Enjoy the flavour of good food without spending all your holiday in the kitchen. All recipes are quick and easy but delicious, several are vegetarian and most can be easily adapted for vegetarians. Many of these dishes use "stock" items from my camper larder - as in the panel on the right. Nor will you need 6 saucepans, an oven and a grill - because all I have is a 2 ring hob.

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"Dil’s Delight"

The first recipe in this series has to be the dish originally christened "Dil's Delight" by our friends when I produced it in 15 minutes flat after we returned to the camper from an evening walk in the woods listening to nightingales! You can produce this straight from the cupboard if necessary, but it is a real delight with the fresh ingredients added. You can even cook it all in one pan if you wish!

Dried (or fresh) pasta enough for 2/3 (about 200 gms)
Tagliatelli is best for this dish and the Verdi is even better!

You can also use wheat/gluten free pasta if you wish to.

¼ lb mushrooms - flat or field mushrooms have more flavour (these are optional extras)

1 tin Baxters luxury Mushroom Potage (expensive as soup but cheap as a mushroom & garlic sauce)

½ packet of fresh spinach (again optional but it really makes a difference)

Salt & pepper to taste

Boil a pan of lightly salted water and add the pasta on a full rolling boil

Cook for 4 minutes (fresh pasta) or 8/10 minutes (dried pasta) uncovered

Peel and chop mushrooms into small pieces

Drain pasta and keep warm in colander

Fry the mushrooms in the pan in a little olive oil until just cooked

Add the mushroom potage and heat to warm - uncovered

Add the cooked pasta and reheat gently for a couple of minutes - partially covered

Wash the spinach thoroughly and drain and chop roughly

Add the spinach to the top of the pasta and sauce, cover with lid and reheat gently for 5 minutes

Stir the spinach gently into the sauce

Warm the plates and serve immediately with parmesan cheese if liked

Delicious! And don’t admit to anyone how easy it is!!

(suitable for vegetarians)

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Aubergine & Mushroom Moussaka

This is one of Neill’s favourite dishes, it is rich and tasty especially if you can spare a slurp of red wine from the bottle you are drinking! - carnivores can use real mince instead of 'Burgermix'!

1 large aubergine

¼ lb mushrooms - big flats are tastier - if button mushrooms keep whole

1 large onion

1 tin chopped tomatoes

2 tbspns tomato puree

1 clove of garlic (or tsp garlic puree)(go on, go on, it's delicious!)

3 tbspns Burgermix or ½ packet of Quorn mince or ¼ lb minced beef

1 tsp Bisto

1 Oxo cube (or vegetable Bouillon)

1 tsp Schwartz Season-All (or equivalent see Pantry - coming soon)

Salt and black pepper

A little olive oil for frying

1 egg and equal quantity of milk (can be omitted if not available)

1 dash of red wine

Chop onion into small pieces. Peel and quarter large mushrooms - wash and dry button mushrooms.

Wash, slice and chop aubergine into chunks, discard top slice near stem. (Don’t bother salting etc. Today's aubergines are not bitter and salting destroys the texture and makes the dish too salty)

Mix Burgermix with water as packet instructions and allow to absorb. Crush garlic.

In a large pan heat the olive oil and fry the onion and crushed garlic gently.

Add the chopped aubergine and fry for about 5 minutes turning several times to prevent burning. (The aubergine seems to absorb all the fat but if you continue to heat gently it will break down and release some of the oil again - don’t be tempted to add more oil)

Add the mushrooms and salt and pepper and Season-All and toss about for a couple of minutes.

Add Burgermix or Quorn or minced beef , mix well and leave to cook for 5 minutes.

Stir in tomato puree and tinned tomatoes and reheat until bubbling.

Add stock and thicken with Bisto (not too sloshy!)

Add a dash of red wine if available.

If you have an oven - transfer all above into casserole and cook for about 30 minutes at gas mark 5

If not - put a lid on the pan and reduce the heat to minimum and cook, stirring only once or twice, for about 20 minutes.

Beat the egg with the milk and pour onto surface of mixture (don't mix it in!), replace the lid and continue cooking for another 5 minutes (on top or in the oven) the egg mixture will set and is a delicious foil to the rich moussaka.

Serve with rice or fresh crusty or garlic bread and a green or brightly coloured vegetable if desired.

And a good bottle of full bodied red wine!

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Coq au Vin au Pan!

The third recipe for all discerning motorcaravanners is the indispensable holiday dish Coq au Vin - adapted for our new oven-less Hymer! Thus …… 

(recipe for 2 - just double for 4)

2 chicken pieces - legs are better than wings - 2 half chickens if you are hungry

8 shallots

12 button mushrooms

¼ bottle red wine (you can actually make a nice dish with white wine if you prefer)

1 bouquet garni

¼ pint chicken stock (or vegetable bouillon (see Pantry) if you dislike monosodium glutamate as I do)

1 clove of garlic (leave out if you must - but you don’t know what you’re missing)

2 tspns cornflour

A little olive oil for frying

Salt and black pepper.

Peel shallots and keep whole. Skin chicken if you feel you must - I don’t. Wash and dry mushrooms and keep whole.

In a saucepan or double skillet base heat a little olive oil and fry chicken pieces on both sides and shallots with the crushed garlic until nicely browned.

Add mushrooms and a little salt and pepper and toss about with the chicken etc. for a couple of minutes.

Pour wine and stock over and poke a bouquet garni between the chicken pieces.

If you are lucky enough to have an oven at this point you can transfer the whole thing to a casserole and cook for 30-40 minutes at gas mark 5. If not …..

If you are using a double skillet - heat the lid of the skillet on another ring until very hot and then hook into place and cook (without turning or keep looking!) on a low gas for 20-30 minutes.

If you are using a saucepan put a lid on and cook slowly for about 30 minutes, stirring once or twice. If it is bubbling too much lift the lid on one side to slow it down.

Before serving mix the cornflour with a little water and stir into sauce. Stir constantly while the sauce thickens and cook gently for a minute.

Serve with new potatoes and green vegetables - whatever is fresh and in season, and the rest of the bottle of wine.

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Chicken Or Quorn Korma

Tasty dish for those not into “hot” curries!

Serves 2

I onion chopped
1 tblspoon oil
Chicken or Quorn pieces
2 tablespoons Patak’s Korma Paste
2 tablespoons red lentils
4 fl oz water
Boiled rice for 2
1 tspn Turmeric
2 tablespoons plain yoghurt

(you can also serve more yoghurt with or without chopped mint as a relish)

Chop onion and fry in the oil until transparent.

Add chopped chicken or quorn pieces and stir vigorously for about 5 mins until sealed.

Add Patak’s Korma paste, stir and cook for 5 mins.

Add the water and the dried lentils, stir and cook on low heat for 20 mins stirring occasionally.

Meanwhile bring sufficient salted water to boil in a separate pan add the rice and cook uncovered for 15mins add the Turmeric to give it a lovely yellow colour and authentic taste and cook until tender.

When rice has absorbed all the liquid and is tender serve onto warm plates.

Remove Korma from heat and stir in yoghurt to thicken and serve immediately (do not return to heat or the yoghurt will curdle)

Serve the yoghurt relish in a separate dish on the table.

NB You can serve ready to eat poppadums as a starter with the relish or they can be served as a side dish. Bombay mix also makes a good starter.

A good strong red wine goes well with this dish or a beer of course.
 

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Bacon Risotto

Tasty and filling on a cold day - real comfort food!

1 large onion
4 rashers of bacon (or chunks of ham)
2 large tomatoes
2 large mushrooms (or lots of button ones)
frozen peas (if available)
1 small tin sweetcorn
½ red pepper
½ green pepper
½ tspn seasonall (or paprika)
2 tbspns tomato puree
salt & pepper
½ lemon cut in two
boiled rice enough for 2

Put pan of water on to boil for rice and boil uncovered until cooked (depends on type of rice)

In a large frying pan or skillet or wok, fry chopped onion and chopped bacon or ham chunks for a few minutes.

Add chopped tomatoes and mushrooms with chopped peppers and seasoning and cook for a few minutes.

Add tomato puree and cook gently for 10 minutes or until rice is cooked.

Drain cooked rice and rinse with cold water and allow to drain until fairly dry.

Add peas and sweetcorn to cooked mixture and reheat.

Raise heat and add drained rice. Cook quickly turning rice mixture constantly with spoon or spatula to avoid burning until really hot.

Serve hot on warm plates with a wedge of lemon on each plate.
 

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Chilli sin/con Carne

Here’s one straight out of the cupboard - cooks on the top in no time at all!

For 2 portions

Vegemince or Burgermix (or even meat if you like!)
One large onion (or dried in an emergency)
Tin chopped tomatoes
Tin red kidney beans
Tblsn tomato puree
½ tspn chilli powder
1 tspn Bisto
1 oxo cube
boiled rice enough for 2

Put pan of water on to boil for rice.

In another pan fry chopped onion and mince in chilli powder. Add tinned tomatoes & tomato puree.

Crumble in oxo cube and cook gently for 5 minutes.

Add kidney beans and thicken with Bisto. Cook on low heat for 25-30 minutes.

When water is boiling add rice and cook uncovered until just cooked. Drain.

Arrange rice round outside of two plates with chilli mixture in the centre.

Adjust amount of chilli to taste!

This recipe may go better with beer than wine!!
 

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Salut!