Favorite Camping Recipes?

[Otagiri Tatsuzou]

Any favorite recipes for camping events you care to share?

[Masahide]

Konichiwa,

This isn't Japanese, as much as it is Middle Eastern, and really easy. I can't take credit for it though, I learned this recipe from Mistress Meriel of Tay. It is what she usually does for a dinner at Glory for the White Rose in. This is published in the "Secrets of the White Rose Inn" cookbook.

I don't have exact measurements on me, but if anyone is interested, I'll be happy to look them up:

Lemon Chicken with Rice -
Take a number of chicken thighs. Marinate them in a mixture of honey, lemon juice, olive oil, Oregano and Salt.

Let them marinate for about 15 minutes or so, while you get a frying pan hot.
Braise the thighs in a frying pan with olive oil, leaving as much marinate behind as possible (e.g. shake them off, and don't pour marinade into the frying pan).

Once they are golden brown on the outside, put them in a roasting pan, cover them with the marinade. The marinade should be close to just covering all of them or less.... Roast at 350 deg F, for about 45 minutes. You need to roast them until they are at least 180 degrees F inside (use a meat thermometer).

Pull the thighs from the roaster, and let drain a little.

This is the best part (if you have one). Use a food saver, or other vacuum seal system to seal up the chicken thighs, and put them in the freezer. Freeze the cooked marinade/sauce in a Tupperware or other container, and when frozen repackage in a vacuum seal bag (you can't vacuum seal liquids).

These then can help keep your cooler cool when camping.

When on site, pull out the vacuum seal bags, and dump them (without opening them) in boiling water. This will thaw/heat the food (the vacuum seal bags can be boiled without a problem. You can't do this with Ziploc or generic freezer bags, they are not tough enough for it).
Cook some rice (we use basmati rice) while the chicken is heating.

When the chicken is hot (all the liquids should be loose in the bags, and often they are boiling, etc.) pull the bags out of the pot.

Put rice on the plate, slit the chicken bag open, and put a thigh or two on the rice. Put a small cut in the sauce bag, and pour some sauce over the chicken and rice.

You end up with 1 pot (the rice pot) that needs to be cleaned, and a pot of boiling/hot water to use for cleaning....

It is important to use chicken thighs in this recipe, as the fat in them keeps them tender and moist even with the freezing. They are also really cheap too!

When we make this, we often get a couple of "value pack" sized things of chicken thighs, and make 20-30 thighs at a time. We then package them in vacuum bags of 4 each (Which is usually a dinner for my Lady and myself). That way we can just grab the appropriate number of bags when we are packing for camping (and they work great for a quick meal after work too!). If you do it this way, you probably want to freeze the sauce in a couple of smaller containers, so you don't have to thaw/freeze/reseal one sauce bag whenever if you only want to cook a single serving size.....

This is also a great camping meal because you can get the water started, throw the chicken in, even when the water is cold, and then go get out of your armor, grab a beer, etc. You don't really have to sit and watch it (just remember to not leave your stove/fire unattended).


Recently, I got a few books on Japanese country cooking, Bento, and Japanese Pickling..... I'm hoping to get some good camping recipes from these as well.

Masahide