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OxfordPress.com

Outdoor recipes

To say Tom Perry — a Kettering dental surgeon by day; gourmet camp chef at night — knows his way around a campfire is like saying Michelangelo had a way with a paint brush.

A recipe of his creation Pollo Poblano is a mildly complex but utterly delicious blend of Southwest spices. It can be made using one Dutch oven and a side dish. The chiles are the key.

"That was our inspiration for this dish: To combine the green chiles and poblano peppers," he said. "Neither one creates any heat that would offend even the most sensitive palate. It just creates a robust flavor."

Other campfire recipes selected are from Randy Marion of Tipp City, John Tonkin of Lebanon and Kimberly Parker of Kettering. All need a good bed of hot coals, from either wood or charcoal; two need tin foil.

Pollo poblano

(Chicken with pollo chiles) Makes 6 servings

6 boneless, skinless chicken breasts, filleted and pounded thin
1 poblano chile, cleaned and cut into 1/4-by-1/2-inch strips
8 ounces mushroom, sliced
1 large white onion, cut into 1/4-by-1/2-inch strips
Salt and pepper to taste
4 cloves garlic, pureed
2 teaspoons olive oil
1 teaspoon oregano
1 teaspoon cumin
2 tablespoons butter
2 tablespoons flour
1/2 cup chicken stock
1/4 cup sour cream
1 4-ounce can green chiles
1/2 cup white wine
1 to 2 tablespoons chopped cilantro
Juice of 1 lime

Roll chicken breasts around the sliced mushrooms, peppers and onions, placing as much of each as the chicken will wrap around. Hold together with toothpicks. Spread with garlic puree. Sprinkle with seasonings.

Pour oil into hot, 12-inch Dutch oven. Add chicken and cover. Put 8 coals beneath the oven and 16 on the lid. Bake for 1 hour.

Remove chicken to another dish. Melt butter in oven. Add flour to thicken into a roux. Add chicken broth and stir. Add coals beneath oven (6 to 8 coals more) and bring to a boil. Thicken the sauce, stirring occasionally. Reduce coals and bring to a simmer. Add sour cream, green chiles, white wine and whisk together. Thicken sauce until it coats the back of a wooden spoon. Adjust with chicken stock or cold stock and flour whisked together to correct consistency. Add cilantro and lime juice and stir. Place stuffed chicken breasts back into sauce and spoon over.

— Recipe from Tom Perry

Chilcotin river yellow jacket apple crisp

Makes 12 to 15 servings
1 apple per person, cored and quartered
3 handfuls raisins
8-10 shakes of cinnamon
3 shakes allspice
4 big handfuls brown sugar
3 handfuls flour
6 good squirts pancake syrup

Topping:
3 handfuls oats
1 handful flour
6 big handfuls granola
1 pound margarine

Grease the oven with margarine, bottom and sides.

Dump all the ingredients in the Dutch oven and stir.

Sprinkle on top, without stirring, the 3 topping ingredients in the order listed, and spread the margarine on top. Do not stir it in.

Bake for 30 to 40 minutes, with 6 hot coals on the bottom and about 25 on the lid. Serve with a blast of whipped cream per serving, if desired.

— Recipe from Randy Marion

Yumion burgers

Makes 4 servings

2 large Bermuda onions (outside paper skin removed)
1 pound ground beef
Salt and pepper to taste

Cut onions in half at equator. Remove the center 4 or 5 layers and set aside. Roll 1/4 pound of ground beef in ball to fit center section of onion you removed. Place beef in onion, cover bottom of onion with foil (not the whole thing) and set on glowing coals that have been pulled aside from the main fire. When beef is done on bottom (about 15 minutes), turn and cook another 15 minutes so meat is done through. Rotate coals to keep heat up. While meat is cooking, chop balance of onions. Have ketchup and mustard ready.

— Recipe from John Tonkin

Campfire cod and vegetables

Makes 2-4 servings

2 to 4 pieces cod
1 bag frozen vegetables
Olive oil
Salt and freshly cracked black pepper
Garlic powder
Onion powder

Sprinkle pieces of cod with onion and garlic powder, salt and pepper and lay on sheet of foil.

Put 1 to 2 handfuls of vegetables on fish and pour olive oil over fish and vegetables to add some flavor as well as help keep the food from sticking to the foil.

Close the foil and wrap with a second layer of foil for added protection from burning.

Place foil packets in an open campfire and cook for 45 minutes to 1 hour, until vegetables are soft. Turn foil packs every so often during the cooking process.

— Recipe from Kimberly Parker