Jackfruit is one of those strange-looking Asian fruits that can be hard to know quite what to do with, but these days it’s common in canned form, which is a very easy way to use it. This pulled jackfruit mix is also great in tacos or burritos.
For the pulled jackfruit
4 tbsp olive oil
2 small onions, chopped
4 garlic cloves, crushed
2 x 400-g/14-oz cans jackfruit in water, drained and cut into quarters
500ml/17fl oz/generous 2 cups vegetable stock
2 tsp chopped thyme
½ chipotle chilli, soaked in hot water for 15 minutes, drained and chopped
2 tbsp apple cider vinegar
2 tsp tamari
2 tbsp blackstrap molasses
½ tsp mustard powder
pinch of black pepper
1 batch chipotle barbecue sauce (see here)
For the barbecued pineapple
1 pineapple, peeled, cored and cut into slices about 2cm/¾in thick
1 tbsp olive oil
To serve
4 burger buns of choice, halved and toasted
1 head little gem lettuce
1 batch rainbow slaw (see here)
Begin by making the pulled jackfruit. Gently heat the olive oil in a skillet or pan and sauté the onions for a couple of minutes. Add the garlic and the jackfruit and continue to sauté gently for about 10 minutes until they all just start to brown.
Add all the other jackfruit ingredients except for the barbecue sauce, then stir well and cover. Bring to the boil, then turn down the heat and simmer for about 35–40 minutes or until all the liquid has been absorbed. Check it every 10 minutes or so to ensure it isn’t sticking, and if there is any liquid left after 40 minutes, simply remove the lid and keep cooking until the liquid has gone.
Using a potato masher, lightly mash the jackfruit to the point that it begins to break apart and starts to resemble pulled meat. Place to one side.
Meanwhile, make the barbecued pineapple. Rub a little olive oil on both sides of each slice with your finger. Place the slices on the grill if outdoors, or in a very hot griddle plate if indoors, and grill until you have good colour on both sides. Place to one side.
When you’re ready to serve, put the pulled jackfruit back over a gentle heat. Once it’s begun to take on some heat and colour, spoon over 4–5 tablespoons of the barbecue sauce. Mix well and continue to cook until thoroughly heated.
Load the buns with some lettuce leaves, a generous amount of the pulled jackfruit, an extra dollop of the barbecue sauce, if you like, a slice or two of the barbecued pineapple and a spoonful of the rainbow slaw.
Translated as ‘rancher’s eggs’, this is a mighty campfire breakfast to power you through any hard day’s slog. But really it’s great at any time of the day and we love anything that can be done in one dish. It’s traditionally served with fried eggs, but when we’re in the outdoors we prefer to poach the eggs in the skillet (as below) for ease.
For the refried beans
1 tbsp olive oil
1 small onion, chopped
1 garlic clove, crushed
pinch of ground cinnamon
½ tsp ground cumin
salt and black pepper
1 x 400-g/14-oz can black beans, drained and rinsed
zest of ½ lime
juice of ¼ lime
For the tomato sauce
1 tbsp olive oil
1 small onion, chopped
1 garlic clove, crushed
1 red pepper, deseeded and sliced lengthways
300g/10½oz cherry or plum tomatoes, roughly chopped
1 dried ancho chilli (should weigh about 15g/½oz)
1 bay leaf
For the rest
4 eggs
75g/2¾oz feta cheese, crumbled
1 avocado, peeled, pitted and roughly sliced
zest of ½ lime
juice of ¼ lime
a few sprigs coriander (cilantro), leaves picked
4–6 pure corn tortillas
1 lime, cut into wedges, to serve
Begin by making the refried beans. Heat a skillet on your chosen outdoor heat source, or on the hob (stove) if cooking indoors. Add the olive oil followed by the onion and sauté for a couple of minutes until translucent. Add the garlic, cinnamon, cumin and a little salt and pepper and sauté for another couple of minutes. Add the black beans and continue to cook for about 10 minutes, crushing them as they cook with a potato masher. If it gets too dry at any stage, just add a splash of water. Finish by mixing in the lime zest and juice and transfer to a bowl until needed.
Reheat the skillet and add the olive oil for the tomato sauce before adding the onion and garlic. Sauté for about 3–4 minutes until they begin to caramelize, then add the sliced red pepper and continue to sauté for another 5 minutes, or until it all starts to take on some nice colour. Add the tomatoes, the whole ancho chilli, the bay leaf and a pinch of salt and pepper along with about 100ml/3½fl oz/scant ½ cup water. Cover and cook for about 10 minutes, stirring occasionally. Remove the chilli and the bay leaf and then take the skillet off the heat.
Chop half of the removed chilli and stir it back into the skillet (you can add more if you’re a chilli fiend but this is a comfortable amount). Now make four little indents in the tomato sauce and crack an egg into each.
Return to the heat, cover once again and cook for about 3–5 minutes until the eggs are cooked to your liking. Take off the heat once more.
Remove the lid, sprinkle over the feta, then add the avocado, lime zest and juice, and the coriander.
Quickly heat the tortillas by popping them on the grill for a minute or two until you have some char lines.
To serve, use each tortilla as a base and pile up with the refried beans and a generous amount of the skillet contents. You can’t go wrong with an additional wedge of lime to serve.
Asparagus season is definitely one of our favourite times of year, and it’s definitely one of our favourite things to quickly prepare on a skillet as a knockout side dish or snack.
100ml/3½fl oz/scant ½ cup water
250g/9oz asparagus, woody ends removed
2 tbsp olive oil
30g/1oz/2 tbsp wholegrain mustard
30ml/1fl oz/2 tbsp lemon juice
1 tsp honey
salt and black pepper
Heat the skillet on your chosen outdoor heat source, or on the hob (stove) if indoors, then add the water and the asparagus and cook with a lid on for about 5 minutes until the asparagus is just tender. Strain off any excess water and then add the olive oil, mustard, lemon juice, honey and a generous pinch of salt and pepper.
Continue to cook, stirring occasionally for another couple of minutes until it’s all well combined and the asparagus is cooked to your preference. Pour into a side dish to serve.
Vegan option Omit the honey.
A classic American dish, there is fierce debate about whether or not to include a sweetener, with the South saying nay and the North saying yea. We’ve both got a sweet tooth (and love a sweet and savoury combo) so are in the northern camp, but just omit the honey if you prefer. Great at the campfire as an accompaniment to chillies and stews, but also pretty darn yummy on it’s own with a bit of butter.
115g/4oz/½ cup butter
125g/4½oz/scant 1 cup plain white (all-purpose) flour
125g/4½oz/¾ cup cornmeal
40g/1½oz/3¼ tbsp unrefined brown sugar
1 tsp baking powder
½ tsp bicarbonate of soda (baking soda)
pinch of salt
240ml/9fl oz/1 cup buttermilk
50g/1¾oz/about 3 tbsp honey
2 eggs
Preheat the oven to 200°C/400°F/Gas 6 or, if outdoors, prepare a heat source for your skillet and make sure you’ll have some embers for later.
Place the skillet on your chosen heat source to melt the butter and then pour most of the butter into a small bowl, leaving just a trace in the skillet.
In another bowl, whisk together the flour, cornmeal, sugar, baking powder, bicarbonate of soda and salt.
And in another bowl whisk together the buttermilk, honey and eggs.
Pour the egg mixture and the butter into the dry mixture and whisk thoroughly until well combined but not over-mixed.
Gently heat the skillet, then remove from the heat and add all of the bread mixture. Smooth it out so it’s evenly distributed and then place in the oven for about 20 minutes. If you’re outdoors, cover with a lid and bake Dutch-oven style (see here). In either case, the bread is ready when it’s risen and fluffy like a sponge cake but a bit crisp on the outside. And it’s definitely best served hot!
Fresh cherries are always wonderful but we’ve never managed to stop the birds from eating all the cherries on our tree, so we tend to use frozen sour cherries for convenience, or also if it’s the wrong time of year. This is an excellent camping breakfast but you can make the cherries and crème fraîche ahead of time to bring with you if that’s easier. If you do use fresh or can’t get sour cherries, you might want to slightly reduce the sugar to taste.
When cooking the hotcakes, especially if outdoors, you don’t want the skillet to get too hot, so just move it to the side of the grill if you need it to cool down.
For the sour cherries
150ml/5fl oz/scant ⅔ cup water
150g/5½oz/¾ cup unrefined brown sugar
½ tsp vanilla extract
1 cinnamon stick
300g/10½oz frozen sour cherries
For the sweet crème fraîche
200g/7oz/scant 1 cup crème fraîche
8g/¼oz/1 tbsp icing (confectioners’) sugar
For the hotcakes
100g/3½oz/¾ cup wholemeal self-raising (self-rising) flour
25g/1oz/2 tbsp unrefined brown sugar
100ml/3½fl oz/scant ½ cup milk
1 egg
10g/⅓oz/2 tsp butter
Begin by making the sour cherry mix. Place the water, brown sugar, vanilla and cinnamon stick in a pan and gently bring to the boil. Add the cherries and bring back up to the boil, stirring occasionally. Taste the cherries to make sure they’re cooked through and when they are, remove from the heat and place to one side until needed.
Put the crème fraîche and icing sugar together in a bowl and mix well to combine. Again, place to one side until needed.
Make the hotcakes by mixing the flour and sugar in a bowl. Then, in another bowl, lightly whisk the milk and egg. Pour that into the first bowl and give it all a good mix until you have a fairly thick pancake batter.
Heat a skillet on your chosen outdoor heat source (or on the hob/stove on a fairly low heat if cooking indoors) Add the butter and allow it to melt, then pour the melted butter into the hotcake batter and mix. Use a piece of paper towel to coat the skillet with what butter remains and return to the heat.
Drop about 1 tablespoon of the batter per hotcake into the skillet and leave to cook until you start to see bubbles on the surface of the batter. Use a palette knife to turn the cakes over and continue to cook for about 2–3 minutes until golden brown on the other side too. You may need to do this in batches.
Serve the cakes piping hot in a stack along with the cherries and a generous dollop of the sweet crème fraîche.
This is such an easy one-skillet dessert, ideal for making over a fire and enjoying outdoors. The previous keeper of our allotment was Greek and so we inherited an abundance of fig trees, which always leaves us with a glut in the summer. This is a perfect way for us to enjoy them in situ and just moments after they’ve been picked. If you don’t have figs, you can alternatively use many other kinds of fruits; pitted nectarines, peaches or plums are all great cooked in this way too.
There’s a fine line when it comes to burning (it goes against every rule of Dave’s chef training), but you do need to hold your nerve and not move the figs around for long enough to achieve that depth of flavour only something a little blackened can achieve.
20g/¾oz/¼ cup flaked (sliced) almonds
30g/1oz/2½ tbsp unrefined brown sugar
6 fresh figs, halved
zest of ½ lemon, plus extra to garnish
½ sprig rosemary, woody part removed, plus a couple of sprigs to garnish
1 tsp vanilla extract
20g/¾oz/1½ tbsp butter
100g/3½oz/scant ½ cup mascarpone, to serve
Heat a skillet on your chosen outdoor heat source, or on the hob (stove) if cooking indoors. Add the flaked almonds and toast for a minute or so, continuously moving them around, then transfer them to a bowl and place to one side. Temporarily remove the skillet from the heat.
Put the sugar in a bowl and dip the cut side of each fig half into the sugar so they’re well coated. Leave them in the bowl with any remaining sugar and mix in the lemon zest, rosemary and vanilla. Place the skillet back on the heat, melt the butter, then arrange the figs, cut side down, around the skillet and spoon over anything remaining in the bowl. Let the figs begin to burn, which should take about 5 minutes, before flipping them over to do the same on the other side for a couple of minutes. Flip them over once again and cook until things have got a bit smoky and really well caramelized. If at any point the mixture starts to get too thick or caramelizes too soon, just add a splash of water and continue.
Remove the skillet from the heat and transfer the figs to a serving dish. Add a dash of water to the remains of the skillet and then drizzle that liquid over the figs.
Top with the toasted flaked almonds, a little more lemon zest, a generous spoonful of mascarpone and a sprig of rosemary.
Another super-easy one-skillet dessert, this recipe is great proof that sometimes you really can’t beat simplicity. We were first served a version of it by our good friend Ananda, the chef and manager at the amazing Last House in Sri Lanka, and we’ve been regularly making it at home ever since. If you want your friends to go ‘yum’, this is the one!
60ml/2fl oz/¼ cup water
60g/2oz/5 tbsp unrefined brown sugar
4 bananas, peeled and cut into about
3-cm/1¼-in pieces
½ tsp vanilla extract
20g/¾oz/1½ tbsp butter
vanilla ice cream, to serve
Heat a skillet on your chosen outdoor heat source (or on the hob/stove if cooking indoors), then add the water and sugar and heat, stirring occasionally, until the sugar has dissolved. Add the bananas and vanilla extract and gently stir. Cook for about 5–10 minutes, moving the bananas around, until they appear soft, adding little splashes of water as needed if the caramel starts to look too thick or as if it’s going to burn.
Add the butter and when it’s melted and mixed through, spoon the bananas into bowls and add a generous amount of vanilla ice cream. Serve immediately.
As a final touch, you can add a little water to the used skillet and heat until the water has reduced down, then drizzle the sticky remains over the bananas and ice cream.
This is probably one to cook at home, but you can take the chilled custard in your skillet to the barbecue and finish it there by either burning the sugar topping with a blow torch or getting another skillet red hot and bringing it down onto the sugar. This is delicious served with some fresh raspberries or redcurrants. We use a 20-cm/8-in skillet for this one.
500ml/17fl oz/generous 2 cups double (heavy) cream
3 lemongrass sticks, pounded, cut into pieces and then finely shredded
½ tsp vanilla extract
6 egg yolks
55g/2oz/4½ tbsp light brown sugar, plus
40g/1½oz/3¼ tbsp for topping
butter, for greasing
punnet (tray) of raspberries or redcurrants, to serve (optional)
Preheat the oven to 160°C/315°F/Gas 2–3.
Place the cream, lemongrass and vanilla extract in a pan and heat gently until it just reaches a simmer. Remove from the heat and leave to one side. Meanwhile, place the egg yolks and the 55g/2oz sugar in a bowl and whisk thoroughly. Strain the warmed cream into the egg mixture and give it all a good whisk.
Very lightly grease your skillet (or ovenproof frying pan) with the butter and pour in the egg and cream mixture. Place the skillet in a deep roasting pan and make a bain-marie by adding water to the roasting pan until it comes halfway up the skillet. Place carefully in the oven and bake for 20–25 minutes until the custard is just set but still has a bit of a wobble in the middle.
Carefully transfer the skillet to a shallow icy bath so the brûlée doesn’t continue to cook in the pan. Once cool, transfer to the fridge until fully chilled.
Spread the remaining 40g/1½oz sugar over the cold custard and burn with a blow torch (or you could alternatively make the base of another skillet very hot and bring it down for about 15 seconds on top of the sugar). Serve with some raspberries or redcurrants, if using.
