Hiking for Gourmets

Whilst it is very rewarding to cook up a storm in your home kitchen, I think it's even more rewarding to get something nice to eat while being on a hiking trip.

Rule no. 1: Always have enough food with you! This includes goodies like chocolate, a wine bladder filled with port to sip in the evening, or in case you're on a shorter hike, even a bottle of red wine. Of course, it helps tremendously if you have a supportive boyfriend fiancé who offers to carry the port or the wine bottle.

Rule no. 2: Apart from the above mentioned goodies, make sure that all the food you carry is as dehydrated as humanly possible. Otherwise your backpack will be so heavy that you will reach your destination cursing just as heavily...

While being on our Christmas vacation in New Zealand, we had only planned to do an overnight-hike in the region of Wanaka on the south island. Therefore, we didn't have too many things to prepare and, luckily, our packs weren't particularly heavy.

However, what we didn't know was that the steep climb to reach our destination, the Liverpool hut, was indeed the second steepest climb in the whole National Park. Two thirds of the hike were a rather leisurely walk through a beautiful valley, whilst the last two-and-a-half hours turned out to be quite a challenge. With both hands for support we worked our way up, using trees, roots, and rocks as handles. I was glad to be in the shade of the woods otherwise I would have had to sweat even more.

Luckily, after this ordeal, we were rewarded with the most amazing view down the valley. But I didn't stare in amazement for too long - my growling stomach reminded me of the dinner yet to be cooked.
With roughly 20 people arriving the same evening at the same 6-bunk hut, we had set up camp a bit further away, enjoying our privacy and our space. Whilst many of the hikers I've met so far lived on instant noodles and the like, we truly enjoyed our couscous with mushrooms and tuna, followed by chocolate-covered almonds. After such an exhausting day, this was a real feast!

Couscous, Hiking-style

The ingredients (per person, can be easily multiplied)

100g instant couscous
a good handful of dried and sliced mushrooms (make sure to buy sliced ones as whole mushrooms will have to be cooked for much longer)
85g tuna with sun-dried tomatoes and basil (comes in a foil pouch)
salt, pepper, your favourite spice mix

optional:
instant stock cubes
whole sun-dried tomatoes
powdered milk for a creamier texture
bottle of red wine

1
Let the mushrooms with some water (amount is according to instructions on couscous package) come to a boil and cook until mushrooms are soft and not too chewy. Add the sun-dried tomatoes at this stage, if using.
Don't forget to sip your wine while cooking!

2
Add couscous and let stand until softened. Add more water if needed.

3
Season to taste and stir in tuna. Dig in!

The hint
This also works well with salmon out of a foil-pouch or with dried beef (has to be cooked with the mushrooms to soften). Powdered tomato sauce will make a good variation.

The source
My own invention

Blinis with Smoked Salmon - Disenchanted

There are things you crave that just seem too dainty to eat in reality. A feast in caviar maybe or those handmade chocolates covered in edible gold leaves. For me, blinis always were associated with the luscious festivities of the Russian aristocracy and not to be eaten by mere mortals. However, it might as well be every day fare for a tsar, I told myself. And vodka didn't have to be part of the game either. Some way or other, I finally convinced myself that blinis could simply be made for dinner - even without an invitation to a Russian palace.

Naturally, it helped that I still had lots of buckwheat flour - the souvenir from my trip to Western Australia. Armed with a cookbook about all sorts of pancakes, crepes, and blinis I set to work. Unfortunately, that book didn't turn out to be very precise. I use yeast very regularly but I still appreciate precise descriptions about the process. For example, it's not very helpful to only state the rising time and not what the dough should look like at the end. How on earth does the cookbook author know about the activity of my yeast, the temperature in my kitchen, and all the other little things that are vital for the process? Well, I tried to use my common sense and things seemed to work out.

That said, from now on I'm definitely over and done with my cravings. Blinis are thoroughly disenchanted. I won't think of them as food only fit for tsars, princes, and other aristocrats. And that's not because I served them with the now ordinary smoked salmon instead of the still rare caviar. Truth be told, my blinis turned out to be a bit bland like boring pancakes and not as finger-licking delicious as I had imagined. Maybe blinis never were that special. Maybe I should just try a better recipe.


Blinis with smoked Salmon

The ingredients

550ml milk
1 tsp dry yeast
100g buckwheat flour
165g all-purpose flour
1/2 tsp salt (if you like, use a bit more)
3 eggs, separated

To serve:
200ml creme fraiche or sour cream
300g smoked salmon (or as much as you like)
fresh dill, chopped

Serves 5-6

1
Warm the milk slightly and dissolve the yeast in it. You can leave it to rise first or use it right away which is what I did.

2
Add the milk to the remaining ingredients (except the egg whites), stirring thoroughly. You will end up with a rather runny batter.

3
Cover the bowl and leave to rise in a warm place for about 2 hours. Note: Unfortunately, the original recipe doesn't state what the batter should look like after the rising period. I decided that it looked okay and well-risen after 1,5 hours.

4
Beat egg whites until very stiff and carefully fold into the batter.

5
Ladle the batter into a greased and heated pan. I used about 2 heaped tablespoons per blini. Cook until dry on one side, flip over, and cook on the other side. Keep warm in a preheated oven, wrapped in foil.

6
Serve with smoked salmon, sour cream, chopped dill, and lots of freshly cracked pepper.

The source
Adapted from Camille Le Foll: Crepes, Blinis & Pancakes with friends

Calming down with Red Risotto

There are times when everything turns from the well-planned into the unexpectedly chaotic. Add to this friends coming over for dinner and you get me freaked-out. Luckily, my friend Nora from Life's Smorgasbord and her partner weren't expecting a dinner extravaganza - instead, Nora and I had planned to cook together. Nora even brought vital ingredients like readily marinated garlic prawns. Lucky me...

While frantically getting the kitchen into ready-to-use status, Nora contentedly sipped her red wine and chatting with me, she got me cooled down eventually. We managed to put together a very nice three course dinner: Pumpkin Soup, Red Risotto with Garlic Prawns and homemade Vanilla Custard which I had already prepared the night before.

Despite being still not very coordinated, I did not manage to botch the pumpkin soup. Nora who had chosen the risotto recipe, took charge of the main course so I didn't have to do much more than stirring... With some steamed asparagus for added vitamins this risotto proved to be an absolute winner. The amount of tomato paste was just right, not overwhelming, and provided the ideal backdrop for the juicy garlicky prawns. The only thing we changed was adding another half cup of rice and therefore adjusting the amount of chicken stock. The recipe is supposed to be for four people and I was pretty hungry after all that last-minute hurry. With good food and wine and with a little help of my friends I managed to enjoy myself and we all had a wonderful evening!

If you'd like to read Nora's account of our cooking adventure, head over to her post!

A new Tart and a new Blog

I will talk about the above pictured salmon puff pastry tart with mushrooms - later. What I really want to say is that there is a brand new food blog out there. I have not the slightest idea how many there are and how many get started each day - the numbers must be enormous. However, this one is special to me as it is the blog of my dear friend Nora - the one that got me started in the first place! About a year ago, she introduced me to this whole new world that takes up quite a lot of my spare time. Not that I blog all the time (which, sadly, you will have noticed by now) but if you count in all the other reading / photographing / planning / thinking / dreaming of and about food, you will understand what I mean. This whole new world has now a new star - come and check it out at Life's Smorgasbord.

And here comes the tart - I haven't forgotten. Having bought a slab of salmon and thinking about another way than just frying it with rice and veggies on the side, I came up with this really simple but really tasty tart. If you happen to have some frozen puff pastry in your freezer, that's dinner in a breeze.

Salmon Puff Pastry Tart with Mushroom and Cream Cheese filling

The ingredients

1 1/2 sheets of frozen puff pastry
250g salmon
150-200g mushrooms
1/2 package of cream cheese (the slightly fat reduced version was fine)
1 egg
splash of milk
1 tsp dried dill
salt
freshly cracked pepper
lemon wedges to serve

Yield: Serves 3-4

1
Preheat the oven to 220 degrees Celsius. Put the frozen sheets of puff pastry on a prepared baking sheet. I just pressed the edges together to seal it a bit.

2
Cut salmon and mushrooms into bite sized pieces.

3
In a small bowl whisk together the cream cheese and the egg, adding a bit of milk to lighten the consistency. Stir in salt, dill, and lots of pepper. Spread mixture atop the puff pastry leaving a rim of 1-2 centimetres.

4
Spread the pieces of salmon and mushrooms leaving a bit of space in between - this tart doesn't want to be crowded. Bake until the edges are golden brown and the salmon is cooked through, roughly for 20 minutes.

The hint
Serve with lemon wedges and a salad of young spinach. Leftovers are still fine the next day.

Good-bye Dinner Routine!

I really admire all those food bloggers who not only throw one dinner party after another but are also able to create elaborate weekday dinners. Usually, on weeknights we'll have pasta/rice/gnocchi with some vegetable-based sauce. Not really exciting but not totally boring either.

A couple of days ago, I remembered having an almost overripe avocado in my fridge so I had to let go of my routine and think of something else for dinner. Unfortunately, I had trouble to think of something else than guacamole - are there any other well-known avocado recipes out there? The only other thing I could imagine was salad: some green leaves and cherry tomatoes, dressed with olive oil and balsamic vinegar, garnished with diced avocado, strips of smoked salmon, and croutons (my favourite way of getting rid of leftover bread). This was a a rather nice break of our usual dinner routine. Sorry, no real recipe this time. It was more like throwing tasty things together plus adding lots of freshly cracked pepper - but it is more than easy to reproduce. Enjoy!