Single-Burner Stove Pasta with Spinach and Plenty of Tomatoes (Makes 2 Servings)
Single-Burner Stove Pasta with Spinach and Plenty of Tomatoes (Makes 2 Servings)
We bring you this recipe from our panel, “Anime Foodies: Laid-Back Camp Season 3 Part 1”.
Ahead of the final group campout of the season with everyone, Rin goes out on a solo camping trip to experience the pleasant, if fleeting time between the change of seasons. To help use some of the bevy of tomatoes that Ena brought her from their recent trip, Rin again whips out her guide to simple camping recipes to try out this tomato-centric one pot pasta dish. Though originally intended for a single person, we’ve modified the recipe to serve two.
Slice your bacon into strips and fry over medium heat until crispy.
While that cooks, core and chop 2 of the medium tomatoes into quarters and deseed and slice the Hawk’s Claw peppers thinly.
Once the bacon is crispy, add 2 TBSP of olive oil, minced garlic, Hawk’s Claw peppers, and the quartered tomatoes and cook for 2-3 minutes.
Break apart the now slightly softened tomatoes and cook for another 3-4 minutes or until the tomatoes are completely soft.
Add the spinach, herb salt, kosher salt, and water in that order and raise the heat to bring the pot to a boil.
Once boiling, break the pasta in half and boil for 5 minutes, stirring occasionally.
While that boils, core and chop the remaining 4 tomatoes into a medium dice.
Once the pasta reaches time, add the diced tomatoes on top, cover, reduce the heat back to medium, and allow the pasta to finish boiling for the final 2 minutes.
Check if the pasta is cooked through and add water to boil further as necessary.
Once the pasta is done, turn off the heat, add another TBSP of olive oil and 2 pinches of herb salt, and serve.
Optional/Notes:
For the Hawk’s Claw pepper substitutes, Fresno peppers will be on the less hot side and Thai Bird’s Eye chilies will be on the hotter side.
7 oz. of pasta – 200g from the show measurements – is around half of a standard American pasta box. For convenience when camping, weigh this out ahead of time and bring the pasta pre-broken in a bag to the campsite.
The kosher salt is a separate addition by us as the amount of herb salt needed to get to the salt content needed would add entirely too much herb flavor to the dish.
If you’ll be camping, measure out your water ahead of time, add the kosher salt to it, and bring it in a water bottle for convenience and to mitigate the need for a measuring cup on site.
This recipe is made for 2 servings and is easily crafted in a 2 quart saucepan. For anything larger, something like a Dutch oven would be more prudent.
Adding the spinach first will mitigate any chance of the splashing oil or bacon grease when pouring in the water.
The spinach, when added, will make it look like the 2 quart saucepan won’t have enough volume to it, but it will wilt down significantly.
We bring you this recipe from our panel, “Anime Foodies: Laid-Back Camp The Movie”.
During the construction of the campsite in Yamanashi, our characters spend the night to give the campground a test run. Nadeshiko and Aoi are assigned to feed the group and stumble upon a tremendous sale on salmon which they take advantage of for a selection of dishes for the evening. This first recipe we see them create is a play on a Finnish soup called lohikeitto.
6 Cups - Water
1 ¼ Pound Skin-Off – Salmon
7 – Black Peppercorns
2 – Bay Leaves
1 Medium – White Onion
4 Medium – Carrots
2 Small – Russet Potatoes
1 TSP – Dried Dill
1 TSP – Kosher Salt
1/2 Cup – Heavy Cream
Bring the water to a boil over high heat.
As the water boils, peel the carrots and chop these and the onions into a large dice.
Once the water is boiling, add the peppercorns, bay leaves, onions, and carrots; cover; reduce the heat to medium; and cook for 5 minutes.
As this is cooking, peel the potatoes and chop into large, bite-sized pieces.
After the 5 minutes are up, add the potatoes, cover, and cook for another 8 minutes.
As this is cooking, check the salmon for bones and slice into 10 large nuggets.
After the 8 minutes are up, add the salmon, salt, cream, and dill; reduce the heat to medium low; cover; cook for a final 5 minutes, and serve.
Optional/Notes:
If you use skin on salmon, make sure to check for any leftover scales on the skin before slicing it.
If you want a bit of a richer taste to the soup, you can substitute the water for a fish stock though this may reduce the amount of salt you need to add.
The small number of peppercorns don’t add a noticeable pepper flavor, so these can be crushed or ground if you want more pepper flavor to the soup.
If you would like to use fresh dill, increase the amount to 1 TBSP.
BIBLIOGRAPHY - “ANIME FOODIES: LAID-BACK CAMP THE MOVIE”
This is the bibliography for our entry in the Anime Foodies series of panels, “Anime Foodies: Laid-Back Camp The Movie”. The sources include not only places from which we garnered background of the food we were cooking, but also sources that helped us determine how to craft our own version of the recipes we were creating.
This is the second Anime Foodies panel which has a formal bibliography of sources. Those marked with double asterisks are regular sources we’ve used in all of the panels in the series and are a good starting point for anyone interested in Japanese food and its history.
Bibliography:
Afro. Laid-Back Camp. Vol. 6, Yen Press, 2019.
Afro. Laid-Back Camp. Vol. 7, Yen Press, 2019.
“Anethum graveolens L.” Royal Botanic Gardens Kew, https://powo.science.kew.org/taxon/urn:lsid:ipni.org:names:837530-1.
Friesen, Katy June. “Where Did the Taco Come From?” Smithsonian Magazine, https://www.smithsonianmag.com/arts-culture/where-did-the-taco-come-from-81228162/.
Greg. “Hot Buttered Rum 2 Ways AND Fat Washing! | How to Drink.” YouTube, uploaded by How To Drink, 23 Nov. 2019, https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=cCbEwyntSCM.
“Hokkaido Salmon Hot Pot (Ishikari Nabe) 石狩鍋” Just One Cookbook, https://www.justonecookbook.com/salmon-hot-pot/.
“Hoto Noodle Soup from Yamanashi ほうとう” Just One Cookbook, https://www.justonecookbook.com/hoto-noodle-soup-yamanashi/#wprm-recipe-container-79243.
“Houtou (ほうとう)” Food in Japan, https://www.foodinjapan.org/kanto/yamanashi/houtou/.
“How to make Houtou – Yamanashi local speciality noodle dish recipe” Japanese Cooking Class Tokyo, https://japanesecookingclasstokyo.wordpress.com/2014/01/03/how-to-make-houtou-yamanashi-local-speciality-noodle-dish-recipe/.
“How to Make the Best Tempura 天ぷら” Just One Cookbook, https://www.justonecookbook.com/tempura-recipe/.
Hua, Charlie. “Kiritanpo: Trying out one of Akita’s local specialties” Japan Travel, https://en.japantravel.com/akita/kiritanpo/55809.
“Hypomesus olidus” Integrated Taxonomic Information System – Report, https://www.itis.gov/servlet/SingleRpt/SingleRpt?search_topic=TSN&search_value=162031#null.
**Ishige, Naomichi. The History and Culture of Japanese Food. London, Kegan Paul Limited, 2001.**
“"Ishikari" Salmon Hot Pot (Ishikari nabe)” NHK World – Japan, https://web.archive.org/web/20201101192650/https://www.nhk.or.jp/dwc/food/recipe/kyou_12310.html.
“Ishikari Nabe Recipe (Salmon and Miso Hot Pot in Hokkaido)” Cooking With Dog, https://cookingwithdog.com/recipe/ishikari-nabe/.
“Japan-Mexico Relations (Basic Data)” Ministry of Foreign Affairs of Japan, https://www.mofa.go.jp/region/latin/mexico/data.html.
“Kiritampo Nabe (Rice Stick Hot Pot)” NHK World, https://web.archive.org/web/20180318093216/http://www.nhk.or.jp:80/dwc/recipes/detail/138.html.
“Kiritanpo (きりたんぽ)” Food in Japan, https://www.foodinjapan.org/tohoku/akita/kiritanpo/.
Laid-Back Camp. Directed by Yoshiaki Kyougoku. C-Station, 2018.
Laid-Back Camp Season 2. Directed by Yoshiaki Kyougoku. C-Station, 2021.
Laid-Back Camp The Movie. Directed by Yoshiaki Kyougoku. C-Station, 2022.
Miller, Max. “Making 400 Year Old Buttered Beere.” YouTube, uploaded by Tasting History with Max Miller, 10 Mar. 2020, https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ZlMhZvOX2ps.
“Motsunabe” Japanese food style, https://jpnfood.com/recipe/meat/motsunabe.
“Motsunabe: How to Eat and the Best Restaurants in Fukuoka” Savor Japan, https://savorjapan.com/contents/discover-oishii-japan/motsunabe-how-to-eat-and-the-best-restaurants-in-fukuoka/.
“Motsunabe recipe もつ鍋” The Japanese Food Lab, https://thejapanesefoodlab.com/motsunabe/.
“Motsunabe (もつ鍋)” Food in Japan, https://www.foodinjapan.org/kyushu/fukuoka/motsunabe/.
“Okinawa Taco Rice and Cheese (Cafe Style)” Sudachi Recipes, https://sudachirecipes.com/okinawa-taco-rice/.
“Okinawa Taco Rice (Video) タコライス” Just One Cookbook, https://www.justonecookbook.com/taco-rice/.
“Recipe of Speedy Lightly Flavored! Hakata-style Motsunabe (Offal Hot Pot) with Soy Sauce Based Soup” Ground-Skillet, https://ground-skillet.web.app/734-recipe-of-speedy-lightly-flavored-hakata-style-motsunabe-offal-hot-pot-with-soy-sauce-based-soup/.
“Salmon Hot Pot (Ishikari Nabe)” RecipeTin Japan, https://japan.recipetineats.com/salmon-hot-pot-ishikari-nabe/.
Sam. “Aburi Technique for Fish” Chef Epic, https://chefepic.com/aburi-technique-for-fish/.
“Seared Salmon Sushi (Aburi)” Cooking with Cocktail Rings, https://cookingwithcocktailrings.com/seared-salmon-sushi-aburi/.
**Singleton Hachisu, Nancy. Japanese Farm Food. Kansas City, Andrews McMeel Publishing, 2012.**
**Singleton Hachisu, Nancy. Preserving the Japanese Way. Kansas City, Andrews McMeel Publishing, 2015.**
“【Smelt Tempura】 How to make Smelt tempura With technical explanation to stand fins” YouTube, uploaded by 逢禅天ぷらチャンネル / AIZEN TEMPURA CHANNEL 1 Oct. 2020, https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=H3KTXNGGAL4.
“Soy Milk Hot Pot 豆乳鍋” Just One Cookbook, https://www.justonecookbook.com/soy-milk-hot-pot-tonyu-nabe/.
“Taco Rice (タコライス)” No Recipes, https://norecipes.com/okinawa-taco-rice/.
Turkell, Michael Harlan. “Foil Yaki Is the Best” Taste, https://tastecooking.com/foil-yaki-best/.
U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service. Wakasagi (Hypomesus nipponensis): Ecological Risk Screening Summary. 8 Nov. 2019, https://www.fws.gov/sites/default/files/documents/Ecological-Risk-Screening-Summary-Wakasagi.pdf.
“What is the “King Tacos” which is loved by Okinawan?” Okinawa Labo, https://okinawa-labo.com/en/okinawa-taco-rice-1966.
**Wondrich, David. Imbibe! From Absinthe Cocktail to Whiskey Smash, A Salute in Stories and Drinks to “Professor” Jerry Thomas, Pioneer of the American Bar. Updated and Revised Edition. New York City, TarcherPerigee, 2015.**
We bring you this recipe from our panel, “Anime Foodies: Laid-Back Camp The Movie”.
After the first, Scandinavian inspired salmon soup of the evening, Aoi brings over a previously hidden second pot containing something more traditionally Japanese: a hot pot. This Ishikari nabe she and Nadeshiko prepare is a classic Hokkaido nabe using salmon and miso that is perfect for the winter. As is not uncommon for our group, however, they decide on some additional, personal touches to the hot pot in for form of milk, yuba – tofu skin – and houtou to finish everything off.
At home, mix your flour and water in a large bowl and stir until a rough dough is formed.
Move to a floured work surface and knead the dough for a few minutes until it is pretty smooth.
Place the dough ball back into the bowl, cover, and let rest for 10 minutes.
After the rest, further flour the work surface and roll out the dough with a rolling pin into a rectangle to about 3-4 mm thick.
Sprinkle the top of the dough with additional flour, fold the rolled-out dough into thirds, and cut 1 cm thick noodles from the flattened dough.
Sprinkle the noodles with additional flour and store in a container in the cooler to take to the campsite.
Once on site, at least 6 hours before cooking, take your tofu skin and put into a container of water to rehydrate.
When it is time to make the hotpot, peel the carrots and chop them into bite-sized pieces, slice the salmon into 7 large nuggets, separate the shimeji and chop off any dirty bases, cut the green onion bases into large lengths, and wash and chop the napa cabbage leaves into large chunks.
Place the dashi in the hotpot pot over high heat to bring to a boil.
As that boils, peel the potato and cut into large bite-sized pieces.
Once the dashi is boiling, add the potatoes, yuba, and the ear of corn, cover, reduce the heat to medium, and simmer for 5 minutes.
After this simmers for 5 minutes, remove the ear of corn and slice the kernels off the cob.
Now slide the potato and yuba together in the dashi and add the carrots, salmon, shimeji, green onion, napa cabbage, and corn into their own sections.
Cover and continue to simmer for 5 minutes.
As this simmers, get your mirin, milk, and butter out and take your miso and place it into a large ladle.
When the simmering finishes, dunk the ladle into the broth to get some in there and, using chopsticks or a fork, muddle the dashi into the miso until most of the chunks are gone and you have a thick slurry.
Dump this slurry, the mirin, milk, and the butter into the stock, cover the pot, and lightly shake the pot to get the ingredients mixed in with the rest of the liquid.
Cover again, simmer another 5 minutes, turn off the heat, and the hotpot is ready to eat.
Once the solid chunks in the hotpot are all or mostly gone, turn the heat back on high and grab the houtou from its container.
Once at a boil, add the houtou, allow it to come back to a boil, and then reduce the heat to medium and cover.
Simmer for 15 minutes – adding additional water to the leftover broth if necessary – cut the heat, and serve.
Optional/Notes:
If you don’t feel like messing with the houtou, you can use any flat dried noodles of your choice. Keep in mind that you will almost certainly need to add additional water if using dried noodles.
Any kind of dashi will work for this. We used a kombu/katsuobushi dashi made at home and brought in jars, but powdered dashi made on site would also work fine.
2 oz. of shimeji is half of the standard packs you’ll find it in at grocery stores.
You can use any miso you choose, but we used a dark, brown rice miso, so you may need extra miso if you’re using something milder.
The yuba can be kept in water to soak for up to a day without concern, so this can be prepared even further ahead of time or before going camping entirely depending on when it will be eaten.
If you have access to and are using fresh yuba, no soaking is required and it can be added into the nabe with the salmon and other ingredients.
We bring you this recipe from our panel, “Anime Foodies: Laid-Back Camp The Movie”.
As the movie opens, our characters are enjoying a group camping trip during their high school years on a lake shore near Mt. Fuji. For their supper, they create a taco bar that allows everyone to customize the final product to their tastes. While some components of the taco bar are familiar, the centerpiece – a whole chicken roasted in a Dutch oven over coals – is a showcase for their camping adventure.
Roasted Chicken:
1 Whole 5-6 Pound – Chicken
1 4 oz. Stick – Unsalted Butter
1 ½ TSP – Kosher Salt
1 TSP – Black Pepper
1 ½ TSP – Juniper Berries
4 Springs – Rosemary
1 – Orange
2 Small – Russet Potatoes
3 Medium – Carrots
Allow the butter to come to room temperature, mix in the salt and pepper, and set aside.
Cut 4 large slices off the orange and eat the rest.
Roll a large length of heavy-duty aluminum foil into a ring and place it into the bottom of your Dutch oven.
Line the base of the Dutch oven above the foil ring with two layers of heavy-duty aluminum foil and line the lid with another layer of foil.
Remove your chicken from its packaging and dry it off with some paper towels.
Working from the back of the bird, carefully reach in and separate the chicken skin from the meat without tearing it across as much of the bird as possible.
Once the skin is lose, take ½ of the seasoned butter and stuff it into the space you’ve made between the meat and skin of the chicken, spreading it evenly.
Stuff the cavity of the chicken with two slices of orange, 2 springs of rosemary, and ½ TSP of juniper berries and then truss the bird.
Peel the carrots, scrub the potatoes, chop them both into large chunks, and place the few of the smallest of your carrot pieces down in the middle of the Dutch oven.
Take some of the additional butter and smear it over the outside skin of the bird before tucking in the wings and setting it into the middle of the Dutch oven on top of the small portions of carrots.
Spread the remaining root vegetables along the outside of the chicken and dollop the additional butter over these.
Place the other two slices of orange, 2 springs of rosemary, and the remaining TSP of juniper berries over the top of the chicken and then place the lid of the Dutch oven on (making sure it fits tightly to prevent any ash getting in).
Prepare your coals and set 1/3 of them evenly underneath the Dutch oven and the other 2/3 evenly across the lid.
Allow to cook for 1 hour and 30 minutes and then carefully remove the lid, set it aside, and check the temperature with a thermometer (allow to cook for additional 10 minute intervals as required).
Once ready, place a piece of foil loosely over the chicken and allow to rest for 15 minutes before slicing or pulling for tacos as desired.
Optional/Notes:
If you’re not up to roasting an entire chicken with potatoes and carrots for your taco bar, feel free to pick up a rotisserie chicken from your favorite grocery store as a much simpler alternative.
If you have a small cooking rack or something else to keep the chicken from sitting right on the bottom of the Dutch oven, that will also work in lieu of the foil ring. This and the thinner pieces of carrot being under the bird is meant to mitigate the bottom of the chicken from burning while the rest of it roasts.
The juniper, orange, and rosemary mostly function to scent rather than flavor the chicken and can be omitted, if necessary.
When separating the chicken skin from the meat and adding the butter under the skin, emphasize the breast portion of the bird as this portion is most at risk of drying out during the cooking process.
No need to be fancy with your trussing. As long as it keeps the legs together and the back cavity of the bird closed, it will be fine.
For our coals, we were unable to get binchotan like they used in the show. We instead used a similar looking hardwood charcoal we found locally: Blue Hog – Hog Logs. We used 18 in total with 6 on the bottom of the Dutch oven and 12 on the top. These did not require a change, but if you’ll be using smaller lump charcoal or briquettes, check about halfway through the cooking process as additional coals need to be added.
Taco Meat:
1 ¼ Pound – Lean Ground Beef (Ground Turkey)
1 TBSP – Worcestershire Sauce
1 TBSP – Ketchup
½ TBSP – Sake
½ TBSP – Mirin
2 TSP – Chili Powder
½ TSP – Paprika
½ TSP – Garlic Powder
Heat a pan over medium heat and add the ground beef.
Brown the ground beef while breaking up any large chunks.
Add the remaining ingredients, stir to combine everything, and raise the heat to medium high.
Cook, stirring as necessary, until the liquid has almost entirely boiled away.
Optional/Notes:
Lean ground beef (93/7) is done to mitigate the need to drain any fat from the pan. You can use fattier ground beef, but you may need to add an additional step of draining the fat.
Ground turkey can also function as a good substitute and typically does not require fat to be drained.
A classic stateside taco seasoning mix can be used in place of the Japanese version presented here if desired.
Taco Shrimp:
1 ¼ Pound Medium, Peeled – Shrimp
1 TBSP – Worcestershire Sauce
1 TBSP – Ketchup
½ TBSP – Sake
½ TBSP – Mirin
1 TSP – Chili Powder
½ TSP – Paprika
½ TSP – Garlic Powder
Take all the ingredients, mix them together, and allow the shrimp to marinate for 30 minutes to an hour in the cooler.
When ready to cook, heat a pan over medium heat and add the shrimp with its marinade.
Cook for 4-6 minutes or until the shrimp are cooked through.
Salsa:
2 Medium – Red Tomatoes
½ – Green Bell Pepper (Any Mild Green Pepper)
¼ Medium – White Onion
1 – Lime
2 Pinches – Kosher Salt
Dice the tomatoes, green pepper, and onions and add them to a serving bowl.
Add the juice of the lime and the salt and stir.
Remaining Taco Bar Ingredients:
1 Head – Red Leaf Lettuce (Romaine Lettuce)
2 – Lime
2 Medium – Red Tomatoes
½ Medium – White Onion
8 oz. Block – Jack Cheese
1 – Avocado
2 Packs, Taco-Size – Flour Tortillas
1 Small Bottle – Tabasco Sauce (Any Preferred Hot Sauce)
Wash your lettuce, separate the leaves, and set aside.
Slice the limes into wedges, the onion into thin half-moons, and the tomatoes into slightly thicker half-moons.
Shred your block of cheese and keep it in the cooler until ready to serve.
Just prior to serving, split and pit the avocado, scoop the flesh out of each half in one piece, and slice into half-moons.
Heat a pan over medium heat and toast the tortillas one at a time for 30 seconds to a minute on each side.
As the tortillas finish, place them on a plate under a towel to keep warm until it is time to serve.
Optional/Notes:
Any long leaf lettuce will work fine.
You can skip the process of shredding your own cheese by buying a standard pack of pre-shredded cheese that you enjoy with tacos.
We bring you this recipe from our panel, “Anime Foodies: Laid-Back Camp The Movie”.
As our characters sit around the campfire on their campsite test run, Chiaki takes advantage of the bevy of salmon at their disposal to roast some chunks over the fire and enjoy it with sake. While she calls this “aburi”, it is technically something a little different (though no less delicious).
1 Pound, Skin Off – Salmon
4 Pinches – Kosher Salt
Check the salmon for any leftover bones and slice into 10 large nuggets.
Lay the salmon nuggets on a plate and sprinkle with two pinches of salt on each side.
Secure the salmon pieces on a long wooden or metal skewer.
Hold over a campfire for 30 seconds to 1 minute on each side and serve.
Optional/Notes:
If you use skin on salmon, make sure to check for any leftover scales on the skin and give the skin side a full minute over the fire to get some additional char to it.
If possible, make the salmon nuggets more rectangular than squared and skewer them along the longer side to give more stability when cooking.
Anime Foodies: Basic Cooking Equipment for Camping
This post relates to our Anime Foodies panels on “Laid-Back Camp” and “Laid-Back Camp Season 2”.
The goal of this post is to go over the basic equipment you’ll want to have for cooking while you’re out camping. This is not meant to tell you all of what you’ll need for camping itself nor is it intended to be entirely exhaustive as to what you’ll need for cooking when camping.
Cooler:
A decent camping cooler is a must for keeping your food chilled throughout any camping trip.
These days, you can get coolers for under $100 that will keep your food chilled for 72 hours without much trouble. This is perfect for most weekend camping excursions. Certain varieties – such as Yeti – can keep things chilled for longer periods, but do come with higher costs as a result.
The size of your cooler will be dependent on how many folks you’re going camping with, but, for example, a 25 quart cooler has plenty of room for holding all the food you’ll need for two people for a weekend.
To go along with your cooler, do remember that you’ll need something to keep is chilled with. If you don’t have cold freezer packs, bagged ice from any grocery store/gas station will do just fine. Do remember that, if you just use ice, you may need to drain the cooler at times and make sure nothing is soaking in water at the bottom of the cooler towards the end of your trip.
Camping Stove:
A camping stove is going to be your go to item for cooking almost everything when you’re out at the campsite.
These come in a lot of varieties with small, individual stoves in a single piece with a single burner all the way to large varieties that can have four burners. The standard type – and one we use for all of our camping cooking – is a dual burner stove as you see here.
Coleman is an extremely good brand for cooking stoves in our experience. We have two which have been in good working order for decades.
To go along with your stove, don’t skimp on your cans of propane. They are pretty cheap and do last a while, but you’ll be in a world of hurt if you run out of fuel while using your stove.
Portable Grill:
In “Laid-Back Camp” and “Laid-Back Camp Season 2”, Rin has a little grill used on occasion when grilling is needed on site. If you’re in most campgrounds in the U.S., there is somewhere on site that’ll have grills for you to use. If you happen to not have access to one of these, however, you’ll want a portable grill.
There are a ton of portable charcoal grills on the U.S. market with some of them being little varieties that fold up – like Rin’s in the show – to ones as big as standard backyard grills. Whichever variety you end up with, do remember to be careful where you’re using it so you don’t torch a table or something silly like that.
Dutch Oven/Donabe:
Given that a lot of the dishes made in the Laid-Back Camp franchise are either hotpots or are otherwise designed to serve large amounts of people, a bigger cooking vessel with a tight-fitting lid such as a Dutch oven or donabe are essential.
Dutch ovens are the easiest option for us stateside as they are basic indoor cooking equipment, suitable to many tasks in the kitchen. Getting one with insulated handles is always a plus though do keep in mind that cooking over a camping stove can result in heat coming up the sides and onto the handles, so they may get hot regardless.
Donabe are Japanese earthenware pots specifically designed to use over open flames. They are often used for nabe, but are useful for about everything a Dutch oven is though often having a slightly smaller internal volume for similarly sized pieces. These are great if you’re looking for a more authentic experience and are willing to shell out the higher price that’ll be required for one.
Skillet/Sauté Pan:
A good skillet is a constant companion when cooking as it’s great for camping classics like grilled cheese, but also some specific recipes seen in the Laid-Back Camp franchise (such as the stellar Grilled Steamed Buns from the show’s first season).
If you’ll be making food for one or two, a six or eight inch variety is probably sufficient, but a ten inch pan or bigger will definitely be needed for some of the recipes designed for larger groups of people.
Saucepan:
A saucepan is invaluable if you’ll be doing anything Japanese while out cooking as it’s the easiest device with which to make rice with. It’s also just a general camping standard for making individual or smaller serving sizes for soups and other cold weather staples.
A larger-sized one with an insulated handle is best for the sake of convenience if you have the room, but you can get away with smaller ones if it’ll just for one or two people. Also make sure you always get one with a tight-fitting lid.
Knife:
For a knife while out camping, we’d recommend something multi-purpose such as a sturdy hunting or camping knife which can both cut food as necessary, but also do other tasks you might come across while out camping. Certain styles are also convenient in that they fold away for easy storage and access when outdoors.
If all else fails, however, any properly sharp kitchen knife will do the trick on most of the recipes from this franchise.
Cutting Board:
With the need for a knife comes the need for a cutting board. There are two styles best suited to camping. The first and better of the two are thin ones that are stiff and have some manner of sticking surface on the bottom which can slip into crevices for easy packing while also taking up minimal room. The second are the extremely ones that are flexible and can roll up. These can save even more room though they lack the convenient bottom surface to keep the cutting board from moving around when in use.
Measuring Cups/Spoons:
If you’ll be making anything that requires any manner of finesse, a basic set of measuring cups/spoons will be great. There are collapsible versions you can get these days that are wonderful for camping as they take up significantly less room than standard models.
Cooking/Eating Utensils:
A set of basic cooking utensils will be essential to making most dishes while out camping. What you should look to have are things like a spatula, tongs, ladle, and some kind of large cooking spoon or paddle to use for most of your stirring in a pot or pan.
A set of your standard eating utensils – spoon, fork, and knife – should get you through almost any camping meal. Taking plastic silverware camping is a really great way to both minimize cleaning, but also use any excess plastic cutlery lying around from takeout and such.
Paper Plates/Bowls/Cups:
This is more a matter of preference, but if you’d like to save yourself on some dishes, you can never go wrong with a sizeable stack of sturdy paper plates, bowls, and cups as needed.
If you’re worried about the potential for creating additional waste, we’d recommend doing what we do and save your leftover paper products to use as kindling for the next day’s fire. Keep in mind that you’ll never want to leave trash out that’ll attract wild animals, so you’d need to find a place to store things like this.
Plenty of Water:
You’ll never be guaranteed to have access to potable water when out camping, even if it’s a properly built-up site in close proximity to civilization. As a result, you want to always bring a large amount of basic filtered water to use for cooking. One to five gallon containers of water are available at most grocery or convenient stores for relatively little cost. What’s nice is these can be kept and filled with non-potable water when it’s time to squelch the campfire before bed.
If you’ll be making Japanese-style rice, remember that it requires a lot of rinsing, so you’re looking at nearly a gallon of water needed for that alone (somewhat dependent on the batch you’ve acquired, but it’ll be quite a lot).
Shrimp and Tomato Risotto with Lobster Sauce (Makes 6 Servings)
We bring you this recipe from our panel, “Anime Foodies: Laid-Back Camp Season 2”.
This rich risotto with a creamy seafood sauce serves as the main course for Aoi and Nadeshiko’s birthday celebration on the second evening of the Izu camping trip in Episode 12. Like recipes from the first season, this one takes some ingredients from the previous night’s meal and uses it as a key component of this dish. This is, by far, the largest and heartiest single recipe made in the show’s food-filled second season.
Break the lobster shells into chunks and add to 10 cups of water in a large stock pot along with 1 TBSP of kosher salt.
Bring to a boil, reduce to a simmer, cover, and cook for 45 minutes.
Once the time is up, strain the stock and, if preparing at home, store in food safe containers for transport to the campsite or use immediately.
Finely dice the white onion and, if preparing at home store in a food safe container for transport to the site or use immediately.
Separate the shrimp from their shells and have them both available for use later in the recipe.
Drain the peas, carrots, and corn, chop the asparagus into 1/2 inch pieces, and combine all of these ingredients into a bowl for use later in the recipe.
Slice the red and orange bell pepper pieces into short matchsticks and set aside for use later in the recipe.
In a large saucepan, heat 8 cups of the lobster stock to a simmer and reduce the heat to keep it close to or at a bare simmer.
In a separate large cooking pot over medium heat, add 6 TBSP of extra virgin olive oil, the diced onions, and a pinch of salt and cook for 10-12 minutes.
Add the dry rice to the pot and continue to cook for 4-5 minutes, stirring constantly, until the grains are uniformly translucent around the edges.
Once the rice is at this stage, add another pinch of salt and the white wine to the pot and cook, stirring constantly, about 2-3 minutes or until the wine has been entirely absorbed.
From here, take a ladle’s worth of the lobster stock from the saucepan and add it to the cooking risotto, stirring constantly, until the liquid has very nearly been absorbed. This should take 2-3 minutes and, if this is happening faster than this, reduce the heat slightly.
Repeat this process, adding ladles of the broth as needed, for 25 minutes and then test the rice for doneness. The rice should be al dente – slightly firm, no crunch and with no chalky residue.
Add more ladles of broth as needed and, if necessary, use the additional 2 cups of prepared broth.
Once the rice is al dente, turn off the heat and add 5 TBSP of butter in small pieces and stir until melted into the risotto.
Then, in batches, add 1 1/4 cups of the grated parmesan until it is entirely incorporated into the risotto.
Cover the pot with a lid, set it on a large towel, and wrap it up in order to keep it insulated while the further cooking is completed.
In a small saucepan over high heat, take 2 cups of lobster broth – adding extra water if some of it was used for the risotto – and add in the shrimp shells.
Bring to a boil, reduce to a simmer, and cook uncovered for 10 minutes.
Once the time is up, strain out the shrimp shells and make sure that you still have 1 1/2 cups of liquid remaining (add additional water if necessary)
Dry but do not clean the saucepan and, over medium heat, add 1 1/2 TBSP of butter, melt, and then add 1 1/2 TBSP of flour and 1/2 TBSP of tomato paste.
Cook, stirring frequently, for 2-3 minutes, add the lobster stock back in, and bring to a simmer for 5 minutes.
Add 1/4 cup of heavy cream, bring to back to a simmer, and reduce the heat to keep at a low simmer for 10-15 minutes or until the sauce is reduced by about half and is thickened.
Cover and set aside to be reheated as necessary when the risotto is finished.
In a large sauté pan over medium heat, add 4 TBSP of butter and 4 TBSP of olive oil.
Add 3 TBSP of tomato paste and cook for 1-2 minutes or until the tomato paste has begun to color the oil red.
Add the peas, carrots, corn, asparagus, mushrooms, and two pinches of salt and sauté for 5 minutes or until the mushrooms have begun to wilt from cooking a bit.
Add the deshelled shrimp and cook for 3-5 minutes or until they are very nearly cooked.
Add the bell peppers and cook for two more minutes to warm them through.
Turn off the heat, uncover the risotto pot, and add all the contents of the sauté pan into the risotto and mix thoroughly until the mix is entirely incorporated and no streaks of white remain in the risotto.
Serve on plates or bowls with the 1/2 cup of grated parmesan and the seafood cream sauce to be added on top as desired.
Optional/Notes:
This recipe is based around having a standard outdoor kitchen stove with only two burners available at any one time. If you’re working at home without these limitations, feel free to work things side-by-side, but make sure you don’t fail to stir the risotto appropriately as it’s cooking.
If you don’t happen to have lobster in particular, any shellfish will work to make the stock in terms of getting the intended flavor. Fish will make a fine substitute if you want a seafood flavor, but will be quite different than shellfish.
If you’ll be bringing the pre-made stock with you to the campsite, for our preferred delivery method – 32 oz. Ball jars – you’ll end up needing 3 of them to bring all the necessary stock.
Tomato paste in those metal tubes are clutch at all times and especially so if you’ll be cooking outdoors.
If you’ll be making this at home, you can just tuck the pot into a warm oven instead of worrying with a towel.
If you don’t want the bell peppers to be so crunchy, add in with the shrimp and just cook until the shrimp is cooked through.
If you feel anything – the risotto or the cream sauce – are not red enough, a touch of paprika will bring in a lot of that deep red color with minimal additional flavor.
