Going for Smoky: Gourmet Camping: Part 3

Brunch. One must have at least one brunch while camping. That is one of my rules.

That means hopefully that you let yourself sleep in. Then get up slowly. Make coffee. Then leisurely go about making a meal.

Eggs. Definitely. Veggies. Of course. And some cheese in there of some sort.

This trip, I decided a frittata would be just the thing. If you’ve never made a frittata, it’s the easiest thing. It’s rather like an omelet but easier.

You start with eggs, whipped up with a little water, salt and freshly ground black pepper. Then you need to decide what to put in the frittata.  I scrounged through my cooler and came up with red onions, tomatoes, mushrooms, a little spinach and some feta cheese.

First I sautéed all the veggies, then I poured in the eggs and topped it off with the feta. The first stage of cooking a frittata is the lightly cooking the eggs (and additional ingredients)) gently on the stove top. For about 5 minutes. At home, that would be the signal for me to slide it into a heated oven for another x minutes.  But it was camping, so I slid it on top of a grate over glowing coals.  And topped it with some foil so this would “bake.”

That brings up mention of the most important item I always bring on a camping trip—a cast iron skillet. No problem to go from stove top to the campfire.

But my frittata wasn’t going to be happy alone, so I cubed potatoes and sautéed them with some rosemary oil and onions on the stove. Then I transferred them to an old square metal baking pan to finish their cooking covered with foil (over the wood fire) while I started on the frittata.

How long you leave things over a burned down wood fire, depends on how hot your fire is, and how far away your grate is from the fire.  You want them, of course, roasting, not burning.

To top off my frittata, while it was roasting over the coals, I reduced some balsamic vinaigrette—that means gently cook it down until it thickens and sweetens.  This I drizzled over the finished frittata.

This I had to accompany with  a mimosa.  Cranberry juice and champagne.  I brought along champagne splits—small bottles of champagne such as Korbel sells.

 And then to taste.  The verdict?  The frittata was very good. A little smoky flavored added to the whole palate. And the roasted rosemary potatoes?  Fantastic.  Or foodgasmic, as I would say.

Now time for a bike ride, need to work off that delicious brunch!