Kayak Kookery: A New Department for ACK

By David Eden

You've been paddling all day into a headwind with spitting rain. You pull into your destination, set up camp. and start the stove roaring. Soon the water boils, the cooking is done and you gratefully dip your spoon into a steaming hot mess of... over-salted, over-processed, freeze-dried glop.

Even though the quality of the available meals has improved greatly since I first wrote those words nine years ago, the results still rather disappoint. The freeze-drying of food certainly made a lot of options available to the camper. Packages of Sweet and Sour Pork, Beef Bourginon, and Chicken Marsala certainly sound tempting. But they just don't match fresh foods.

We try to incorporate fresh food in our camping menus. This has been the most successful on canoe or car trips, where space concerns are not quite as pressing as in a kayak or when backpacking. Most of us just don't have the experience to develop methods to bring fresh food cookery into the wild.

This is where Michael Gray comes to the rescue with his fabulous cook book Hey, I'd Eat This at Home! ACK originally reviewed this book in 2011 (July/August, 2011 Vol. 20, No. 4). Gray has had the time to work on both technique and recipes: he has been guiding trips to Alaska, New Zealand, Central America, and the Great Lakes as the founder of Uncommon Adventures since 1984. He has also taken his culinary expertise to such venues as the East Coast Canoe & Kayak Festival in Charleston, SC.

"Our lives are full of things beyond our control, and these factors have an even greater impact when we are in the backcountry. We can't control the weather, critters, or personalities - but over the years I have learned that the aroma of Georgia Peach Cake baking in the wilderness can make people forget about challenging weather and bugs.

"Many of the foods we enjoy on outdoor adventures require fairly basic ingredients commonly found in supermarkets. That makes them particularly useful during this pandemic when we are all figuring out what to make out of the odds and sods in the back of the cupboards or the mystery packages in the freezer. Here are a couple easy recipes that can be made with canned goods and seemingly odd combinations of ingredients that end up being quite tasty. You may just want to include them in your next socially distanced outdoor adventure." - Michael Gray.

Mandarin Orange Chicken with Rosemary over Rice

This one is pretty quick and easy and a pleasant change from the norm. It works with fresh, leftover, frozen, canned, or pouched chicken — ah — you might think you could substitute salmon or tuna. Don't do it. I tried it and it's a spectacular fail.

Takes about 40 minutes total, serves 4. Good with Pino Grigio or any light white wine.

INGREDIENTS:
• One lb of boneless chicken, cooked or canned.
• Veggies: any or all — small onion, small bell pepper (any color), carrot, pea pods, broccoli, etc.
• 1.5 cups of uncooked rice. Any will work, but Basmati will be most tasty.
• Can of Mandarin Orange segments, drained.
• Orange Marmalade for glaze.
• 1/2 tsp Dried Rosemary
• 1/4 cup of nuts (slivered almonds work great).

PROCEDURE
• Sauté dry rice in the bottom of a pot in a bit of olive oil until uniformly hot and sightly golden.
• Add two cups of water or chicken broth and bring back to a boil.
• Reduce heat and simmer covered for 25 min.
• While the rice is simmering, toast the nuts in a dry pan on medium high heat for a few minutes until they start to brown. Set aside.
• While your sauté pan is still hot, toss in your chopped veggies with a bit of olive oil and cook until slightly tender but still crisp.
• Add diced chicken, rosemary, a splash of water or white wine, and orange marmalade until the sauce is reduced and the ingredients are glazed.
• Take off the heat and stir in orange segments.
• Serve on top of rice garnished with toasted nuts.

Pasta in Cajun Cream Sauce

Stupid easy and fast.

Serves four. Takes 20 minutes. Good with Old Vine Zin or an crisp IPA.

INGREDIENTS:
• 12 oz. any sort of Pasta.
• Veggies: chopped onion and bell pepper at the minimum, but diced squash, eggplant, or roasted red peppers and some minced garlic, if you have any of them. Any or all work.
• 12-15 oz canned diced tomatoes or tomato sauce.
• Small can of condensed milk (NOT sweetened). Mom called it Pet milk.
• Cajun spice — 1 tsp to 1 tbs depending on taste.

PROCEDURE
• Boil the pasta in a pot of salted water for the recommended time.
• Meanwhile, sauté veggies in a frying pan with olive oil until a bit tender.
• Add tomatoes and cajun spice.
• Simmer until pasta is about done, add canned milk (or cream) and bring back up to heat. Should be thick enough to coat noodles in a rich spicy sauce.
• Drain noodles and mix into sauce.
• This is also great with shrimp, which can be added with tomatoes if you like.

Do you have a favorite recipe that you use on camping or kayaking trips? Send it to us and we will share it with our other readers. Try to take a picture of the finished dish.