Feast on 3 camping

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First, a confession: I am not a big camper. I love being outdoors and I love the wilderness, but I also love my bed. I’m more the glamping type: raised platform, a bed with sheets. But when it comes to eating outdoors, count me in. I’m not interested in taking shortcuts or living on canned beans.

The following three recipes are all quite delicious and work as well deep in the woods by a campfire and tent as they do in your backyard. I have been on enough camping trips to know you want to keep things simple and do as much work at home before you leave. These recipes are not ideal for those who are hiking miles to a camping spot. They require a skillet that might be too heavy to schlep deep into the woods and some ingredients that won’t travel well in a backpack. But the recipes are ideal for driving to a campground or somewhere that doesn’t involve miles of hiking to arrive at your camping spot.

Summer is short. Get outdoors. Enjoy the time away from it all. Gaze at the night sky. Swim in a lake or pond. Howl at the stars. And, of course, eat well.

Tips:

A note about the recipes: All of these recipes require that you not have a blazing hot roaring fire, but a fire that has cooked down somewhat and created a bed of hot coals.

The beauty of this dish is that everything gets wrapped up in foil and you have a whole meal with very little effort. This recipe works well with virtually any type of fish, but the timing will have to be altered accordingly. You could also substitute boneless chicken thighs or breasts for the fish.

Serves 2 to 3

Ingredients

Instructions

These flavored butters take about 5 minutes to make but can transform your camp cooking. One combines butter with fresh summer herbs and lemon zest. The other combines butter with chopped green chile pepper and lime zest. They work with everything from morning eggs to lunchtime sandwich spread, to cooking chicken, fish, vegetables or spooning onto noodles or rice. Make the butters at home and roll them into logs and freeze them. You can cut off what you need and keep the rest chilled in your cooler.

Serves 2 to 4.

Ingredients

The herb-lemon butter:

The green chile-lime butter

Instructions

I wanted to do a riff on the classic camp food, S’mores. Many people love the combination of graham crackers, burnt marshmallow and chocolate, but some don’t like the burn of the marshmallow. Here you line a fire-proof skillet (I used a 10-inch cast iron) with graham crackers and layer on chocolate chips, berries (I used raspberries) and marshmallows cut in half. The only trick with this simple dessert is to keep an eye on it and not let it burn. The marshmallows will begin to “melt” and puff up on the sides. But don’t let the graham crackers burn on the bottom.

Serves 2 to 4.

Ingredients

Instructions

Other ideas:

This segment aired on August 8, 2023.