After creating delicious, yet labor intensive, Bacos for last weeks Food Section Friday I was relieved, thrilled, elated, etc. at creating something a little simpler.
This weeks LA Times Food Section had a great lay out on camp out cooking. Camping is one of my favorite things to do. Another of the myriad things that made me fall in love with Todd, is that he loves the great outdoors and is an excellent camper. What I mean by that is, when we camp out, while there will always be one night of the ubiquitous hot dogs and beans, we will also, always, cook up something a little more gourmet.
What could be better then sitting under the stars, next to a campfire, sipping a fine glass of wine and eating some delicious food? It's up there people, and if you haven't tried it, you don't know what you are missing.
That's why I was excited about the Food Section this week, encouraging people to up the ante with their campfire fare.
I chose to make the Fennel and White Bean Salad. Why? Well, as I said it was simple, and, fennel is one of my all time favorite things. Then there was the fact that the fennel was sauteed in bacon, and, well, what can one say about bacon except, it's all good!
I must say up front, I cooked this on the stove, not over a campfire. But I think the results are pretty close. So without further ado...
I started out by chopping up my fennel...
The recipe calls for 2 small bulbs or 1 large bulb. I chopped this up along with my garlic and a bit of the fennel fronds.
If you are confused about fennel, as I have been since it is often labeled "anise" in the store, read this little explanation, it might help!
Next, I cooked up 8 oz worth of chopped bacon, removed it from the pan, and cooked my fennel in the left over drippings.
The fennel was cooked until it started to brown, then the recipe called for you to add 2 cloves of minced garlic and continue to cook for about 2 minutes.
While that cooked, I opened up the beans, put them in a colander and gave them a little rinse.
After that I simply mixed together the fennel, bacon and beans. Then all that was left was adding in the remaining ingredients: lemon juice, lemon zest, olive oil, cumin, salt, pepper and Tabasco.
The Results: I thought this was very tasty. I ended up adding a bit more lemon juice and a tad more oil. This was very easy and definitely "do-able" as a campfire dish. I'll for sure make it next time I go camping, or just at home. Little Chef ate the rest of it for breakfast the next day. That's saying something!
for some reason I really like the picture of rinsing the beans. The salad looks good too :)
Posted by: Olga | June 21, 2008 at 12:59 PM
p.s. Love non-breakfast foods for breakfast
Posted by: Olga | June 21, 2008 at 01:00 PM
This sounds such a perfect evening with perfect food..enjoy!
Posted by: recipes2share | June 21, 2008 at 01:06 PM
Yum! That looks fantastic whether you're camping or not.
My favorite camp meal is "hobo dinners"--something my husband introduced me to--in a tinfoil packet, mix diced potatoes, carrots, onions and ground beef--salt and pepper and whatever other seasonings you want. Cook over the fire and you're good to go.
Posted by: erin | June 22, 2008 at 12:03 PM
beans for breakfast = amazing. love it. :)
one thing i do not love, however, is camping. i'll leave that to ya'll! :)
Posted by: grace | June 23, 2008 at 07:40 AM
What a wonderful dish...it just looks perfect for summer.
Posted by: noble pig | June 23, 2008 at 11:03 AM