A bit of campfire cookery.

I've just got back from fine couple of days at Amberley working museum where . Wayne from Forest Knights and I were getting the bowmaking hovel ready for the half term opening. Naturally we had to eat and although the Bridge pub was tempting we cooked over the fire in the shelter.



Wayne usually provides the food but this time I shopped as well. We had been snacking all day on rubbish food (pasties and crisps) and when we came to prepare Wednesday night dinner we had a great choice of things to eat. I decided to go for a lamb gumbo for the main course. I cubed up a few pieces of stewing lamb and fried it off with some onions, green pepper, onions, carrot and a parsnip. When it was nicely browned in went enough water to cover it and a bit more with a vegetable stock cube.

After a few minutes of vigourous boiling it became obvious that the lamb was going to take a little while to get tender enough to be edible and as we were both hungry I fried a couple of mackrel fillets with some spicy chutney and we snacked on them wrapped in flour tortillas while we waited for the stew to cook.

When the lamb was just about cooked I threw in a handful of rice (not quick cook, that is just an insult to rice) and when the stew had thickened around the rice Wayne was worried that we had cooked too much (wouldn't be the first time) but it all went and we rounded off the meal with a desert of Lindt chocolate.

Rice a pasta are great things to take when you are planning to cook outside. They don't take up a lot of room but are satisfying as long as you have something to give them a bit of flavour. They keep pretty well for ever and are a good source of slow release energy.

The next day was also busy and we picked on junk food and endless brews during the day so we were ready for a good dinner by 7pm. A rummage in the food sack came up with a couple of pork chops which were cooked plainly on the griddle and a pork loin which was cut into bite sized medallions and stir fried with broccoli, onions and leeks and served with boiled new potatoes. The flavouring was a citrus and herb rub that Wayne had brought along. Very tasty.

The the leftover potatoes were even better refried with the breakfast bacon in another tortilla wrap with some chutney.

It's a hard life roughing it ;)

And the food fuelled us making the heaviest rustic cupboard door known to man, a quarter sized bow for the display, a bit of primitive blacksmithing with some home made charcoal and shifting soaking wet chipboard panels.

Oh and good luck to whatever animal sneaked to within 4 feet of me during the night and stole the mini scotch eggs. They were truly nasty.