Those who regularly cook at the campsite know that it is sometimes difficult to make do. The stove is cramped, it is hot in the tent, the ingredients are slightly different than you are used to. Yet many home cooks manage to come up with an arsenal of dishes that always work, also at the campsite. These are the eight favorite dishes of culinary journalist Janneke Vreugdenhil that can be made on holiday.
1Mackerel with salad
When Janneke went camping again after years of staying in holiday homes, she discovered that the Dutch camping shops were no longer as concise as before: she could get all the ingredients for a true feast. Three courses, including fresh mackerel from the fishmonger.
Read how Janneke made this supper prepared on one rickety camping gas.
2Goi Ca Rot
At the campsite, on the boat, in a holiday home with one and a half simmering pits, a blunt knife and a crooked frying pan? Even then you can whip up a delicious dish in no time. With a freshly roasted chicken from the local farmers market and ready-cut vegetables you can easily make this fresh Vietnamese salad.
Want to make this Vietnamese salad? Here’s how to get started.
3Ratatouille from the barbeque
When it comes to barbecuing, Janneke is from the minimalist school. Everything you put on the grill becomes delicious by itself, simply because of the irreplaceable smoky taste of the barbecue. Janneke therefore likes to put typical summer vegetables such as eggplant, zucchini, bell pepper and tomato on the barbecue: exactly the ingredients of a classic ratatouille, but with a twist.
This ratatouille owes its Mediterranean twist to the sauce and the fresh salsa verde.
4Four times cooking on the barbecue
When Janneke and her boyfriend first went on holiday together in their younger years, good food was not exactly high on the list of priorities. A camping gas stove was therefore not included; only a small barbecue disappeared last minute in the dilapidated Fiat Panda. Rarely did Janneke eat as well as on that trip. They prepared everything on the barbecue: grilled green asparagus, pasta, jacket potatoes, grilled fish or meat, it all tasted divine.
Inspired by that trip, Janneke puts four ways in a row to cook on a barbecue.
5Spanish Gazpacho
Once upon a time, Janneke worked for two months as part of the animation team at a Spanish campsite on the Costa Brava. Although the place and the work weren’t your thing to say the least, she learned how to make a delicious gazpacho from her Spanish colleague Rocio.
You can let this gazpacho get ice cold in the fridge or chill it with a few ice cubes.
6Baked rice with chorizo
It was one of those: Janneke made a dish from a few things she happened to have at home and it turned out better than expected. Tasty enough for in NRC? Wasn’t it too simple? No, because in the summer we all prefer to be ready quickly in the kitchen.
For the spice in this dish, Janneke used piri-piri, but it is also possible with harissa, tabasco or sambal.
7Budget citizens
When Janneke read Daan Faber and Maarten Hoekstra’s cookbook, which is about their 7,000-kilometer journey through France, she was inspired. The duo only cooked on a camping stove for a month! Janneke listed her five favorite tips from the book about camping cooking and gives a quick recipe for budget burgers.
Janneke makes the salsa herself for this recipe, but you can also use it ready-made from the store.
8Pasta salad with artichoke
Although she has sometimes spoken condescendingly about pasta salads, Janneke couldn’t escape making one on vacation. In addition to the salads that have been sitting in a Tupperware container for a few hours, there are also elegant, thoughtful, delicious pasta salads. See her creation here.
Serve the pasta salad immediately after making it with warm crusty bread.