Saturday, August 9, 2008

"Roughin' It": Orzo Salad


merge

Last weekend, R and I went canoe-camping with some friends. We try to get out camping at least once in the summer and maybe once or twice in the winter (you can read about winter camping here).

The weather held up for most of the weekend, but with the amount of rain we've had this summer, the mosquitoes and black flies were in full force. I have 27 bites on my right arm and hand alone. What can I say, bugs like me.

Food on a canoe-camping trip can be a bit tricky. Since we weren't doing any portaging, I decided it wouldn't be necessary to rough it too much. I have a small insulated bag from Ikea that I pack perishable food in.

One issue when you're canoe camping is water. We brought 2L and our iodine water treatment tablets to purify lake water. But, after seeing our friend the water snake, I wasn't particularly interested in drinking lake water (I know, kind of prissy). I was going to post a picture of the snake, but Giz would murder me. I may even be in trouble for using the word "snake" in a food post. Sorry mom.

I decided to make an orzo salad to take camping. It's not something I would want to make for the 2nd or 3rd night of a camping trip (unless you freeze it ahead of time). Orzo salad was something I could cook ahead of time, keep cool for the day and easily warm up again for dinner.

Ingredients
1 cup of orzo pasta
4 cups of chicken (or vegetable) soup broth
2 italian sausages (optional)
2 zucchini (1 yellow and 1 green)
cherry tomatoes - 1 pint (each tomato cut in half)
1 pepper (1/2 yellow and 1/2 green)

Bring chicken stock to a boil. During that time, brown your meat. When stock is boiling, add orzo pasta. Once meat has browned, remove meat and add desired vegetables. I grilled thinly sliced zucchini and peppers in the pan where the meat was cooked. When that was close to being ready, I added the cherry tomatoes. Once the orzo is cooked (approx 8-1o minutes), I combined everything together.


orzo2

All I had to do was reheat the salad on my camp stove at dinner time.

stove

I'm submitting this recipe for Waiter, there's something in my.....


The theme this time is picnic food:

This time, we're looking for picnic recipes, anything that transports well, can be prepared in advance and doesn't need (much) preparation on the spot.

Also check out White on Rice's camp stove cooking option. They have a video about hiking in Yosemite National Park and they make a vegetable couscous beside a running stream of water.

In the spirit of camping, here are some of my favourite photos from canoe- or car-camping trips over the past few years.

lake night
canoe canoeing
view1 sunset
StumbleUpon

18 comments:

What's Cookin Chicago said...

That salad looks delicious! The colors and the even balance of protein, veggies and starch - great recipe :)

Anonymous said...

A pretty nice meal I'd say for camping!

I want to see the snake...sorry Giz.

OhioMom said...

LOL .. we went camping in Canada when I was a wee girl, Mama saw the snake in the lake first .. she said it was sticking it's tongue out at her :) No swimming for us kids .. bummer!

Your salad looks yummy.

Adam said...

Wow, beautiful scenery. I know it's supposed to, I mean it IS camping, but still.

Thank you from the bottom of my food loving soul for NOT posting the snake. I literally run the other way if I see a snake. They are just sooo... *shudder*

Glad you had fun though, minus your right hand :)

giz said...

Thank you Psych for not including the snake in your post. I guess you've had enough experience in how easily I can transform from a seemingly normal (slight exaggeration)person to the Tazmanian Devil at merely the sight of snakes.

thepassionatecook said...

i've been trying to find orzo pasta for years now without luck! they sell some ready-made orzo pasta salad at one of our supermarkets, but i have never found the raw form in any of the italian delis. where do you get yours?
thanks for your delicious contribution!

Anonymous said...

Now that orzo salad is one of the best camp dishes I've seen. Believe me, if you guys camped next to us, we'd be over to lick your pan!
How fun to canoe-camp, something we've always wanted to do one day. The view are wonderful, albeit the mosquitos! ugh! those darn bugs eat me alive.
Thanks for the pics of your previous trips too. Nice to know that you're a camper too!

glamah16 said...

I would not have drank the water either.I agree that is a elegant meal for a camping trip.

Darius T. Williams said...

That orzo salad looks yummers...really, it does. I'm gonna have to try that. I wonder if it works for quinoa too - hmmm, we shall see.


Sorry about the mosquitos - lol.

-DTW
www.everydaycookin.blogspot.com

Antonio Tahhan said...

beautiful photos!! of the water AND the orzo salad. Oh, and I totally understand your aversion to the water after you spotted that slimy snake - they freak me out, too!

PG said...

thepassionatecook - I always see orzo near the pasta section in my grocery store.

That Girl said...

orzo salad is my number 1 rec for picnics!

grace said...

lovely pictures, and excellent use of summer garden goodness.
i don't particularly enjoy camping, mostly because of those nasty bugs and creepy critters. oh, and the whole lack-of-a-toilet issue. :)

Nic said...

I love orzo and this is colourful and delicious!

Laura Paterson said...

Great camping meal!

I love your pics, they are beautiful.

Dharm said...

That salad looks terrific but not as terrific as the view. I doubt I'd have drunk anything that had a snake in it either....

kat said...

gorgeous pictures & that is a fine looking camping meal

Deborah said...

First of all, what gorgeous photos! I'm always looking for good food for camping, and this dish sounds perfect! Especially easy since you make it ahead of time and only have to reheat it.

LinkWithin Related Stories Widget for Blogs
Share/Bookmark