Cooking Outdoors Grilling, Camp and Dutch oven Cooking!

Cedar Planked Orange Pesto Salmon Recipe

This recipe was inspired by my new Camp Chef Outdoor Camp Oven that arrived recently from my friends at www.OutdoorCooking.com and a Fish plank recipe contest over at The Grilling Plank Super Store Facebook page. After playing around with my new Camp Chef Outdoor Camp Oven, baking a few goodies and getting to understand how it works, I was curious to see if I could bake with a Cedar Plank in my new oven. The Fish plank recipe contest was all of the inspiration I needed!

The Camp Chef Outdoor Camp Oven is a perfect choice for plank cooking with inside dimensions of 16″ x 8.5″ x “10″, my cedar plank slide right in with ease. I started out my recipe with pre-heating the oven and Cedar plank at the same time, serving two purposes at once. It is very important to soak your plank first, for at least an hour, then heat it up in the oven to remove any bacteria or microbes on the surface.

Safety note: Never walk away from the oven with a piece of wood inside! Be prepared to remove the plank from the oven immediately if it starts to flare up.

I pre-heated my oven and cedar plank for 10 minutes, then removed the plank to start the recipe.

Cedar Planked Orange Pesto Salmon Recipe

1 Salmon filet
Cedar plank
2 oranges

6 tbs pesto sauce
4 cloves garlic
1/4 tsp salt
1/8 tsp chili pepper flakes
1 tbs olive oil

IMG 3732 crop 640x4801 Cedar Planked Orange Pesto Salmon Recipe

Oil the food side of the plank and start layering you food.

Slice several 1/4 inch thick slices of orange and place on prepared cedar plank.

IMG 3736 640x480 Cedar Planked Orange Pesto Salmon Recipe

Place salmon filet on top of orange slices. (Seasoning is optional)

Prepare orange pesto sauce (make you own or use store bought) add garlic, olive oil, salt, pepper flakes, 1/2 pealed orange and puree (if blending by hand – mince garlic and use the juice of whole orange) Pour orange pesto over salmon filet and bake till flaky at 350 degrees F.

Time will vary depending on the size of your salmon filet. Mine cooked for 20 minutes.

When done, squeeze juice remaining orange over cooked salmon and serve!

This recipe is quick and easy for camping and can be cooked in an outdoor oven , foil packet (no plank) or on the grill.

This recipe combined some great flavors with the salmon filet, a hint of citrus and smokey cedar flavor blended with a delicious pesto sauce, baked in the Camp Chef Outdoor Camp Oven.

How to Smoke Ribs at Camp!

IMG 2193 640x480 How to Smoke Ribs at Camp!

BBQ ribs in camp? Yes it is possible and easier than you think when you have a simple tool such as the Camp Chef Big Gas Grill. This is the grill you see me using all of the time in my outdoor cooking adventures. I have found the Big Gas Grill one of the most flexible tools in my Outdoor Cooking arsenal; quick set up, portable, versatile and great heat control. One of the challenges I had was producing my boys favorite meal, BBQ Baby Back ribs while camping. They specifically requested ribs on our next camping trip and how could dad refuse? But low and slow takes a lot of time and extra equipment right? So I thought until I realised that the Big Gas Grill has everything I need already and it is the unit I will be bringing to camp along with my Dutch ovens.

So how did I do it? Here is the practice run:

How to smoke ribs at camp

My Camp Chef Big Gas Grill, perfect for smoking Baby Back Ribs at camp!

What you’ll need: Single rack of Baby Back Ribs (cut in half), aluminum foil, smoker chips, yellow mustard, BBQ rib rub of your choice (I used Camp Chefs “Log Cabin Grub” all-purpose seasoning) and your favorite BBQ sauce.

First you need to remove the membrane on the back of the ribs, then cut the rack in have to fit the Big Gas Grill. Apply enough yellow mustard to coat the ribs lightly, this is only placed on the ribs to use as a binder for the rub.

Apply BBQ rub generously to all sides including the ends.

Add about 2 cups of smoking wood chips to a large sheet of aluminum foil. No need to soak the chips, we are using them dry.

Here is the foil smoking packet. Notice that I pierced the packet on the top with several holes to let the smoke escape and I placed the packet at the bottom of the Big Gas Grill barbecue box under the grilling grate. You could just throw your wood chips in the bottom of the barbecue box but I think the clean-up would be a lot worse.

temperature control: You are using only one burner so make sure it is the burner under the smoke packet. Mine was on the left so I used the left burner. Preheat your barbecue box to 300 degrees F then turn the single burner down to low. I found that this maintained a uniform heat of 250 degrees F for the whole cook time.

Here you can see the smoking packet placement under the grilling grate to the left of the ribs.

We are going to smoke the ribs at 250 degrees for about 5 hours using the 2 – 2 – 1 Baby Back Rib BBQ method.

2 hours smoking with just the rub, 2 hours in the foil packet and 1 hour of sauce time.

If you are using a larger rack of ribs just increase the first 2 hours cooking time to 3 hours.

I added some potatoes to make Twice Baked Potatoes.

At the two-hour make we are going to wrap the Baby Back Ribs in aluminum foil and cook for another two hours.

Here the Baby Back Ribs have been removed from the foil packet for the final hour of cooking. Notice the “pull back” of the rib meat from the bones. You want about a 1/4 inch to 3/8 inch pull back exposing the rib bones on the side, indicating the ribs are cooked completely or very close to it. Sauce for the next hour two to three times creating a beautiful glaze.

Here is a teaser shot of those Baby Back Ribs and the Twice Baked Potatoes!

I can’t wait to prepare a rack of smoked Baby Back Ribs for my boys on our next camping trip!

Happy camping everyone!

Surefire hot breakfast for kids.

I first enjoyed this breakfast meal when I was just a kid, many years ago. What hooked me on it as a kid was eating with my hands and the basic food groups that I loved, hot dogs and tortillas. My neighbors at the time made fresh homemade tortillas every couple of days and I was the neighborhood beggar waiting for a taste. They were good, warm with a little butter and salt, it was heaven for me! Spending the night was even a bigger treat because I knew what breakfast might be, scrambled eggs, hot dogs and tortillas washed down with a big glass of milk.

Scrambled eggs and hot dogs has for the last 30 years or so served three boys and lots of friends and family. It’s fast, simple and the kids love it! There’s not even a recipe to share with you but I shot some pictures and here’s the basic procedure:

2542965625 9eebf44d7b m Surefire hot breakfast for kids.

The first thing is to cut up your hot dogs into 3/4″ pieces, then fry them up in a little butter. I use Turkey dogs but any type should work, it’s your personal preference.

2542964917 042f040500 m Surefire hot breakfast for kids.

Crack open a couple of eggs to scramble in with the hot dogs. I add a little salt and pepper to taste.

2542964319 68681a1049 m Surefire hot breakfast for kids.

Scramble until they are as dry as you like them.

2542963645 9c2b8a8492 m Surefire hot breakfast for kids.

Warm up a tortilla over the grill, griddle or rock you are using. I like a little butter and salt on mine.

2543789428 a21f2b8cb7 m Surefire hot breakfast for kids.

Besides the great taste, I think this part is what makes it fun for the kids. Tear off a piece of tortilla and scoop up some eggs and hot dogs.

2542962257 445a2c2b2b m Surefire hot breakfast for kids.

Open up and insert into mouth, chew slowly and drink some milk.

This recipe is great for camping or cooking in your backyard. You could substitute something else for the butter but I think you’ll be missing out on some of the flavor. Give it a try with the kids and let me know how it goes!