Let’s keep winter camping our own little secret. Campgrounds are almost empty. Parks and hiking trails are hushed, often deserted, perhaps sparkling with morning frost. A mist forms now over the warm water of the lake. Wildlife is at its chirping, cawing, nattering best as nature lays down her winter rules. The one thing we will all be doing on the road this season is eating, sometimes in the coach as a couple or family and other times around roaring fires when the gang gets up a potluck, an apple butter stirring, or a marshmallow roast.
Soupy stew, thick and fragrant, warms the heart on a cold day. Come in from the chill of hunting, fishing, hiking or leaf peeping to one of these one-dish feasts. All were chosen for ease of preparation in the motorhome galley as well as for hearty, comfort-food taste.
Whether you do all the cooking in the coach or do some of the steps at home, these recipes are a direct route to good eating and warm camaraderie.
Cassoulet
(Prep time: 10 min. Cook time: 20 min.)
A classic French peasant dish, cassoulet (cah-soo-LAY) is different for each chef, but most recipes combine one or two meats with white beans. We cut corners by starting with canned chicken, beans and broth. Snipped parsley provides a finishing flourish.
1 tablespoon olive oil
2 cloves garlic, mashed
Large onion, diced
Small green or red sweet pepper, diced
1 pound cooked, spicy sausage, such as kielbasa
12-ounce can boneless breast of chicken, with juice
2 carrots, peeled, halved lengthwise and cut into 1/2 inch slices
1 cup water
15-ounce can diced tomatoes, with juice
15-ounce can ready-to-serve chicken broth
1/2 cup dry red cooking wine
1 bay leaf
1/4 teaspoon nutmeg
1/2 teaspoon dried thyme
2 cans, 15 ounces each, white beans, drained and rinsed
Salt, pepper to taste
*Freshly snipped parsley (optional)
In a two-quart pot, stir-fry the garlic, onion and pepper in hot oil until they are limp. Cut the sausage into bite-size pieces and stir it in with everything but the beans. Bring to a boil, reduce heat, cover and simmer until the carrots are tender. At this point, you can cool and refrigerate or freeze the mixture to serve later. To proceed, bring the mixture to a boil and gently stir in the beans until they are heated through. Adjust seasonings, ladle into soup bowls, and sprinkle with parsley. Makes 6 servings. Complete the menu with torn chunks of French bread for mopping up the juice, leafy salad with a simple vinaigrette, and velvety chocolate pudding for dessert. * Cooking wine already contains salt; you’ll need more salt if you use table wine.
Shortcut Potatoe-Corn Chowder
(Prep and cook time: 25 min.)
Pull a package of hash-brown potatoes out of the freezer, and this satisfying soup is almost made.
10 3/4-ounce can condensed cream soup (potato, mushroom, or celery)
1 soup can water
2 tablespoons real bacon bits (not imitation)
4 cups frozen hash-browned potatoes
11-ounce can Mexicorn (whole kernel corn with red and green pepper bits)
1 tablespoon instant onion flakes
1/2 teaspoon celery seed
13-ounce can evaporated milk
Whisk together the condensed soup and the water in a roomy pan until they are well blended, then stir in the remaining ingredients except the canned milk. Bring to a boil, cover, reduce heat, and simmer 10-15 minutes. Stir in the milk and heat but do not boil. Add salt to taste and a few twirls of the pepper grinder. Serves 3-4. Make a supper out of big bowls of chowder, buttered toast, and hot baked apples sauced with cold vanilla yogurt.
Rosy Carrot Soup
(Prep and cook time: 10 to 15 min.)
This is a smooth soup to sip with a mug in one hand and a hefty ham and cheese sandwich in the other.
10 3/4-ounce can condensed tomato soup
1 soup can fat-free half and half
2 jars baby food strained carrots (6-8 ounces total)
Salt, pepper
Dried dill weed
Whisk together the soup and half and half in a saucepan until smooth, then stir in the carrots. Heat gently until it’s steaming, season to taste, and pour into bowls or mugs. Do not boil. Sprinkle lightly with dill weed. Serves 2-3.
Roaring River Salmon Chowder
(Prep time: 10 min. Cook time: 20 to 25 min.)
Using canned salmon, there is no worry about sharp bones because the canning process turns them to mush. Eat them and all the good calcium they contain.
2 cans, 16 ounces each, salmon
2 slices bacon, cut up and fried out
Large, sweet onion (such as Oso Sweet), diced
4 medium potatoes, scrubbed and diced
1 large carrot, peeled and diced
Water
1 teaspoon salt
1/2 teaspoon white pepper
2 tablespoons cornstarch or instant flour
2 cans evaporated milk
Pats of butter
Dried thyme
Drain the salmon and save the juice. Remove and discard any unsightly skin and mash large bones. In a large saucepan or soup pot, fry out the bacon, gradually adding the vegetables until the bacon is crisp. Pour off excess fat and add the juice from the salmon plus enough water to cover the vegetables. Add salt, pepper and thyme, cover, bring to a boil, reduce heat, and simmer until the potatoes are tender. Gently stir in the salmon over low heat. Stir just enough cold water into the cornstarch or flour to make a smooth paste and stir it into the chowder over low heat until it thickens. Stir in the evaporated milk just until the chowder is heated through. Do not boil. If it’s too thick, add a little milk. Place a pat of butter in each soup bowl and sprinkle with dried thyme. Ladle in the soup and serve with chowder crackers and a dessert of fresh pineapple wedges. This makes 4-6 supper servings
Top Speed Bean Soup
(Prep time: 10 to 15 min. Cook time: 20 to 25 min.)
From-scratch bean soup means soaking beans overnight and cooking them all day. There’s a quicker way to get homemade flavor without the wait.
1 tablespoon olive oil
Medium potato, peeled and diced
Large onion, peeled and diced
Large carrot, peeled and diced
2 ribs celery, diced
Small can chunk ham
1 quart chicken broth from a carton or cans
2 cans navy beans (not pork and beans)
1 can large, white kidney beans
Salt, freshly ground pepper
In a roomy soup pot, stir-fry the potato, onion, carrot and celery in the hot oil until they are well coated with oil. Add the ham and the chicken broth. Bring to a boil, cover, reduce heat, and simmer until the vegetables are tender. Drain and rinse all the beans. Add one can of navy beans to the pot and, using a potato masher, mash coarsely. Then continue to heat gently while stirring in the remaining beans. Add salt and pepper to taste. If the soup is too thick, add water or more chicken broth. Serves 4. Serve with corn bread, a side dish of creamy cole slaw, and lemon chiffon pie for dessert.
Janet Groene is author of Living Aboard Your RV and Cooking Aboard Your RV. She welcomes questions and comments at www.GordonandJanetGroene.com. |
SOUPER IDEAS
• If your coach doesn’t have one, consider having an automatic hot water dispenser installed at the kitchen sink. It’s perfect for instant bouillon or soup as well as coffee, tea, cocoa, and any recipe that calls for very hot water.
• When making a cornstarch or flour paste to thicken soup or stew, use a paper cup and simply throw the mess away.
• During the last minute of cooking soup or chowder, stir in a handful of thawed edamame or green peas for color and texture contrast. Don’t overcook.
• Minced parsley adds a fresh and colorful garnish to soups and stews. Buy it by the bunch, wash, shake dry, roll in a clean dish towel, and keep it in a plastic bag in the motorhome refrigerator. For the next two weeks, just snip off what you need each day.
• Anglers in the family? Keep small cans of salmon, shrimp, crab and clams in the pantry. When the catch is too small to go around, combine fresh and canned seafood to make a memorable chowder. The more variety, the better the chowder.
• Combine two or more flavors of canned soup for a more homemade flavor. Good mates are minestrone and black bean, cream of pea with cream of tomato, chicken-rice with chicken and stars, and vegetable beef with chicken vegetable.
• Doctor canned soup by sauteing a small, diced onion in a teaspoon of hot oil until it’s tender. Then pour in the soup and heat.
• When sweet onions are plentiful, cut up a potful, cover with canned beef broth, and simmer until tender. Add red wine to taste, heat well, and ladle into soup plates over thick slabs of toast covered with grated cheese.
• Save a soy sauce or hot sauce bottle, the type with a plastic insert that lets liquid come out only a drop at a time. Then fill the bottle with sherry to pass when you’re serving black bean or lentil soup. A few drops makes a gourmet difference.
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