I often make myself an omelette for lunch. Sometimes I fill it with ham, mushroom and tomato. At other times I treat myself to an omelette with smoked salmon. I love the flavour of smoked salmon with capers, so I throw a few on top for flavour.
I used chopped chives with this omelette, but it would be super delicious with fresh dill also. That is the best thing about omelettes – just add your favourite flavours! The following is a recipe for one omelette – it’s easy to double, triple, or quadruple the ingredients to make two, three, or four omelettes.
ette
Ingredients
For one omelette you will need –
2 large eggs 2 teaspoons sour cream 1/4 – 1/2 teaspoon cracked black pepper 1 tablespoon of fresh chives A small dob of butter 15g of smoked salmon, chopped 1 1/2 tablespoons of grated cheese
To top the omelette 40g smoked salmon 1/2 tsp of chopped capers Sour cream and chives to garnish
Beat the eggs, sour cream, pepper and chives until just mixed.
Melt the butter in a small nonstick pan. Add the egg mixture and cook for one minute. Then sprinkle one half of the omelette with the chopped salmon and the grated cheese. Cook gently until almost cooked through, about two minutes.
Using a flexible spatula (or two), flip the bare omelette side over the side that has the salmon and cheese. Cook omelette for another minute or two, until cooked to your liking.
Arrange omelette on a plate, top with smoked salmon, a dollop of sour cream, capers and chopped chives.
Bon Appétit
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I have a simple scone recipe I use when camping. None of the ingredients needs to be refrigerated. I use self-raising flour, long-life cream and long-life milk, which is super handy if you have limited fridge/esky space.
Near the end of our last camping trip, I noticed I had ham, cheese and some herbs that I needed to use up, so I decided to make ham and cheese scones. I had never cooked them in the camp oven before and was super pleased they turned out as delicious as they did.
As always, Dwayne was in charge of cooking the scones over the fire. I simply told him I would usually cook them at 200C for about 30 minutes and let him work on getting the right temperature over the fire.
Further on, you will find some instructions about cooking scones in a camp oven and some tips on what you need to consider when producing the cooking heat. I hope you enjoy this recipe and be sure to let me know how they turn out.
Our camp kitchen
We cooked these yummy scones on a recent camping trip on Kangaroo Island. We were camped at American River.
Camping at American River
Sunset in the Australian Bush
Ingredients
3 cups self-raising flour 1 teaspoon baking powder 2 tablespoons finely chopped chives 1 teaspoon finely chopped rosemary 1/2 cup chopped ham 1 cup coarsely grated cheese A pinch of salt 300ml cream About 75 ml milk
Method
Sift flour and baking powder into a bowl, add the chives, rosemary, ham, cheese and a pinch of salt, then mix well.
Make a well in the middle of the bowl and add the cream and most of the milk. Mix well add more milk if necessary. The dough should not be too wet and sticky. Do not over mix the dough.
Turn dough out onto a floured board and knead a little (do not over-knead). Shape the dough into a ball and then flatten to the shape of your camp oven. Place on a greased piece of baking paper and cut into wedges (you do not need to cut all the way through.
Heat your camp oven over the coals. Carefully lift the dough/scones by the baking paper and place them into the camp oven.
Cook the scones with a little heat under the camp oven and coals on top. Our theory is to cook it from both top and bottom with more heat on top. We hung our camp oven over a small fire. Using a star-drop (as a makeshift tripod), Dwayne was able to lift the camp oven higher to reduce the heat or lower it to increase the heat. We used heat beads on the top of the camp oven because we hadn’t had time to develop many coals and the heat beads hold their heat better, making this ‘brunch’ reasonably quick to make. We checked every 10 minutes until the scones were ready. Again, we adjusted the heat, if needed, when we checked it.
Use a knife to see if the scones are ready. Dig in deep with the tip of a knife; if the knife comes out clean, scones should be ready.
To cook in your home oven.
Place the scones on a greased oven tray and bake at 200C in a preheated oven for about 30 minutes.
For more instruction on cooking with hot coals.
If you want to cook on coals from a campfire, you need to burn a good amount of wood to create hot coals. It can take an hour or so for your campfire to make enough coals to cook on. Be sure to factor the process of producing the embers into your prep and cooking time. Alternatively, if time or good wood is in short supply, use heat-beads as they heat up quickly and hold their heat well.
The easiest way to cook in a camp oven over hot coals is to lift the coals out of the fire with a long-handled shovel. Select a safe place next to the fire and put a small amount of *coals on the ground. Place the camp oven onto the coals. Get some more coals from the fire to place on top of the oven. Getting the right amount of coals is not always easy. Be aware of cooking the scones too hot and burning them. It will take some experimentation to get the temperature right. Therefore, check the scones after 10 minutes to make sure you are not cooking them too hot or not hot enough.
*you only need a small number of coals under the camp oven or none at all. Too many, and you will burn the bottom of the scones.
Many factors determine the heat of the coals, such as ambient temperature and wind. If it is windy, the coals will cook hotter. Make allowances for wind by reducing the number of coals used.
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I’m not sure where the term ‘Eggs in Purgatory’ originated. Does it refer to the bubbling red tomato sauce? I’m not sure. However, this recipe is perfect for cooking in the camp oven over a campfire. Perfect for an Aussie bush brunch, this dish is high in protein and super tasty.
1 Tablespoon oil
1 Red onion, finely chopped
3 Cloves of garlic, finely chopped
1 Can of tomatoes, chopped
1 teaspoon of dried Italian herbs
1/2 – 1 Teaspoon dried, crushed chilli
1/2 Teaspoon beef/veg stock powder
1 Can of mixed beans
4 Eggs
Grated cheese
Cracked black pepper
Method
Heat the camp oven in the campfire* and heat oil. Add onion and garlic, and sauté until onion is translucent.
Add the tomatoes, herbs, chilli and stock powder, and cook for a few minutes until tomatoes start to thicken.
Add the beans and cook for a few more minutes.
Crack eggs into the tomato bean mix, and sprinkle with grated cheese and black pepper.
Put the lid on the camp oven. Top the camp oven with hot coals and cook at moderate temperature until eggs are cooked to your liking.
*Sautéing over the fire in a camp oven can be uncomfortably hot. There are several ways I cook with an open pot, depending on what sort of fireplace we have (e.g. iron fire pit or open fire). One way is to hang your camp oven over the fire with a tripod or, in our case, a star-dropper. Another way is to take a shovel load of coals from the firepit and, in a safe place near the fire, place them on the ground, put your camp oven on top and cook over the coals.
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When we left Darwin I had some pastry and feta leftover and wasn’t sure what to use it for. Once I had taken stock of what our esky held I decided to cook quiche. I had never baked quiche in the camp oven before, so I was thrilled that it turned out so well. Very delicious!
10 sheets of filo pastry
Baking paper
1 onion, chopped
250g bacon, chopped
8 eggs
1/2 cup of milk
60g feta, chopped into small pieces
60g baby spinach leaves, roughly chopped
Grated cheese
Cracked pepper
Method
Prepare the camp oven. *Camp oven should be oiled. With two strips of baking paper line the bottom and sides of the camp oven, this will help get the quiche out when it is ready. Then line the camp oven with pastry going up the sides by 1 or 2 inches. The depth of your quiche will depend on the size of your camp oven. For this recipe, I used a 9-quart camp oven and the quiche was about an inch high.
Saute the bacon and onion in a frypan and set aside.
Whisk the eggs and the milk.
Add the feta, spinach, bacon and onion to the eggs and mix well.
Pour the egg mixture into the prepared quiche base, spread evenly, using a fork. Top with grated cheese and cracked pepper.
Cooking in a camp oven
To bake the quiche, we put a few hot coals or heat beads under the pot (our camp oven has three short legs) and about three times as much on top of the camp oven. Check after 15 minutes to see if you have the right amount of heat. If you think you need a higher temperature, add and few coals (if cooking too hot, remove coals). We cooked ours quite slow, and it took about an hour. We will cook it a little hotter the next time, but thought since it was our first time baking a quiche, to err on the side of caution.
Cooking in your oven – Cook for 35 – 45 minutes at 190 degrees celsius.
Note: *We always wash our camp oven when we are finished with it, heat it over the fire to dry and then rub oil into it using a paper towel until well coated – if you do that at the end of every use you will find your camp oven will be ready for use every time you want it and it will not rust.
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I love pizza, and I love homemade pizza because I can make it exactly how I like it. I love all things salty, and this is a salt lovers pizza – anchovies, capers, olives. Seriously, does it get any saltier! The best thing about pizza is that you can top it with anything you like. Change-up the toppings until you have your perfect pizza.
The last time I made this pizza was a month ago while we were sailing through Indonesia. Sailing through Indonesia during the Coronavirus Pandemic was an experience I won’t be forgetting soon. Not all good – gunshots fired in warning, but not all bad – swimming with a wild dugong. Click here to read my story.
Ingredients
For the base
Olive oil, to grease
250ml (1 cup) lukewarm water
1 tsp sugar
2 tsp (7g/1 sachet) dried yeast
450g (3 cups) plain flour, sifted
1/4 tsp salt
1 tbs olive oil
Topping
Homemade pizza sauce*
1 onion, thinly sliced
4 – 8 anchovies, roughly chopped
1 Capsicum sliced
2-3 Tablespoons sliced olives
1-2 Tablespoons of capers
16 – 20 slices of Salami
400g grated cheese (pizza mix is delicious)
Dry Italian herbs and chilli flakes
amounts are a rough guide only
Method
Preheat the oven to 220°C. Brush two or three 25cm pizza trays with oil to grease. (I used 3 oven trays and got yummy thin crispy bases).
Mix the sugar and water in a jug or small bowl. Sprinkle the yeast on top and place it in a draught-free place for five minutes, until bubbles form on the surface.
Put the flour and salt into a large mixing bowl. Add the yeast mixture and the oil. Mix well with a spoon until blended. Dump the mix onto a floured work surface and knead for six minutes.
Divide the dough into 2 or 3 pieces and cover and rest for five minutes. Now is a good time to prepare your topping ingredients.
Roll each dough portion out. Use your hands to stretch the dough gently. Line the greased pizza trays with the dough, pushing the dough to the edges of the trays. Spread the bases with pizza sauce, and top with onion, anchovies, olives, capers, capsicum, salami and cheese. Sprinkle with Italian herb and chilli flakes.
Bake in preheated oven, at 220c for 8 minutes or until cheese is bubbling on top and base is crispy.
* I make pizza sauce with a tin of chopped tomatoes, tomato paste, garlic, pepper.
* Another delicious alternative to pizza sauce is using sun-dried tomato pesto for the base. This pesto is a delicious option!
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One of our longest legs sailing so far was the 58 hour sail from Seisai, QLD to Gove, NT. We had some really nice weather and good sailing for most of it. Since it was another milestone (i.e. entering another state, Northern Territory) we decided to celebrate with a delicious meal. Crayfish Mornay.
This is what we did…
Dwayne cut the crayfish in half, from head to tail. I removed the meat, washed the shells, and roughly chopped the lobster flesh.
To make the mornay I heated some milk, a thick slice of onion, a bay leaf and some peppercorns in a pot. I simmered it for a couple of minutes. I then removed the pot from the heat, covered it and let it sit for 15minutes so the flavour would infuse.
I heated a little oil (I didn’t have butter) in a saucepan and added a some plain flour. I cooked this for a minute or two, stirring constantly, then removed it from heat.
I added the white wine and mixed until I had a smooth consistency, then added the milk gradually while mixing. I cooked it over low heat for a few minutes until the sauce thickened. Stirred in a little salt and pepper, cream and some cheese. I stirred this until the cheese melted, then added the crayfish meat.
I then spooned the lobster mixture into the shells, sprinkled with cheese and baked it in the oven for 15minute .
It was nice served with basmati rice and steamed broccoli.
Gourmet from the galley! 