2009 Campfire / Campstove Recipe Contest

[bwca]

Campfire / Campstove Recipe Contest
2009

Do you consider yourself a chef of the Northwoods? Have you learned some great recipes from your old scouting days or from camping with mom and dad? Share your delectable delights and win!

Rules:

Everyone is welcome to participate, amateur or professional.
This contest is not just open to Boundary Waters (BWCA) and Quetico campers - it is open to all, but recipes must follow BWCA rules.
Recipes must be your own, or taught to you.
Do not copy recipes from books or magazines unless you are the author.
Ingredients must not contain canned or glass bottled items unless directions are included to repackage the items to comply with BWCA rules: http://www.bwca.cc/tripplanning/rules.htm

To enter, simply reply to this message and post your recipe. Accompanying stories and photos are encouraged.
Submissions will be accepted through December 31st, 2009.

If you wish, you may post a photo of your finished product, or a series of photos of the process. Photos must portray cooking in accordance with the rules of the BWCAW. When posting, please refrain from posting HUGE image files. An ideal size is 640 x 480. Directions on how to resize images and how to post them, can be found at:
viewtopic.php?t=223

Prizes:
Contest prizes include:

Coleman PerfectFlow InstaStart Grill Stove (http://tinyurl.com/grillstove), courtesy of Coleman
Coleman 5 Piece Aluminum Mess Kit, courtesy of BoundaryWatersCanoeArea.com
Five day Kevlar canoe rental courtesy of Voyageur North Outfitters
Day of kayaking with lunch for two courtesy of Trail Center.
Autographed copy of Robin Donovan's Campfire Cuisine (http://tinyurl.com/campfirecuisine)
Recipes may also be featured on Minnesota Bound, BWCA websites and in local newspapers.

Judging:
This year's contest will be judged by Robin Donovan. Robin is the author of Campfire Cuisine: Gourmet Recipes for the Great Outdoors. She is a San Francisco-based freelance journalist, book author, and editor specializing in food, cooking, travel, and other lifestyle topics. Her feature articles, original recipes, and restaurant and cookbook reviews appear frequently on the pages of popular magazines, newspapers, and websites including Cooking Light, Fitness, San Jose Mercury News, Sallys-Place.com, Amazon.com, San Francisco Chronicle's SFGate.com and many others.

Contest featured on http://www.contesthound.com and grandmajam.com

[VaStateParks]

Thanks for sharing the contest with the VaStateParks blog readers! I also tweeted the contest on Twitter.

[ewokman1956]

Scrambled egg breakfast... I have had this breakfast every year in the BW and have shared it with many people and they all love it.

Potatoes, Summer sausage, Onion. Green Pepper , (if everyone is ok with it), About 2 eggs per person, Seasond salt.

1st start with a good sized potato. (One good sized one for every two persons eating.) Cut up into chunks about the size of quarters. Cut up onion into either small pieces or slices. Cut up summer sausage into slices then quarter them. Cut up bell pepper into small pieces.

Heat up frying pan and add cooking oil. (Butter flavored is good). Add chunks of potatoes and cook till fully cooked and then make sure you crisp up the ouside some. While cooking potatoes, add seasond salt to taste. While potatoes are cooking you can add summer sausage, onions , and green peppers at any time, and cook them right along with the potatoes. Once everything is cooked it's time to add the eggs. Scramble the eggs slightly, then add to everything else. I usualy add a bit more seasond salt too. Cook the eggs (in everything else) scrambled style. If you have any cheese, as you serve each portion, it's nice to sprinkle some (shreeded) over the top. You have to try this sometime. It's a great breakfast for camping. It's nice to have it at home as well.

[finnbay]

Steamed pike.

Slab your pike and remove ribs and Y-bones. Lay on enough aluminum foil to be able to completely wrap it before you cook it. Rub lightly with butter or margarine. Salt, pepper. Slice onions, green peppers, mushrooms and lay them along the length of the filet. Wrap tightly to no allow steam to escape. Place on top of the grill with hot coals underneath and allow to steam for 15-20 minutes. Open and serve with lemon juice and/or tartar sauce. Umm, good!

[marinacastillo]

Fish Fried Rice with Poblano Peppers: (Poblano Peppers, Uncle Ben's Rice, Fish fried oil & crumbs, Salt & pepper)

0. Fry your fish of the day first.
1. Take 2-3 Poblano Peppers and roast them on the grate until the skin of the peppers is good and roasted (black) Don't skin the peppers, the roasted part tastes yummy!
2. Dice peppers to small pieces, and set aside.
3. After frying your fish of the day use the same oil with batter pieces still in frying pan and add Uncle Ben's - Ready Rice - Whole Grain Brown to pan and fry it up for a few minutes.
4. Add Poblano diced peppers.
> 5. Add salt & pepper to taste.

This goes fabulously with fish. I can taste it already!

We had this last summer on Big Moose Lake, I just wished at the time we had brought a lot more Poblanos so we could have them with more meals, they go great roasted with everything. We haven't stopped using them since last summer. We make the rice dish all the time to go with chicken or steak. It's a delicious dish. We don't use fried fish oil at home when cooking steak or chicken, we use olive oil when we make it at home.

Yummy!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

Marina Castillo-Knuti and Ethan Knuti It was a joint effort by Ethan and I when we put this dish together. Hope you all have a chance to try it!!!!!!!!!!!!!

[huanic]

Slab your pike and remove ribs and Y-bones. Lay on enough aluminum foil to be able to completely wrap it before you cook it. Rub lightly with butter or margarine. Salt, pepper. Slice onions, green peppers, mushrooms and lay them along the length of the filet. Wrap tightly to no allow steam to escape. Place on top of the grill with hot coals underneath and allow to steam for 15-20 minutes. Open and serve with lemon juice and/or tartar sauce. Umm, good!

[bwca]

Lets get some more recipe entries in! I've just added another prize to sweeten the pot: a five piece aluminum mess kit from Coleman.

[Ramkitten]

Seasoned shrimp and vegetables over cous cous

We had this meal on our recent 5-day canoe-camping trip in the Boundary Waters. It was very easy and delish!



Ingredients:
Pre-cooked shrimp
Chopped vegetables (ie. brocolli, carrots, cauliflower, green beans, etc.)
Cous cous
Seasoning, such as Mrs. Dash

We gathered firewood according to BWCA rules--away from camp and the shore, already dead wood that was no longer standing. Then we built the fire in the Forest Service grate.

Then we sprinkled some Mrs. Dash seasoning on the moistened vegetables and shrimp, then rolled the mixture in foil in individual servings.

Then, place the foil-wrapped servings in or over the campfire (or you could saute the shrimp and veggies on a camp stove). You'll hear the mix start sizzling inside the foil.



We waited about ten minutes and then checked by peeling back the foil a bit. Yep, it was cooked.

Then we prepared the cous cous, simply by adding boiling water we'd been heating over the fire as the shrimp and vegetables cooked.

Oila! And bon appetit.

[AdventureCanoe]

Everyone loves my tilapia fish tacos. On our Big Piney trip we made them with about three pounds of fish. I am going to give you the list of ingredients and the approximate amount I would use to make them for two people.

1. Tilapia 1 lb
2. Tomato 2
3. Onion (white or yellow) 1
4. Red bell pepper 1
5. Yellow bell pepper 1
6. Garlic clove 2 (or more if you like it)
7. Jalapeño or Habanero (whatever you feel comfortable with) 2
8. 6" tortilla 1 bag
9. Black beans 1 can
10. Mexican cheese mix 1 bag
11. Tapatio (this is in case you're with people who cant handle things hot)



We cut most of the stuff up in the kitchen and then froze it all even though we had bought fresh tilapia. The pictures will show you the process. I like to cook stuff like this over high heat and keep it moving around the pan. We forgot to bring any sort of cooking oil but a splash of olive oil would help.


Saute the onions, garlic and hot peppers. There are some diced tomatos in there too but you don't need those.


Now you're ready for the tilapia. Dump it in there and cook for 10 minutes or until done. Feel free to taste some. You don't want to cook it to long or it gets sort of tough.


Have an assistant dice some tomatos and onions then pick the cilantro for the home made pico. Toss some jalapeños in there if you like it hot.


Heat and then mash the black beans. Here we're using a coffee cup.


Your fish is probably about done.


Dump the bell peppers and onions in on top. Mix this around trying not to spill it everywhere.


Here's our completed pico. Thats some Pace in the other bowl, we got lazy.


After you have the veggies where you want them, cate likes um crispy, heat some tortillas on top.


Now layer in the black beans, fish mixture, cheese, pico and hot sauce. If you want you can add some sour cream.

Enjoy.

[ellieandherdaddy]

Thai Beef-on-a-Stick

This is a really tasty but simple dinner for the first night in the backcountry. Use skewers as shown or let everyone cook their own on coat-hangers s'mores-style over the campfire.

1- Freeze 1 lb of a good cut of beef in a 1 gallon ziplock before the trip. Throw it in the ice chest.

2- In a food processor before the trip, blend the following: 2 red jalapenos with seeds and stems removed, 1 tsp. dried lemongrass spice, the peel of one lime, two tsp. minced garlic, one tsp. minced ginger, 1/2 cup fish sauce (can be found in oriental stores or section of grocery stores), two tbsp. sugar, and 1/2 cup water. Put in screw-capped plastic jar and throw in ice chest.

3- At camp, slice the beef into long strips 1/2 inch in thickness. Marinade beef with above sauce in the ziplock for an hour in the ice chest.

4- Stick beef on skewers or coat-hangers and cook over coals or open fire for 5 minutes on each side.
Best served with rice and cucumber salad. Enjoy !!!!!!!!

elliecrossecreek.jpg (32.43 KiB) Viewed 2104 times

Ellie Lambert (age 14) and her Dad (age unknown)

[bwca]

I'm considering extending the deadline on this contest to allow time for more entries, and also to schedule a couple cookout get togethers. Any entrants oppose this?

[Ramkitten]

Sounds good to me. Being in Arizona, I guess I won't be able to make any campfire cookouts in northern Minnesota ... at least, not until next year when we return.

[demillersails]

My earliest memories of camping with my family are always of food cooked over a fire or campfire grill. Us kids were always given the chore of gathering any sticks on the ground. It was always a race to see who could get the biggest arm full and run back to camp. Meanwhile, Mom and Dad would set everything up and sit and talk quietly. Looking back, I realize this was their special time, away from jobs and stress.

After the fire was burning hot, Mom would start to pull out the food. Hamburger patties she made at home and put into the freezer, wrapped in wax paper. (This was the 60's.) She would tear off 4 squares of aluminum foil, one for each of us. My brother and I would then put our meal together, putting food into the foil. Dad would fold everything up and we would put special marks on the outside of the foil so everyone would know which one was theirs. The packets were placed on the coals, not in the fire.

Then our parents would tell stories, or we would run and play while supper cooked. It was so good when Dad unwrapped those packets. Juicy hamburger!We never had too much garbage or food left over. We had to wad everything up real tight and the garbage went into a small metal can that Dad always brought. He didn't want any animals to visit us. S'mores always ended our evening. My brother and I would find the perfect sticks from the pile and Dad would sharpen the ends. Then we would thread the marshmellows onto the sticks and roast away. I have great memories and have passed those onto my children. We camped when they were just babies. And still, to this day, the favorite meal is Hobo Burgers.

HOBO Burgers

Hamburger patties
Onion slices
Potatoes
Carrots
Butter
Salt & pepper

Place hamburger patties on sheets of aluminum foil. Cut potatoes in slices and pile on hamburger with butter pats intermingled. Slice carrots and onions layering them on the potatoes. Add pats of butter to this. Season with salt and pepper. Wrap up with foil. Bake on hot coals for 45 minutes or cook on the grill. This recipe will never grow old. But now days we bring peppers, cheese, and all kinds of spices if we want to get a little fancy!

[AdventureCanoe]

There are some really good recipes here. I can't wait to see who win's it.

[AdventureCanoe]

So did I win..?

I was browsing some of the recipes and they look pretty good. When is the contest going to be judged and the winners announced?

[ellieandherdaddy]

When will the contest be over?
Ellie

[bwca]

Thank you for your patience! I have cleared it with our judge, and the contest is extended through 12/31/2009. Looks like some wonderful entries already!

[AdventureCanoe]

I was getting worried so I started a similar Camping Recipe Contest on Adventure Canoe. I'm happy to see this one is still alive. I'll post a new entry for my Balsamic Glazed Beef Kabobs.

Thanks

James

[bwca]

If anyone wants to try and come up with a venison recipe to post for the contest, I'll give you a free pound of frozen ground venison. You would have to pick it up in Lakeville.

[bwca]

Here are a couple other recipes posted to include in the contest:

Beef Kabobs
viewtopic.php?f=42&t=1653

Camp 7 Stir Fry
viewtopic.php?f=42&t=1625

[ewokman1956]

What ever happend with the 2009 recipe contest? Was a winner announced? whic one was it? Thank you.