15 Dec The Ultimate Campfire Roast for the Holidays

Posted at 20:01h in Guidebooks by
Like a decked-out dining table, a crackling campfire brings people closer together––especially when there’s an epic meal involved! Delicious for both meat-eaters and vegans, all you need to prepare this easy two-course roast is an open fire, a roll of tin foil, a shovel, and a lot of patience. Oh, and your favorite people to share a feast with.

Cooking with a campfire

Fire-cooking can be as simple or complex as you want it to be. We’re going for what is possibly the easiest way to harness the heat of a campfire––grilling your food in its glowing embers.
    1. Dig a large fire pit on a spot with clearance around and above. Dig a shallow, smaller pit directly next to the first. Line the double pit with stones (or greenwood) for safety and heat retention.
    2. Lay down tinder, like newspapers or dry grass, on the large fire pit. Build a vertical cone of thin twigs and dry branches on top of the tinder.
    3. Light your tinder. Once the other material catches fire, feed it with larger branches until you can add hardwood.
    4. Let your campfire burn until you’re left with a big pile of smoldering embers.
With the fire ablaze, it’ll take up to an hour for firewood to turn into hot coals. Once that happens, transfer some embers to the smaller pit and top that up with hardwood. This gives you a cozy campfire while the food is cooking in the embers from the larger pit.

The ultimate two-course menu for a campfire roast

Inspired by Christmas, fresh herbs, and Mediterranean cuisine, this two-course roast will generously serve a whole company.
Appetizer: Roasted chestnuts with pancetta and honey*
*VG: oyster mushrooms

Main course: Rack of lamb* with flatbread and tzatziki
*VG: Charred cabbage

Dessert: Marshmallows dipped in chocolate*
*VG: vegan chocolate sauce

Total preparation time: 2 hours
Serves: 8 hungry adults
Ingredients:
64 chestnuts
400 g of thinly sliced pancetta or bacon (VG: replace with oyster mushrooms)
A handful of rosemary sprigs
Honey (omit for vegan appetizer)
2 racks of lamb or 16 cutlets (VG: replace with 2 large heads of green cabbage)
3 lemons (only 1 when VG main course)

1 kg plain white flour
10 g dried yeast / 30 g when fresh

1 l greek yogurt (or vegan yogurt)
2-3 cloves of garlic
1 cucumber
Handful of mint

Olive oil
Black pepper
Salt

(Vegan) Marshmallows
200ml (vegan) milk
(vegan) chocolate bar

Aluminium foil

Steps to cook the ultimate holiday campfire roast

Tip: if you’re not vegan but keen on eating less meat, give the charred cabbage a try. Popularized by Michelin-starred chef Josiah Citrin, the juicy, steak-like cabbage quickly became a favourite on the meat-dotted menu of his restaurant Charcoal.
    1. While the fire is slowly going from blazing to smoldering, pile flour on a clean tabletop (cover a flat surface with aluminium foil when outdoors) and dig a well in the centre. Pour in 1 ½ cup of water, 2 cups of yoghurt, yeast, 2 tbsp of salt and 2 tbsp of olive oil. If you have a hard time forming a smooth dough, add some more water while kneading. Cover the dough with a damp cloth and let rest for an hour or until the fire has turned to embers.
    2. While the dough is rising, whip up a killer tzatziki in the container the yoghurt came in. Mix leftover greek yoghurt with minced cucumber, chopped mint, 2-3 cloves of minced garlic, the juice and zest of 1 lemon, 2 tbsp of olive oil, 1 tbsp of freshly ground black pepper, and salt to taste.
    3. Cut crosses in the rounded side of the chestnuts with a serrated knife. Pack them in aluminium foil. (VG appetizer: Next, clean the oyster mushrooms, give them a light olive oil rub, and season with black pepper. Pack mushrooms in a separate tin foil.)
    4. Cut the rack of lamb into individual cutlets and wrap the bones in aluminium foil. Brush the meat with olive oil.
    5. Once your fire has turned into a bed of red embers, use a shovel to dig a hole halfway down and bury the packaged chestnuts. Leave for 20 minutes. (VG appetizer: do the same for the oyster mushrooms. Leave for 15 min.)
      (VG main course: After brushing with olive oil and seasoning with plenty of salt, bury 2 heads of cabbage directly in the embers. Leave for 1 hour or until charred on all sides and tender on the inside.)
    6. Leave the chestnuts to rest in a cloth (or clean shirt) for 10 minutes after unpacking.
    7. Meanwhile, place a sheet of aluminium foil over the embers as a makeshift grill plate. Cook pancetta in a drizzle of olive oil until browned and slightly crispy.
    8. Peel chestnuts and wrap in pancetta together with a small sprig of rosemary. Dover with a few drops of honey and serve. (VG: wrap chestnuts in oyster mushrooms, sprinkle salt and with freshly ground black pepper and serve.)
    9. Get the bowl of dough and tear a lemon-sized ball from it. Place this serving on a cutting board and use a wine bottle to roll it into a flat disc of 3-5 mm thick. Repeat until the dough is finished.
    10. Pace discs of dough directly over the embers. After the dough bubbles up for a while, turn it around until the flatbread puffs up and both sides are done. Brush with olive oil and place in a kitchen cloth to keep warm and fluffy (only brush with olive oil later when using a clean shirt instead of a kitchen cloth).
    11. Place the cutlets of lamb directly on the embers and turn often until they reach desired doneness (medium-rare in about 5 minutes). Squeeze lemon on rack of lamb and sprinkle with salt. Serve with flatbread and tzatziki. (VG: After cooking for 1 hour, take the cabbage out from the embers and cut into quarters. Serve with flatbread and tzatziki.)
    12. After all the gastronomic endeavors, huddle around the fire with sticks and marshmallows. Grill them to your liking. (VG: Use vegan marshmallows.)
    13. Dip in baileys for a yummy Christmas twist. (VG: Combine a cup of vegan milk with a cup of chopped vegan chocolate in a makeshift aluminum pot. Once melted, take off the embers and add in another cup of chocolate. Stir until thickened. Once done, dip marshmallows in chocolate sauce.)
And there you have it, a two-course meal buried in the hot embers of a campfire. Enjoyed in a backyard as much as in the wild. Happy holidays!
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