil and bake for 1 1/4 hours. Increase the oven temperature to 200°C (400°F). Mix together the topping milk, eggs and salt (you may require extra topping if you've used a very large casserole), pour over and bake uncovered for a further 15 minutes until cooked and lightly browned. Serve with Yellow Rice and Blatjang

2011-06-26T21:26:00.004+10:00

CAMP OVEN CURRIED PUMPKIN SOUP

On our way back from Tumut and picking up the new CUB we stopped at a small market and I bought a whole pumpkin which looked lovely. Between my reader and googling I found a variety of ways to cook a Curried Pumpkin Soup. I decided to cook the pumpkin on the grill before mashing it and mixing it with the spices and stock. The end result was a great soup, just spicy enough I thought. I adapted it from a recipe at www.seriouseats.com and used similar quantities but in a slightly different order. This could be made substituting a conventional wood fire grill and camp oven.

CURRIED PUMPKIN SOUP INGREDIENTS

Carolyn™ - Outdoor Cooking In Oz

2 medium sugar pumpkins, halved and seeded (I used about 4K = 3/4 of the pumpkin I had.

2 tablespoons butter, melted

1 tablespoon olive oil

1 large yellow onion, chopped medium

1 tablespoon minced fresh ginger

2 teaspoons yellow curry powder

1 teaspoon whole mustard seeds

1/4 teaspoon ground cumin

1/8 teaspoon cayenne pepper (I used 1/2 teaspoon of chilli flakes)

6 cups low sodium chicken stock

1/4 cup heavy cream

Salt

Freshly ground black pepper

1/2 cup sour cream, for serving

1/4 cup chopped fresh coriander/cilantro, for serving

You tube hasnt given me a very interesting first slide but if you click on it you can see how I made the soup.

2011-06-16T14:16:00.002+10:00

2011 JUNE LONG WEEKEND

TUMUT & BURRINJUCK WATERS

Winter is here and I must get cooking but we just spent the last weekend (Queens Holiday Weekend) going to Tumut to pick up a new CUB Trailer. We spent a couple of days at Tumut where it was very cold but not much wind and the sun shinning once the fog had lifted.

We moved on to Burrinjuck Waters and the dam there is 92% full so thats good. The road to the Dam wall is blocked while they work on raising the height of the wall. Again we had sunny days and some good company. Cooking was put on hold as we got familiar with the new trailer. We came home to a few commitments to attend to but the camp oven will be getting put to work soon.

2011-06-02T09:53:00.004+10:00

Beyond Burgers and Bratwurst: Flammkuchen

I stumbled on this today and thought I just had to share it. So easy and looks so good.

2011-05-31T05:50:00.004+10:00

ALBION PARK OUTDOOR CAMP KITCHEN CHALLENGE

Had a wonderful weekend attending this. Lots of great outdoor cooking and tasting. Wonderful atmosphere in the Train Museum grounds. The weather was kind and we took the caravan and stopped in the Showground. A shuttle was provided back and forth.

2011-05-24T16:30:00.010+10:00

POLBLUE AT BARRINGTON TOPS

OLIEBOLLEN

After a week of cooking at Thora I felt I would take it easy on our next short trip which was to Polblue at Barrington Tops. I usually try to do at least one new thing at each camp I go to and when I saw my friend Paul in Canada making some onion soup in a Potjie over a gas ring I decided this was a great idea and would not entail taking much equipment. I measured and packed exactly what I needed. The first morning was frosty and I did a circuit walk taking photos and decided that was enough for the day. The next day started sunny and I thought ideal for yeast cooking and so I set about making the Oliebollen.

I mostly try to stick to a recipe the first time I make it but hesitated over the "room temperature" milk and egg. I didnt warm the milk as my gut feeling told me to and went ahead but felt once it was all mixed up it was extremely liquid, due to my incorrect conversion from grams to cups. I didnt have any extra flour so decided to let it rise and see what happened. It didnt double in size even though I kept it warm and eventually put it into the car wrapped in a tea towel and my poncho. It rose about a third but certainly didnt double.

The potjie just fitted over the gas ring and I was easily able to get the oil to what I thought would be the right temperature to fry them. There was no way I could shape the mixture so I dropped it in spoonfuls into the oil. They cooked a nice golden brown and were light and fluffy. I used some dutch spice in them which my friend Aart brought back from Holland and shared with me. Everyone said they were very nice and they were quickly eaten.

As I really couldnt in fairness put the correct ingredients with my photos I havent youtubed this as I intended. If you would like to make them google Oliebollen for a recipe. There are lots of variations, mine had lemon peel and juice, apple and spice in. I used 2 1/2 cups of flour instead of 4. I also didnt read the recipe properly as I had already measured everything and used two eggs instead of one..........I think next time I will cook in my usual haphazardly disorganised manner :) with the right amount of flour and milk that I will warm and one egg.

This comes from Hetty's Dutch Cookbook - the recipe I used varied in that it had a teaspoon of spice and a peeled chopped apple and the rind and juice of a lemon mixed with the fruit.
Ingredients:
1 Sachet Yeast
1 cup lukewarm milk
2 1/2 cups flour
2 teaspoons salt
1 egg
1 - 1/2 cups of dried mixed fruit
1 quart vegetable oil for deep-frying
1 cup icing sugar for dusting

Directions:
Add yeast and stir into the warm milk. Let stand for a few minutes to dissolve. Sift the flour and salt into a large bowl. Stir the yeast mixture and egg into the flour and mix into a smooth batter. Stir in the dried fruit. Cover the bowl, and leave the batter in a warm place to rise until double in size. This will take about 1 hour.

2Heat the oil in a Camp Oven to 375 degrees F (190 degrees C). Use 2 metal spoons to shape scoops of dough into balls, and drop them carefully into the hot oil.They usually turn themselves when cooked on one side.Takes about 8 minutes all up.

If the oil is not hot enough, the outside will be tough and the insides greasy. Drain finished Oliebollen on paper towels and dust with icing sugar.
Eat them hot is best

I still had some cranberry and mandarin chutney mentioned in previous posts in the refrigerator so I took that and a small King Island Double Brie cheese. Its great for predinner or happy hour. You simply cut off the top skin of the cheese (I would consider this optional) and spread the cranberry and mandarin chutney over the cheese. Then place in a warm camp oven for about 15 minutes depending on the size of the cheese (just enough to get the cheese gooey). I put it in the potjie which had been sitting in the sun and it had enough warmth to soften the cheese for serving. This also was enjoyed by those who had a chance to try it.

Adapted from Wives with Knives - found at Noble Pig

3 cups fresh cranberries (I used frozen) the second time I used dried reconstituted with boiling water and cooled
1 large tart apple, cored, peeled and chopped
1/2 cup orange marmalade
1/2 cup apple cider vinegar
1-1/2 cups sugar
1 cup water
3 Tablespoons candied (crystallized) ginger, chopped (Do not substitute)
3/4 teaspoon ground cinnamon
1 Tablespoon curry powder (Do not leave this out)
1/2 teaspoon ground cloves
1/4 teaspoon ground allspice
1/2 cup golden raisins
2 cans mandarin orange slices, drained

Combine all ingredients in a large, heavy pot.Bring to a boil, reduce heat to low and simmer for 40 minutes, stirring occasionally. This keeps indefinitely in the fridge.It will also easily form a seal if poured, very hot, into small, decorative jelly jars. Perfect hostess gift!

This was taken on a misty morning after rain during the night and no ice had formed on the grasses.

Polblue was a pretty spot to visit and of course you must expect weather variations. We took thermals and two winter doonas and were warm as toast at night. You need to take your own wood and although there are toilets there are no showers. The cost at this time is $10 per adult per night and you leave the money in a supplied envelope in an honesty box. More photos of the 3K walk around Polblue Creek and other days weather variations re on this Youtube.

2011-04-28T09:06:00.002+10:00

NCOG THORA APRIL 2011

A list of all the various dishes cooked is in the drop down of the Youtube. Not everything was photographed. We had mixed weather of rain and sun but with the spider/star tent we managed to still socialise together and were lucky that the rain stopped on most nights and we could sit around the fire. This is a casual informal type of gathering and most just cooked and shared and it was like a progressive meal from the first arrivals till we departed. The only meal not usually shared is breakfast and some go off exploring around lunch time.

2011-04-22T16:08:00.004+10:00

BOOTI BOOTI NATIONAL PARK STOPOVER

Nothing cooked but a nice place to spend some time. We were on our way home and thought it was a pretty spot to go back to some time. Its called "The Ruins Campsite". There is a walk to some ruins but we weren't there long enough to do that.

More details are here at National Park Camping

2011-04-20T23:19:00.007+10:00

CAMP OVEN BAKLAVA COOKED AT THORA

AN AUSTRALIAN CAMP OVEN GATHERING

This idea came through from someone on my reader and I cant locate who did it. It worked well and was enjoyed by any who got to have a piece of it.

Our friend Saltbushbill and Saltbush Lil made a batch of 36 hot cross buns with a little help from a few of us with the rolling.

We had a wet weekend but the spider tent was great.

2011-03-29T21:26:00.003+11:00

PICKLES, BEETROOT RELISH, CRANBERRY CHUTNEY & ONION MARMALADE

Its turning cooler now and we have a few camping trips planned, I am getting organised in my fashion and cooked these yesterday and today. I have always liked these kind of condiments either with cheese or cold meat. The Vegetable Pickles recipe came from Sundryd and the Onion Marmalade from Michaelb, these and other great recipes can be found at Camp oven Cooking In Australia. The Cranberry Chutney recipe came from the Wives with Knives Blog and I googled for the beetroot relish. I have made all but the Beetroot Relish before and enjoyed them. They will be all the better for being made now and "ripening" for a few weeks. I keep them in the refrigerator but properly sealed they would be alright in a dark cool cupboard until opened.

I have some rockmelon marinating overnight and will make the Cantelope or Rockmelon Jam for the second time tomorrow. It would be excellent on camp oven scones/damper with or without cream. I have a couple of new for me camp oven recipes to try and am looking forward to some cooler weather to light up a fire and/or heat beads and do some experimenting.

Here it is cooling. Very simple to make just allow 24 hours time wise for the marinating and sitting around.

The ingredients are very simple but the flavour is awesome.

2 pounds peeled and seeded rockmelon/Canteloupe. I used one extremely large one and didnt weigh it.
3 1/2 cups sugar
1 Cinnamon Stick
2 Tablespoons Lemon Juice

Go to The Joy of Jams for the full recipe and procedure.

2011-03-21T06:42:00.004+11:00

A WEEKEND AT UPPER COLO RIVER WITH

THE CAMPER TRAILER GROUP

We had a pleasant weekend camping at Upper Colo River with the Campertrailer Group. As it was a short time we decided not to take the camp oven. Sparky loves his Coleman Gas Oven and again made some rock cakes.

He used my camp oven table that I bought from Cabelas in the USA as his cooking place.

Our neighbours had some cast iron treasures that had belonged to his pop. The handles stood out and I just had to go inspect it. Unfortunately we couldnt read the name on the rim.

Some more of his treasures.

The rain came down rather heavily over the Saturday night and I walked down early to see if I could get a misty shot of the river but it was pretty clear. I had a swim the previous day and it was cool but not too cold to swim in.

The rain held off enough for us to make our Happy Hour circle which was probably the biggest I have been part of. Our people cap was 150 and we were booked out.

2011-03-16T08:35:00.004+11:00

The cooking has fallen off as I attend photo workshops to improve my photos. I was accepted at a Seniors Workshop held in Sydney at the Rocks and Circular Quay Area. These are some of the photos I took to try out a few new techniques. The girl in this photo was happy to pose and as I am a Red Hat Queen I couldnt resist also.

Foodwise, I had the most wonderful Duck and Noodle Salad for lunch at the restaurant at the Museum of Contemporary Art.

2011-03-03T08:10:00.003+11:00

TESS TURNS 40

We had an outdoors party for Tess' 40th it was a beautiful night, the theme was "White Knight". Most of the guests wore white. It was fun to meet again some of her school friends I dont see much and their children who are all growing up fast. We also had some relatives visit who live a distance away and we dont see much with the busy lives everyone lives. The catering was kept simple so everyone could relax and enjoy the company. As I was busy early I didnt take as many photos as I would have liked. Above is a photo of Tess and her daughter Zoe.

We glazed a ham with maple syrup brown sugar and pineapple juice and studded it with cloves the night before and then baked it.

The boys cooked the rest of the meat on the BBQ. This was served with salad and rolls.

The birthday cake was organised by Tess' sister Jenny who also got the job of cutting it up. It not only looked pretty it tasted good as well. It was a mud cake. You cant have an Australian party without Pavlova and we had two of those topped with mixed berries. The children ran on the beach wearing glow sticks and later in the night the possums visited to see what all the noise was. The children are all saying it was the best party they have ever been to.

2011-02-20T15:11:00.001+11:00

DIET FRIENDLY RASPBERRY & LEMON CAKE

The only time I buy magazines is when on holidays, especially when I dont have my computer with me. I saw this cake in a New Zealand Weight Watchers magazine and thought it would make an easy camping cake. I had to substitute the Nestle Diet Lemon Meringue Yoghurt for a Lemon Cheesecake one. I made up the recommended sauce but no one wanted to have it on the cake. This serves 8 and has 5 Propoints per serve if this means anything to you.

Ingredients:

Cake:

l cup SR Flour

1 200g tub Nestle Diet Lemon Cheese cake if you cant get Lemon Meringue Yoghurt

1/3 cup skim condensed milk

2 eggs lightly beaten

l tspn grated lemon rind

1 1/2 cups of frozen raspberries

Topping:

1/4 cup flaked almonds

1/2 tspn ground cinnamon

3 tspn brown sugar

Sauce:

1 200g tub Nestle Diet Lemon Cheese cake if you cant get Lemon Meringue Yoghurt

1/3 cup skim condensed milk

Preheat the oven to 190C (or heat beads if cooking in a camp oven)

Lightly spray a 18cm diameter cake tin with oil, line with baking paper.

Sift flour into a medium mixing bowl.

In another bowl, combine 1/3 cup of skim condensed milk, one tub of Yoghurt, eggs, lemon rind until smooth. Fold in Flour, fold in frozen raspberries then spoon evenly into tin.

In small bowl combine nuts, spice and sugar and sprinkle over the top of cake.

Bake for 45-50 minutes or until risen and firm to the touch. Leave to stand for 5 minutes before turning out onto a wire rack to cool. To prevent cake toppping from coming apart, loosely wrap a pieces of foil over the top of cake to turn out, then place cake bottom side down on wire rack.

Combine remaining yoghurt and skim condense milk and serve with cake. Cut into 8 serves. We enjoyed it today after a swim.

2011-02-17T22:27:00.002+11:00

TRIP TO THE TOP OF SOUTH ISLAND NEW ZEALAND

Just spent 10 wonderful days in New Zealand. We hired a campervan and travelled from Christchurch up to the Farewell Spit across the top and down the coast. Lots of seals and fish being caught. We met some wonderful people from NZ, Switzerland, Scotland USA and England. This is such a pretty place to visit and there is no need for long days of travel to see something new and exciting each day. Lots of activities we didnt do, we were just happy to enjoy the natural surroundings. Sparky did most of the cooking as gas camp stoves have a habbit of exploding on me.

2011-02-04T14:42:00.003+11:00

CAMP OVEN FRUIT & NUT TOFFEE CRUNCH

Where did January go to? I decided to door some outdoor cooking today. Summer is almost over and there are quite a few small camping trips on my calendar, I dont usually practice until I get there, but felt although simple this was challenging to get the heat beads right. I adapted this recipe by Melanie at the sisterscafe.blogspot and am pleased with it.

Ingredients:

1 cup of butter (no substitutes)

1 cup of sugar

1 Tablespoon water

1 teaspoon vanilla

3 cups nuts (I used macadamiam and pecans)

½ cup craisins (I feel these could be optional)

Method:

I cut a double circle of baking paper to go on my camp oven lid but you could just grease the camp oven lid or grease tinfoil dishes. Put 12 heat beads on to heat up if your using them.

Whenever possible I dry fry or roast nuts to achieve just a slightly toasted taste. I chopped these very lightly.

Melt butter over a low heat then add sugar and water and stir constantly until sugar is completely dissolved and no longer grainy (about 10 minutes). If sugar granules stick to the sides, wipe them down with a wet pasry brush.

When the sugar is completely dissolved turn the heat up to medium (I put the other six beads under the camp oven. Stir constantly until toffee becomes a medium caramel colour, mine took about 20 minutes. If you have a candy thermometer (I don’t) it should be 300 degrees.

Take it off the heat quickly stir in the nuts, craisin, and vanilla and then spread over the baking paper on the camp oven lid or press into alfoil trays. Cool (you can refrigerate it) and then break into pieces.

2011-01-04T19:59:00.001+11:00

LEFT OVER HAM & CHORIZO PIZZA

We had baked a second ham for new year and there was a lot left over, Our older grandkids were having tea with us, I decided to chop up some of the ham and couple of chorizo sausages left over from the breakfast dish and fry it ready for a meat pizza. I also mixed up a batch of Olive Oil Bread from the Artisan Bread in Five Minutes a day book in readiness for the base. My grandson assembled his with a bbq base and the two meats, capsicum, shallots and his own secret blend of herbs and spices. I thought I would try rolling a thick crust with cheese enclosed and I used a tomato base and corn along with the meats, shallots, capsicum and cheese. I simply sprinkled some garlic salt and italian herbs on it.

My grandson had been promised he could make the macaroon recipe I had printed out from Nigella Lawsons site over the holiday period. He made a good job of them and we had them for dessert.

MACAROON RECIPE

Ingredients

2 large egg whites

¼ teaspoon cream of tartar

1/3 cup sugar

2 tablespoons ground almonds

pinch of salt

1 teaspoon vanilla extract (or coconut extract, should such be available)

1 cup plus 2 tablespoons shredded coconut

Directions

1 baking sheet, lined with parchment or wax paper

Preheat the oven to 325°F.

Beat the egg whites until frothy—no more—then add the cream of tartar and carry on beating, Missus, until soft peaks are formed. Add the sugar a teaspoon at a time and whisk until the peaks can hold their shape and are shiny. Fold in the almonds, salt, vanilla, and coconut. The mixture will be sticky but should, all the same, hold its shape when clumped together.

Form into clementine-sized domes, 2 to 3 inches in diameter. Don’t make them too flat; they look best if you keep them nicely rounded, but this is really just a matter of personal taste, so follow your own.

Cook for 20 minutes or until they’re just beginning to turn golden in parts.

2011-01-01T14:36:00.005+11:00

SPANISH STYLE POTATO, CHORIZO & EGG BREAKFAST

Breakfast was cooked by one of my daughters to start my year. She adapted the idea from a cookbook given to her and written by a Spanish Chef. It was simple but very tasty. Grated potato was browned in a deep egg ring and topped with diced chorizo, then an egg placed on top and baked in the oven until cooked with a sprinkle of parsley for garnish. It was served with soda bread and a lemon wedge. I opted to have my bread toasted. This could easily be done in a camp oven.

2010-12-23T23:12:00.005+11:00

DOROTHY'S ICE CREAM BARS

Summer is Mango time and for the Christmas Holidays my mother always made these ice cream bars. She didnt really use a recipe but I think these are fairly close to what she made.

2 Litres of the best full cream ice cream you can buy

600ml cream

4 Mangoes at least

2 Punnets of Strawberries

4-6 passionfruit - I used two cans but fresh is best

1 large tin of fruit salad - using the fruit and juice

Soften the ice cream and roughly mix in the cream

Chop up the Mangoes and Strawberries and fold them in.

Very lightly mix in the tin fruit, juice and passionfruit.

If you can leave trails of the fruit juice which will form crystals and makes another texture within the bars.

Try to cut them before they set 100%.

When set I usually put them into individual cliplock bags.

It was rather hot tonight and I was slow photographing and they started to melt a bit but they will harden back in the freezer overnight. My daughters and grandchildren love to sit around after a swim sucking on one. The advantage of using the cliplock bags is if they melt quickly it catches the drips and turns it into a drink.

2010-12-22T15:59:00.002+11:00

ARTISAN BREAD IN FIVE MINUTES A DAY

PANETTONE

I am starting to feel as if I am working through every country in the world, this is another excellent bread from the book and the recipe can be found at Artisan Bread in Five Minutes a Day

Its a nice soft sweet bread.

2010-12-20T15:07:00.006+11:00

BUCKEYES

I made these especially for my granddaughter who is often due to allergies of others restricted these days from eating peanut butter. She loves it and its her main source of protein.
She has just started with braces and they were soft and melting and something she could enjoy.
They were a bit rich at the first test but lightened up when they were thoroughly chilled. I have never made these before but they are a winner if your not on the diet wagon. I did some conversions but the ingredients wouldnt need to be exact.

Ingredients

4 cups (900 gram or 2-pound) bag confectioners' sugar
3 cups creamy peanut butter
3/4 cup butter, softened
3 cups (793 gram or 28 oz) choc chips/semi sweet morsels

1 Tablespoon Copha (optional)

Directions
Line a large tray or baking sheet with wax paper.
In an electric mixer, combine the confectioners' sugar, peanut butter, and butter,mixing until well blended.
Using a tablespoon measuring spoon, shape into one-inch balls.
Melt chocolate and copha in a double boiler over low heat.
With a toothpick/skewer, dip each ball into the dipping chocolate until almost covered, leaving some of the peanut butter mixture exposed on top.
Place the balls on the tray and refrigerate until firm, about two hours.

2010-12-19T10:32:00.002+11:00

CHRISTMAS STOLLEN ll

I decided to make the Stollen again as it was so popular last time. This time I added marzipan and folded it the traditional way. I also kept to the traditional recipe of brushing with butter and sprinkling with icing sugar then popping it back into the oven for 3 minutes to set it. I divided the whole mixture into 2 not the 3 recommended and it need extra cooking.

You can find the recipe here: http://www.artisanbreadinfive.com/?p=2586

2010-12-16T12:59:00.002+11:00

CHRISTMAS FRUIT COOKIES

I decided I should make something the MOTH would like and found this Christmas Fruit Cookie recipe and as I had the ingredients on hand I made them up. I am pleased with them and as most in my family like fruit and nuts in cakes and cookies I am sure they will be popular. No fat at all -as fate would have it I picked up a bottle of dark Karo syrup when I went to the specialty shop that sold the lumpia wrappers

The recipe is here: allrecipes.com

2010-12-16T10:27:00.003+11:00

SPECULAAS

My freezer is full of my savoury nibbles so I thought I would make these Speculaas, I only had medium brown sugar not the dark brown but I went ahead anyway. I love citrus so I used that, I wasn't sure what citron was so I used some finely chopped citrus peel. I dont have many cutters but found an Australia one so I will be interested to see what my grandchildren think of that.

My house is smelling wonderful of the aromas from cooking these.

The recipe is at Big Black Dogs and there is a great spiked milkshake suggestion to go with them.

2010-12-14T10:01:00.004+11:00

CAROLYN'S BAKED PARTY PIROSHKI

This morning while I was making some piroshki the mailman delivered the Artisan Bread in 5 Minutes a day. I have done a lot of cooking from the Healthy Book in 5 Minutes a day and enjoyed using it enough to get the origianal Book.

I was told many years ago by a Russian workmate how to make these and she invited all her work mates to call in and sample them. She also made an excellent cheesecake but I never was given that recipe. She fried hers but I couldnt seem to get the frying temperatures right. Years later in the Womens Weekly I saw a recipe which baked them and I have made them that way ever since. I have never used a recipe but what I do equates to a rich bread dough. About four cups of flour, l tablespoon yeast, couple of tablespoons of oil, l egg, l cup milk powder, garlic powder, salt. I mix it up with 1 1/2 - 2 cups of warm not hot water and it comes to a soft scone like consistency. I let it prove over night (usually at room temperature, but this lot rose quickly and I then put it in the refrigerator till the morning). I make up 500g beef mince, frying an onion, adding a pinch of sugar, some cummin, worchester sauce, soy sauce about half a cup of water or milk and enough gravox powder (you could sprinkle on some flour before adding the water if you dont have gravox) to make a very stiff gravy. This is then refrigerated also over night. If you make it too saucy it will split out the dough.

I pluck out about l tablespoon of dough, flatten it in my palm and put l teaspoon of the meat mixture in the centre pinching it up into a ball shape and then putting to rise for about 30 minutes. I then heat the oven to 180C give the proshki an egg wash and sprinkle on some sesame seeds. They brown in about 10-15 minutes. I have baked them successfully in a camp oven while camping. When at home if frozen once they have cooled off they reconstitute very well in the microwave and my family love them as "after a swim snacks". They can be made bigger but especially around Christmas time when there is so much to choose from I find this size perfect. Other fillings can be used.

I ended up with 50.

I though I should add a link to the wholemeal campoven Youtube I made some time ago.

2010-12-12T09:31:00.002+11:00

BASIC SOURDOUGH LOAF

I decided to try my wild sourdough starter again using a recipe from SourdoLady which is where the instructions for the wild yeast starter are also.

I didnt exactly follow the instructions and after leaving it in the refrigerator overnight found it hadn't risen much. I left it at room temperature for another 24 hours and it had risen at least a third.

Deluxe Sourdough Bread - SourdoLady

1 1/4 cups proofed starter
1 cup water
3 T. dry powdered milk
1 T. lemon juice
1/4 cup instant potato flakes
3 3/4 cups bread flour
1/4 cup white whole wheat flour
2 T. sugar
3 T. butter or margarine
2 tsp. salt

Combine the first 5 ingredients. Mix in the flour just until the mixture is a shaggy mass. Cover and let rest for 30 minutes. Add sugar, butter, and salt and mix until all is incorporated. Knead dough until it is smooth and satiny.

Cover and let dough rest for 45 minutes. Divide dough into 2 equal portions. Pat each dough portion out into a large, flat circle. Gently stretch and fold the left side over the middle, then the right side over the middle (like folding a letter). Pat down with the palms of hands and repeat the folding with the remaining two unfolded ends. Shape loaves, always keeping the folded side as the bottom. I do free-form oval loaves and place them on parchment paper.

Spray the loaves with Pam and cover with plastic. Place in the refrigerator overnight. The next day, take loaves out and let them finish rising at room temperature. They should be very light. Do not rush it or your bread will be dense.

While bread is rising, preheat oven and stone to 400 F. I also place a shallow pan of hot water on the bottom rack for steam.

When bread is fully risen, slash top and slide onto hot stone. If you don't have a stone, just bake on a baking sheet. After 10 minutes, turn the oven heat down to 375 F. When loaves start to show color, water pan can be removed. Bake until loaves are a nice golden brown. Time will vary according to the shape and size of loaf.

Cool on a wire rack. You can brush crust with butter while still hot if you like a soft crust.

Its not an overly light loaf but although a bit dense for some it eats nicely with a good crust. I cut this too hot as I always get impatient to see how the crumb looks.

2010-12-11T16:08:00.001+11:00

VARIOUS CHRISTMAS GOODIES

I have wandered a bit away from outdoor cooking but will get back to it. I wanted to stock up my freezer for the holiday period and made some cheese triangles and more spring rolls to go straight from the freezer to the oven be it camp oven or house one. I find some batches of filo just stick and arent easy to use and this was one lot of it. I ended up with about 50 triangles which will be ok but I should have got 60. Its summer here and sometimes fire restrictions would make using the camp oven not possible.

I have had some great bogs in my reader and followed a link to a link to Dining with Julie and made an adaption of her Cranberry Hazelnut Raincoast Crisps. The adaption I followed used maple syrup instead of honey, cranberries instead of raisins and hazelnuts instead of pecans. I loved the idea of this recipe as once the bars are cooked you can freeze them and slice them and do the second baking when needed. They have a great flavour. You should get 48 from each bar but I am not that good at thin slicing and I only got 36.

I also made some Maple Brown Butter Shortbread Cookies which are very nice and we will eat now. The recipe is at Zoe Bakes The cranberries and citrus peel were optional and I put both in the mixture.

2010-12-07T19:28:00.000+11:00

No Knead Bread using Wild Yeast Sourdough Starter

I have been feeding a Wild Yeast Sourdough Starter for a couple of weeks and decided now was the time to try it out. I got the recipe at The Fresh Loaf

I have a bad habbit of just jumping in and doing and then when it goes wrong working it out backwards. This was a very sticky dough and I decided I would tip it straight from the basket into the cast iron pot. I tried to grab it to steady it but it stuck to my hand and went in crooked.

I forgot to turn down the oven from the initial heating and the bottom caught a bit. Nevertheless its probably the best bread texture wise that I have made.

2010-12-06T20:24:00.001+11:00

SPRING ROLLS/LUMPIA

I am stocking up for the christmas holiday period and casual eating after a swim.

These freeze well and can then be baked (sprayed with oil) or preferably deep fried.

I ended up with 50 from the mixture. They could have been made half size for party finger food.

We serve them with soy sauce or sweet chilli sauce.

Ingredients:

400 grams raw prawns (chopped)
500 grams minced pork
1 medium cabbage shredded
1 large carrot grated
1 red capsicum finely diced
6 shallots finely sliced
2 cups riced noodles broken into small bits
2 teaspoons garlic granules
1 Tablespoon onion powder
1 teaspoon sesame oil
1 Tablespoon Soy Sauce
1 Cup Oyster sauce
salt and pepper
1 Tablespoon oil. More oil if you deep fry.
60 Spring roll/lumpia wrappers defrosted.

Brown pork in tablespoon oil, remove, fry raw prawns until slightly pink (with garlic) remove. Fry carrot, capsicum and shallots until softened about 5 minutes. Add cabbage a handful at a time until all incorporated and wilted. Add dried rice noodles, sesame oil, oyster sauce, soy sauce, mine and pork. Put aside to cool.

Put wrapper diagonally.
Put l tablespoon mixture across just below the middle of wrapper.
Fold bottom corner over
Roll to centre then pull in sides
Brush top corner with water to help sealing
Roll up.
Place on tray with go between paper. If not cooking freeze until wanted. They can be fried or baked (sprayed with oil) till brown straight from the freezer.

Server with soy or chilli sauce.

2010-11-30T21:40:00.006+11:00

NANNA'S RUM BALLS

A lot of us have hand written recipes from our relatives which come out this time of year. I have only verbal recipes from my Mum who got some of her lessons from her mother the same way. One of our family traditions on Christmas Day is to have rum balls after lunch has gone down a bit. These were always made for us by my mother in law. They are better made and left in the refrigerator for a couple of weeks to mature. There are a few things you must do, you must use butter and OP Rum. I doubled the recipe and as Nanna did doubled the OP Rum (the handwritten amount in the recipe on the side). I never could see the benefit of the cake crumbs but she swore they wouldnt work the same without them. Dont forget to buy the chocolate sprinkles they run out often in the shops around here at Christmas time. I used 3 packets 125g size for the double batch. They are great with coffee. I used a tablespoon measure and it made 50 maybe they should have been a bit smaller.

In case you cant read the writing here is the recipe doubled.

250 grms butter (must be real butter no substitues)

500 grams icing sugar

4 Tablespoons Cocoa

Mix these together then add:

4 rounded tablespoons coconut

1/2 cup stale cakecrumbs (approx l muffin)

1/2 cup chopped almonds

1 cup sultanas

4 tablespoons OP rum

Roll into balls about chocolate size and roll in chocolate splinters. Refrigerate until eaten.

2010-11-23T21:15:00.003+11:00

LORD HOWE ISLAND (NSW)

Just had a perfect week at Lord Howe Island - didnt cook at all. Had beautiful Sour Dough Bread at one of the combined shop/restaurants and have put some starter on which should have me cooking by the end of the week.

I took a lot more photos of foods we ate and the scenery if you like looking at holiday photos you can find them at Lord Howe Island Holiday November 2010

2010-11-07T17:09:00.005+11:00

100% Whole Wheat Christmas Stollen
from Healthy Bread in Five Minutes

I decided to skip the next listed Bread Braid and do the following one instead. My family all like mixed dried fruit in cakes, scones, dampers etc. so I knew it should be popular.
I didn't have any marzipan or almonds so I omitted them and I did use brandy.

I had seen a five braid dough and thought I would try that shape as I was cooking it in the kitchen oven and could use a long tray.

The shape looked good initially. I didnt photograph it though and I decorated it with cherries and walnuts. This was a mistake as it opened up and the cherries were very crooked. I overcame this by putting more cherries on it and adding some vanilla icing.

The family all enjoyed eating it and as I used a full half quantity in the loaf it went a long way.

2010-11-02T07:14:00.004+11:00

ROCKMELON (CANTALOUPE) WITH CINNAMON PRESERVES

I finished the process of making these this morning and am uncertain as to whether I like it or not. Its simply rockmelon, sugar, lemon juice and a cinnamon stick.This was a large 2K melon before I cut it up and I didnt get much from it. As suggested it would probably be nice on good quality ice cream.The original recipe I comes from breadmakingblog.breadexperience if you want to give it a try yourself.

There are lots of really good photos of bread making at this site and I like the idea of making toppings for the bread. I dont have a proper canning kit but for something this small I simply boil the jars and keep it in the refrigerator.

I decided the next day to try it with philly cheese on toast..

2010-10-30T07:02:00.010+11:00

CAMPERTRAILER GATHERING

We arrived about 10 a.m. to find there were already about six here, Mary-Anne and Allan greeted us on arrival.. It was a perfect day and its a lovely green area with a large toilet block. During the day quite a few arrived. I had cooked Toni at Dutchovenmadness' Choc Chip Banana Bread at Lake Conjola and everyone seemed to enjoy it. We had planned to eat at the club which is adjoins us but had been told a dinner at the club had been arranged for Saturday night so we swopped our meals around.

Most gathered for Happy Hour but we didnt need a large fire as the temperature was just perfect.

This morning its again beautiful, not at all cold and the birds here are delightful to wake up with. This is just one section of the campers.

Sand fly proof
Sparky

Some have gone for a paddle up the creek. A breeze has sprung up but its still sunny and 24C

I cooked some Gozleme for lunch, using a HBin5 Wholemeal and Olive Oil no knead bread dough. The filling was Lamb Feta Baby Spinach onion and spices.

I

Our last Happy Hour before most of us went to the nearby club for dinner and

entertainment - we had prawns, chicken, ham, corn beef, various salads, dessert and wine and best of all - no washing up

Some celebrated an early Halloween's Night

Thanks to our hosts Mary Anne and Allan for another great camper trailer group weekend.

2010-10-25T17:41:00.001+11:00

TABBOULEH BREAD

WITH PARSLEY, GARLIC, BULGUR & LEMON ZEST

I am away camping and decided rather than pull out the camp oven and risk not being able to use it due to a "No Fires" ban I would use the camp kitchen gas oven available. I have never cooked on a home type gas stove so at first had some problem even getting it to fire up. Gas and me just dont mix.

This recipe is part of the next bread braid on page 152 of the Healthy Bread in 5 Minutes a Day book and a half quantity. I presoaked the bulgur for three hours, let the first mix rise for 2 hours (it was a warm day and rose well). I shaped a very soft dough and left it for 45 minutes while I preheated the oven. (Normally I would leave it in the refrigerator overnight prior to shaping).

If I ever cooked on this stove again I would lower the shelves. I used an aluminium foil tray as the tin and it was not quite big enough to hold the shape. The top browned far more than the sides, I went to remove the foil at 2/3rds of the cooking time and ended up putting the foil over the top to stop further browning.

The end result was a nice soft bread with a good crust. I doubt I would make it again as the garlic and parsley didnt seem to come through much. The faint lemon zest did which went well with the seafood I ate with it.

2010-10-21T04:12:00.001+11:00

A Week In Melbourne during the

Arts Festival

If you enjoy the music on this as much as I do it and other CDs are available at http://www.petepascoe.com/music.html

2010-10-12T02:53:00.002+11:00

CAMP COOKING CLUB INC

AT ILLAWARRA LIGHT RAIL MUSEUM
ALBION PARK

I had a great day on my first visit to this club and of course it was in October not November, I had a lot of trouble uploading this and once I saw the mistake I wasnt game to start over as I am getting close to my limit for the month. It was nice to just help a bit and not be responsible for the lunch. I havent been in this environment before and I thoroughly enjoyed my day. It was a 90 minute train ride along some nice eastern coast south of Sydney Australia. The trains were offering rides, a car club pulled in and a jazz band was playing. The weather stayed good although rain had been threatened. Good company, good food and the outdoors you couldnt ask for more.

2010-10-08T14:35:00.011+11:00

NO KNEAD WHOLE WHEAT BREAD WITH OLIVE OIL FROM THE HBIN5 BOOK

I will be away again and so I decided to get on with the next bread braid. All of the items to be cooked intrigued me. I had my older grandchildren for the day and they helped both cook and eat the finished products.

Zoe couldnt believe the strips she brushed with oil and sprinkled with rosemary would turn into anything edible and was even more horrified when as they were too long for my baking tin I twisted and snaked them.

I have a grinder of chili, garlic and salt and put that on some as well as the rosemary and salt. They baked in 5 minutes, much less than recommended time.

The rolls came out cute and I havent eaten them yet so I dont know if the garlic permeated the dough on baking.

I found it easier to brush and sprinkle the bread sticks before separating them and putting onto the baking tray.

Kurtis wanted chicken and mince as well as salami and ham on his pizza so he precooked those adding his own choice of spices to the chicken and a small amount of gravox to the meat so it wasnt too dry.

I didnt grill the pizza but instead blind baked them in the oven for 5 minutes then everyone put their own choices of filling on and we put them back in the oven for another five minutes. They were nice and crispy which was what we wanted. We could have made 8 from the amount of dough we had.

We thought of lots of ideas for the bread sticks in different shapes another time as the dough cut to the recommended 1/8" was very pliable.

A fun braid to do.

2010-10-06T16:46:00.002+11:00

CAMP OVEN PUMPKIN PIE MASCARPONE CHEESECAKE BARS

I didnt read the instructions for the last Bread Braid properly and didnt realise I had a choice of the Pumpkin Pie Brioche. I decided to make up half a quantity after seeing this on someone else's braid. I try to cook mine mostly in the camp oven, so that makes it a slightly different challenge. Pumpkins always remind me of Halloween and last year I picked up the ladies at an Op Shop on my way home from camping (of course wearing a red and purple hat added to the appeal.

As soon as I put the dough in the alfoil I realised I was going to have too much filling so I simply made two.

With the other third of the dough I made up these crescent shapes. I simply rolled out a circle as I had seen someone else do, brushed butter on it and then sprinkles brown sugar and cinnamon. I cut it into triangles, rolled it up and then brush it with more butter and sprinkled raw sugar on top. They were very nice.

The bars cut neatly, they are nice but a little sweet for me.

2010-09-30T06:57:00.007+10:00

Caramel Sticky Nut Buns
Whole Wheat Brioche from HBin5

I had typed up my recipe rather than take the book camping and risk any damage to it. I made up the mixture and it seemed very stiff and the recipe warned it might be very loose. I looked at the % of eggs, honey and butter and felt that was still short on my rough estimate that most of these no knead doughs seem to have approximately half the liquid as dried ingredients. I couldnt see warm water listed and thought that very strange and I had carefully checked them all when typing. I decided to add l cup of warm water. It did rise a bit over night left out in the thermal pot.

In the morning I googled around and found it should have had 2 1/4 cups of warm water. What to do!!!!! I decided to just go ahead with it as the ingredients were good and at the worst it would be more like biscuit than bread. I baked it in the camp oven and it came out very nice, I had some people talking to me about my cooking at the time and they were happy to taste test it. Not a crumb was left :)

The recipe has been published and details can be found at Artisan Bread in 5 Minutes a Day

Thursday and its our last day, I decided to use all the left over Brioche and make the Indian Spice donuts and not worry about the Pear Tart which was part of the challenge. The dough was exceedingly stiff after yet another night of 0C in the Thermal Pot but I managed to roll it out and cut up about 36 donuts. I used a Aussie Camp Oven made from Spun Steel. The dough rested for the time it took for the heat beads to turn white and the oil to reach the right temperature about an hour. I didnt have any trouble finding taste testers.

Check out what everyone else did with the dough at Big Black Dogs.

This afternoon its my turn to give my first talk about "my things" and what I cook when camping. I am very pleased that I managed to cook all but one of the recipes I had put into a pdf format to share. I did a couple that weren't on the list as well. Its most rewarding when fellow campers get inspired and take on cooking something they hadnt tried before. We have had a great week and will look forward to meeting up with our neighbours at another gathering.

2010-09-26T07:00:00.001+10:00

6TH CAMPER TRAILER GATHERING
AT CONDOBOLIN

We are at Condobolin after stopping over on the way at Macquarie Woods. The weather so far is perfect. there are at least 70 early birds here already although it doesnt start till Monday officially. Its great renewing old friendships, meeting people in the flesh you have chatted with on line and of course sharing food and drink around a fire.

My cooking is going to plan, I made Bestsy's Seeded Bread from the HBin5 book. I used the full quantity to make 16 rolls which didnt go far :)

I cooked panko covered deep fried Advocado which came through from another blog and we put chili sauce on them and I will be making these again but maybe smaller.

I followed up with the Sydney Fish Market recipe for Salt and Pepper prawns which we both enjoyed.

Havent decided what to make today.

2010-09-21T17:00:00.001+10:00

OATMEAL CHOCOLATE CHIP COOKIES

The last time I went away with the camper trailer group a little girl asked me "are you the chocolate cookie lady?" and I had to say I was and that I hadn't made a batch of cookies and I felt very bad. When this came through from Big Black Dog it intrigued me with the Tahini in it and I made a batch to take this time. It made approx. 40 which is probably much healthier than the 110 the Marcus Neiman Cookie recipe makes. Its much easier to make, ok so its not as rich but it still has the texture I like and a chocolate and nut flavour. I had no idea what Whole Wheat Pastry Flour was so I just used l cup of plain white flour.

2 cups Rolled Oats, (not quick-cooking)
1/2 cup Whole Wheat Pastry Flour (I used plain white flour)
1/2 cup White Flour
1 tsp Cinnamon
1/2 tsp Baking Soda
1/2 tsp Salt
1/2 cup Tahini
4 TBL cold Butter, cut into pieces
2/3 cup Granulated Sugar
2/3 cup Brown Sugar
1 Egg
1 TBL Vanilla

1 cup Chocolate Chips (I used dark)

1/2 cup Walnuts, chopped

Preheat oven to 170C - Grease cookie sheets or line with baking paper.

1. With an electric mixer beat Tahini and cold butter until well blended. Add Egg, Baking Soda, Vanilla, Salt and Cinnamon and mix well. Then blend in the White and Brown Sugar.

2. While mixing gradually add Flour.

3. Mixing by hand, add the Rolled Oats, Chocolate Chips and Nuts, making sure to thoroughly blend.

4. With damp hands or a 1 TBL Cookie Scoop, roll 1 tablespoon of the batter into a ball, place it on a prepared baking sheet and slightly flatten, but don’t let the sides crack. Continue with the remaining batter, spacing the flattened balls at least 2″ apart.

5. Bake the cookies until golden brown, about 16 minutes. Cool on the pans for 2 minutes, then transfer the cookies to a wire rack to cool completely.

2010-09-18T13:21:00.003+10:00

FOOD WISHES - CHEF JOHN - CIABATTA

Last night on my reader was a recipe for a revisited No Knead Pizza Dough at Food Wishes. I followed a link there to a Ciabatta recipe and decided to make it. It has less yeast than I have been using in the other No Knead recipes and I wondered how it would go. It all worked fine and we enjoyed it for lunch today.

Go to Chef John at Food Wishes Youtube to see how it should look as you cook it

Ciabatta (I didnt make the proper shape)

Ingredients

4 cups bread flour (I used 3 cups of ordinary flour and l cup of wholemeal flour)

1/4 teaspoon yeast

2 cups warm water

1 1/2 teaspoons salt

Mix it all together in a large container and set aside at room temperature for 18 hours.

Flour and tip out onto floured board and pull from each side under into a ball. Then shape into your loaf. I opted for more a Boule shape than the Ciabatta shape. Cover and put aside for another two hours.

After 1 hour I put the heat beads on to heat up. This usually takes between 20 and 30 minutes. I then put 7 heat beads under and 22 on top of a 12" camp oven. 425F is the heat we are aiming for.

I cooked it for 35 minutes and felt it was done and put it to cool.

2010-09-15T21:07:00.001+10:00

CAMP OVEN APPLE CAKE WITH A SOUR CREAM TOPPING

I have had it in mind to try something like this for a while, not sure what started me on this path today. Maybe it was because I was going to cook some braised cider pork chops and thought I would put the beads to good use. I surfed around and saw a lot similar with minor variances to the recipes. I liked the idea of coconut in the base and I had a Sultana Buttercake box and used that instead of the vanilla cake mix. I also found I had a large tin of pie apples so I used that also. The base came out more like biscuit than cake but tasted good with all the butter in it. I squeezed passionfruit over some and left some plain. You could have more cream or ice cream with it but its quite rich.

2010-09-13T01:17:00.002+10:00

CAMP OVEN ZUCCHINI, FETA & THYME BAKE

Today I cooked two dishes using the one lot of beads. This Zucchini, Feta & Thyme Bake is nice especially if you like Thyme flavour, if you dont cut back on it or substitute something else you like with cheese. It is not a large quantity and would serve about 6 as a side dish.

PEANUT BUTTER BARS

This recipe came through in my reader from Dutch Oven Madness and like a lot of the recipes Toni makes really appealed to me. It cooked perfectly and makes a lot of bars if you have a family that is not alergic to peanut butter. I put my small potjie to work to make the simple frosting which tastes great on the bars.

2010-09-11T09:04:00.004+10:00

A FUN NIGHT AT THE SYDNEY SEAFOOD COOKING SCHOOL

We attended at the Sydney Fish Markets a Seafood cooking night which was fun. The tables were set up for 5 so we got to meet and share the experience with a nice young couple. I had never cleaned and prepared Squid or Calamari before but am a fast prawn peeler. After a demonstration we were put to work at our kitchen stations and later went to the dinning room to eat our cooking. There is no reason these couldnt be cooked when camping.

The Wine we had was a Nepenthe 2009 Savuignon Blanc and came from the Adelaide Hills, Australia and was an excellent match to the seafood. The recipes were simple and with ingredients that can be obtained at most places.

Salt & Pepper Prawns

Crab, oysters, squid or cuttlefish

Can also be used in this recipe

Serves 6 as an entrée

Ingredients

1kg medium sized green prawns

Vegetable oil to deep fry

3 egg whites lightly beaten

1 cup tapioca starch (you could use rice or corn flour)

¼ iceberg lettuce shredded

1 tablespoon prinkly ash (recipe follows)

3 green onion sliced on the diagonal to garnish

2 medium red chillies thinly sliced to garnish

Lemon/Lime wedges to serve.

Method

Peel and devein prawns leaving tails intact.

Heat oil to 180C

When ready to cook, dip as man prawns as can be cooked in l batch in egg white. Drain well.

(Frying needs to be done in 2 more batches. Its important prawns are not coated in egg and tapioca starch until just before they are fried and that oil is skimmed of any debris after each frying and allowed to return to the correct temperature between batches, otherwise prawns will be soggy and oily instead of crisp.

Dip in tapioca starch and shake off excess.

Lower prawns into hot oil

Deep-fry prawns for approximately l minute (depending on size)

Drain on paper towel.

Repeat egg and tapioca steps with next batch, allowing the oil to return to correct temperature before frying next batch.

Arrange cooked prawns on a bed of shredded lettuce and sprinkle with prickly ash.

Scatter green onions and chilli over the top – serve with lemon/lime wedges.

Prickly Ash – Makes ½ cup

¼ cup salt flakes

¼ cup Sichuan peppercorns

Heat salt and Sichuan peppercorns in a dry frying pan over a moderate heat until salt is lightly browned, stirring constantly to prevent burning.

Pound to a fine powder with a mortar and pestle or spice grinder.

Sieve to remove any large particles

Set aside until required. Best as soon as made but can be kept in an airtight jar for up to 2 months, use over vegetables, seafood or poultry.

Chilli Salt Squid – serves 6 as an entrée

1 K medium sized squid

Vegetable oil to deep fry

¼ cup salt flakes

¼ cup chilli powder (or to taste)

2 cups tapioca starch (or corn or rice flour)

2 egg whites lightly beaten.

Clean squid and slice into thin strips

Heat oil to 200C

Crush salt and combine with chilli and tapioca starch

Dip squid into egg whites. Drain Well

Dip into chilli mixture and shake off excess

Deep fry squid in 2-3 barches for 30 seconds. Allow oil to return to correct temperature before frying each batch.

Drain well and serve with Noodle Salad with Lime and Coriander dressing.

Noodle Salad with Lime & Coriander Dressing

Serves 6 as an accompaniment

2 tablespoons palm sugar

2 tablespoons rice vinegar

1-2 cloves crushed garlic

2/3 cup lime juice

2 tablespoons chopped coriander

250g rice noodles (best to use are between the size of spaghetti and linguine)

Combine all except for rice ingredients

Pour boiling water over rice noodles and loosen with tongs to separate noodles

Leave to stand until noodles soften (approximately 15 minutes)

Drain and rinse well under cold water. Drain well.

Stir dressing to ensure sugar has dissolved andpour over noodles

Toss to combine.

2010-09-07T06:53:00.004+10:00

CAMP OVEN BAKED MAC & CHEESE + OPTIONAL BACON

This is adapted from a recipe shared by Oysterpot on the IDOS forum. I added an optional cup of bacon pieces and used the rest of a packet of small pasta I had which was more than the one cup recommended and my photos don’t show as much sauce as it should have – it still tasted great.

1 cup uncooked macaroni

1 cup gouda cheese
1 cup sharp chedder cheese
1 cup bacon pieces (optional)
1/4 lb of butter
1 cup of milk
1 Tbs of English mustard

salt and pepper to taste

Heat up 24 Beads if your using a 12” camp oven as I did. Your oven should reach 180C/350F

Cook macaroni to “el dente” drain and put aside.

Oil your camp oven or I used an alfoil dish

Combine milk and mustard and mix well
Grate the cheeses
Put a serving spoon full of cooked mac on bottom of sprayed camp oven (or alfoil dish) sprinkle about 1/3 of both cheeses on the mac and ½ of the bacon pieces, sprinkle on pepper
repeat with layers of macaroni, cheese, bacon and pepper, untill all the mac is used up. or the pot is filled 3/4 " from top edge.
Make sure you cover last layer of mac with a good covering of cheese mix. cut butter into pats and spread around top of cheese. pour on milk sauce, spread panko crumbs on top.
Bake at 350 deg for 30 - 40 min. Making sure that topping browns. You may have to remove bottom heat for the last 10 minutes. (I started with a cold oven with 6 beads under and 18 on top, checking at 30 minutes, rearranging the beads and then it was done at 40 mins)

Remove from heat and let cool for 10 - 15 minutes