2 heaped tbsp crunchy peanut butter 3 tbsp chutney 2 tbsp soy sauce Juice of 1 lime 1 onion, chopped 1 garlic clove, finely chopped 1 tsp red curry paste 400g chicken thighs, bones removed and meat diced Oil for frying Coriander leaves (optional), roughly chopped Rice
Before you leave home, combine the peanut butter, chutney, soy sauce, lime juice, onion, garlic and curry paste with 100ml water in a food processor. If it gets too stodgy, add a splash of water and give it a stir. Keep it in an airtight container otherwise the smell will permeate everything! When you are ready, roll the chicken cubes in a little oil and thread onto skewers. Grill on high for 3 minutes on each side or until the chicken is cooked through and starting to colour. If your van does not have access to a grill or BBQ, skip the skewers and shallow fry. Pour the peanut sauce over the chicken and grill for 1 minute more or remove as much oil as possible from the pan and cook in the same pan. The sauce will caramelise slightly – the more caramel and sticky the better! Serve with rice and coriander sprinkled over.
Ingredients – Serves 2 Oil for frying 4 large or 6 medium tomatoes (or 1 tin for ease!) Pesto sauce Chilli sauce (optional) Crème fraiche 2 packs of filled ravioli Grated cheese (optional)
Fry the tomatoes in the oil for 5 minutes. Add the pesto, chilli sauce and 2 tablespoons of crème fraiche and simmer for 2 to 3 minutes. The ravioli usually says drop into boiling water for 3 minutes, feel free to do that. We just drop the ravioli into the frying pan for 3 minutes and have not had a problem, plus it saves using a second ring and saves on washing up!
We sometimes do a side salad if the weather is warm enough, but really a pasta dish is just an excuse for loads of garlic bread.
Volkswagen currywurst Chips Gewurz ketchup (or other tomato ketchup)
If asked which product VW has sold the most of, it would be reasonable to think the answer would be “the VW Beetle”, given that they built over 21 million of the vehicles between 1938 and 2003, but you would be wrong. In fact, it is Volkswagen Originalteil (Volkswagen Original Part) number 199 398 500 A, the Volkswagen currywurst. Manufactured at the company’s Wolfsburg plant, it is served in the canteens at their six German factories, with more than 7 million made every year since 1973. It has long been available outside the factories through German VW dealers who would give away packs to car buyers, but in more recent years it has been sold to the general public, along with Volkswagen ketchup, Volkswagen Originalteil 199 398 500 B.
On discovering this, it seemed that I had found the ideal meal for camper van excursions and promptly tracked some down to sample on an early autumn weekend visit to Norwich with my partner Frances. In the UK, both the sausage and the ketchup are sold by the specialist online German sausage retailer, The Sausage Man (sausageman.co.uk) and by Crafted Meats (craftedmeats.co.uk) for £16 a packet of five. This may sound steep, but they are imported from Germany, with the additional costs that now entails, and are huge. At 25cm long each one is a meal in itself – there are smaller ones available in Germany, but I can only find the monsters here. Made with best quality pork and only 20% fat, it is important to note that they are not actually curry flavoured – they are just the kind of sausage used to make classic currywurst in Germany. This consists of the sausage, fried or grilled, with a good splash of the ketchup and a sprinkling of curry powder, eaten with fries or in a bun, hotdog style.
So, equipped with my giant sausage, the ketchup, and an air fryer to cook the chips with (I did not fancy running a deep fryer with all that hot fat in the confines of our T2!) and safely settled in the Top Farm campsite in Marsham, just north of the city, I set about cooking the wurst. Given a brisk fry on the van’s stove, the sausage took about 20 minutes to cook, while the air fryer, plugged into the electric hookup, quietly prepared the chips beside me. As they are almost too big to fit on a camping plate, I halved the wurst, then doused them in ketchup, sprinkled on the curry, added the chips and we piled in. The sausages turn out to be firm, tasty and slightly smoky, akin to a classic bratwurst, with the ketchup being a little more sweet and less vinegary than UK ketchups, with a hint of spice, perhaps tamarind, that tilts it a little in the brown sauce direction. Either way, it was a perfect accompaniment to the wurst, and I easily polished off one and a half of the giant sausages and can confidently say I now have the official food of family camper trips sorted out, with three more of the things awaiting the next expedition in the freezer.
Club member Sarah McCutchion says that this is guaranteed to send delicious wafts of cooking smells to all corners of the campsite.
Needed: One big pot. One knife and a wooden spoon.
For 4 people: 8 skinless boneless chicken thighs One large onion finely chopped One red pepper finely sliced Lots of garlic 1 whole spicy chorizo sausage sliced 1 tin chopped tomatoes Tablespoon tomato puree Paprika Cayenne pepper
Cube the chicken and brown in the pan. Add the onions & chorizo. Brown it all. Add the garlic. When the onion is softened add everything else. Bring to the boil, then simmer for 40 ISH minutes. Add water or red wine as required. Serve with crusty bread, rice, pasta or potatoes.
Hello, my name is Tish and I’m having a go at writing some camp friendly recipes. We have a small 70s two hob stove like I’m sure many of you do. I carry on board a small and large cast iron saucepan and a none stick frying pan. I’m also a bit of a foodie so I have a small wicker basket on board which always contains – a proper salt and pepper grinder, olive oil, stock cubes, a few dried herbs and cinnamon. I also like to have some chutney/pickle/jam around too. Great for making fancy sandwiches or elevating a charcuterie board when it’s too hot to cook. Whenever my husband complains about fuel economy I just shrug my shoulders.
I tried to incorporate bits you’ll have on board for breakfasts or have at home to use up. With the cost of camp sites going up, and restaurants increasing their prices (understandably) it’s nice to try and save a few pennies where you can.
This can be made on a camping stove, or at home and warmed up on site.
You’ll need 2 hobs
Whatever chicken you have available (about 250g) or vegan alternative. Chopped. Bacon lardons (I used smoked for extra flavour) Mushrooms 200g Chicken stock Cream cheese (at least a tablespoonsworth – useful if you’re using it for breakfast!) Small Waxy potatoes. (You can precook these at home, they travel well – or boil in a separate pan) Salt and pepper and some butter.
Instructions Boil a full kettle. Once kettle is boiled add almost all the water into a small pan, add your potatoes on to boil. (Omit this if you’ve precooked them at home) try reserve about 100ml of water. Add a small bit of oil into a medium saucepan and once hot add in chicken and bacon. After the chicken starts to cook through (about 5-10 mins) crumble in your mushrooms. Leave for another 5 minutes to soften. Now you can add in your stock, soft cheese, salt and pepper with 100ml of water. (I add in some onion chutney here) Leave this to bubble and reduce. At this point you can add your peas into the stew or green beans into the same pan as the potatoes. Neither need very long. Once potatoes are soft, pop onto a plate and crush gently with a fork. Add salt and pepper to taste and as much butter as you like. I’m not your doctor! (If you’ve precooked your potatoes, similarly crush them and warm them up in a pan with some butter, salt and potatoes) If you wanted some fresh herbs now is the time to mix into the stew.
Then divvy up into bowls and enjoy. To make this a one pot lower carb meal, omit the potatoes entirely. Or if you’re low on cooking facilities the stew can be happily mopped up with some bread.
1 pack of Swedish meatballs (available in most supermarkets, not just Swedish furniture shops!)
1 Onion
2 cloves of garlic
A handful of dried fruit
One tin of chopped tomatoes
Flaked or chopped almonds (optional)
Dried mixed herbs
Butter or oil for frying
Fry the chopped onion for about 5 minutes until nicely soft and starting to go translucent. Then add the garlic, herbs, fruit and nuts. Stir a few times over the next few minutes. Add the can of tomatoes and the meatballs then simmer for 10 minutes stirring occasionally. Serve with crusty bread.
From club member Charlie Wann: My son learned this in Cubs, and he and my daughter make them whenever we go away in the campervan.
Ingredients Pitta bread (2 per person) Cheese Tube of tomato purée Ham, pineapple or other fillings
Method
Carefully slice open the pitta bread. Squeeze in some tomato purée. Add cheese and any other fillings. Wrap in foil and cook on the BBQ or above a fire pit until cheese is melted and pitta is crispy (turn halfway through cooking). Wait to cool slightly before eating!
Ingredients – Serves 2 1 pack of about 8 chicken drumsticks 2 green chillies 2 red chillies 2 tablespoons of Balsamic vinegar 2 tablespoons of lemon juice / 1 lemon juiced 1 tablespoon of honey Some dried mixed herbs
Yes, dried mixed herbs again – a staple in the camper van! Using a sharp knife, slice across the flesh of the chicken down to the bone to allow the spices to penetrate. Add all of the ingredients to a flat dish and get the drumsticks coated. Leave them to marinade for at least 30 minutes but overnight is even better. Wrap the drumsticks in foil but don’t stack them then either cook in a frying pan or on the BBQ tipping the leftover marinade from the dish over the top of them. Cook thoroughly! For adding wow factor, add a little lemon juice and some fresh green herbs on top as you serve them alongside crusty bread and salad. And a glass of something of course!
Ingredients per person 4oz dried pasta 1 onion Some mushrooms 1 tin of chopped tomatoes Dried mixed herbs 3 cloves of garlic 1 large sausage such as garlic sausage or venison or other strong flavour Small glass of red wine Oil or butter for frying
Cook the pasta and set to one side. Reuse the pan! Fry the onion until softened and starting to go translucent, then add the garlic, herbs, mushrooms and sausage. Cook all of this for 5 minutes stirring occasionally until nicely coloured. Add the remaining ingredients and cook for a few more minutes. Add the drained pasta to the pan.
Serve with crust bread and perhaps a glass or two of that red wine – it seems a shame to let the rest of it go to waste!
One pan, slow simmer as you enjoy the countryside or even just a glass of wine
Ingredients – serves 2-4
2 Courgettes of about 10 inches long
A similar weight of tomatoes
1 Onion
A small punnet of mushrooms
3 good sized garlic cloves
Passatta sauce or tomato puree (optional)
Some grated cheese (optional)
Herbs (optional)
Salt and pepper
Butter or olive oil
Heat the butter or olive oil in a frying pan or good sized saucepan and fry the onions and the garlic for 3 to 5 minutes. Once well under way and smelling wonderful, add the other ingredients except the cheese and simmer with the lid on for 10 minutes, stirring occasionally. Bring the heat down and continue mellowing the flavours for at least another 10 minutes but if you are low on time just simmer for longer! Once nearly ready to serve, add the grated cheese and stir in until it melts.
Serve with crusty bread or as a side dish to a BBQ. And a glass of wine of course!
