Cooking in your campervan

• Olive oil and sunflower or vegetable oil
• Dry pasta
• Box of flaked sea salt
• Black pepper mill (and plenty of peppercorns)
• Cumin, coriander and fennel seeds (whole is best, but ground is fine)
• Paprika
• Dried chillies
• Fresh herbs: garlic, rosemary, thyme, coriander, basil, bay leaves
• A bottle of hot sauce

This fiery breakfast dish is a lot easier than it looks. Inspired by the Mexican morning favourite, huevos rancheros, it makes a simple but exotic alternative to a traditional British fry-up. 

It can be served on its own, with warm bread or maybe sautéed potatoes, if you have any left over from last night’s dinner.

Ingredients (serves 4)

• 4 free range eggs
• 1 tin chopped tomatoes
• 2 fresh chillies
• 1 clove garlic finely chopped
• 1 tbsp vegetable oil
• 1 tsp ground coriander
• 1 tsp sugar
• Half tsp ground cumin
• Half tsp chilli powder
• Salt and black pepper
• Coriander

Method

1. Heat up the oil in a frying pan, then gently cook all the ground spices for up to a minute, making sure not to burn them. Add the garlic and quickly empty in the tin of tomatoes. Fill the tin with water and add to the pan.
2. Season well, add the sugar and stir. Leave to simmer until dark red in colour – should take approximately 20 minutes.
3. When the sauce is thickened, make four indentations in the liquid and crack an egg in each. Cover the pan with a lid or plate to keep in the steam, and cook over a very gentle heat for around 10 minutes, or until the eggs are cooked to your preference.
4. When the eggs are ready, take off the heat and garnish with chopped fresh coriander leaves and sliced chilli if you like it really spicy. Serve on a plate with crusty bread for dipping.

Home-made pasta sauce always beats the stuff in a jar and this simple recipe is a firm campsite favourite – perfect for cooking on a double-burner stove either inside the campervan or outdoors. 

Use fresh tomatoes and good-quality Italian sausages from a local farm shop to give it an authentic taste. Vegetarians and vegans can add a veggie sausage instead.

Ingredients (serves 4)

• 6 Italian-style sausages
• 5/6 large fresh tomatoes
• 1 tsp dried oregano
• A good glug of Italian olive oil
• 2 garlic cloves, crushed
• 300g of dry pasta
• A splash of red wine vinegar
• 1 tsp sugar
• Salt and pepper
• A lump of Parmigiano-Reggiano

Method

1. Start by frying the sausages then cover them and leave to one side.
2. Plunge the tomatoes into boiling water for 30 seconds or so to loosen the skins, making them easy to peel and deseed. If this seems like too much hard work, tinned tomatoes will work fine.
3. Once the tomatoes are prepped, pour a healthy glug of olive oil into a warm – not hot – pan. Add the garlic and the oregano to the oil. When you can smell the garlic cooking, add the tomatoes, swiftly followed by the sugar, seasoning and a splash of vinegar.
4. Let it cook away until the tomatoes have softened and turned from a bright red to a much darker shade. While that’s happening, cook and drain the pasta of your choice on the other burner.
5. If the sauce becomes too thick it can easily be let down with a little of the cooking water from your pasta.
6. When it’s ready, add the sauce to the pasta, chop up the sausage and add to the mix. Grate fresh Parmigiano-Reggiano on top and enjoy. Buon appetito.

This classic British dish is quick and simple to cook on a double-burner stove. It’s cheap to put together and wonderfully versatile – you could cook it for lunch, dinner or even a hearty breakfast.

Ingredients (for four)

• 340g tin of corned beef
• 4 large potatoes
• 1 large red pepper
• 1 large onion
• 1 clove of garlic
• Half tsp smoked paprika
• Half tsp hot paprika
• Salt and white pepper
• Splash of dry sherry (optional)
• 2 spring onions

Method

1. Peel and cube potatoes and boil in lightly salted water until just cooked. Meanwhile, cut up the peppers and onions and fry in a pan until soft.
2. Crush the garlic and add to the pan, before sprinkling the paprika in and thoroughly mixing it all together.
3. Cut the corned beef into large chunks and add it to the frying pan along with the potatoes. Season to taste and add a splash of sherry, if you fancy, then leave over a medium heat for 3-5 minutes until it develops a nice crust. Gently turn the mixture over and repeat on the other side.
4. Dish it up with crusty bread and sprinkle chopped spring onion on top to garnish. A fried or poached egg could be served up on top to add a tasty accompaniment.
5. To give it a kick you could stir some chopped chillis through with the peppers and onion or serve with your favourite hot sauce.

Nothing says summer like a barbecue, but cooking on a grill doesn’t always have to be boring burgers and burnt sausages. Here is a really simple recipe for a tasty chicken dish with an Indian flavour that you can prepare on a barbecue, gas or electric grill outside your campervan.

The secret of replicating the authentic Indian tandoor flavour is to make sure you use a high heat on your grill.

Ingredients (for two)

• Six chicken thigh fillets
• 300g natural yoghurt
• 2 tbsp tandoori spice mix
• Melted butter
• 1 lemon
• Mixed salad
• Baby potatoes

Method

1. Combine the spice mix with the yoghurt in a bowl, then add the chicken thigh fillets and thoroughly coat them with the mixture.
2. Cover the bowl and leave to marinate for a couple of hours in the campervan fridge or somewhere else cool. If you don’t have access to either, half an hour of marinating would be fine.
3. Grill the chicken pieces on a high heat – a slight char adds to the flavour but make sure it’s cooked all the way through. While the chicken is cooking, put the baby potatoes on to boil.
4. For an even richer flavour, you could baste the chicken with melted butter while it’s on the grill.
5. The chicken is ready when it’s firm to the touch, which will probably take about 20 minutes. Serve with the baby potatoes, salad and a wedge of lemon.

For a taste of the summer, grilled lamb steaks cooked in flavoursome Greek marinade make a delicious but simple campsite dinner. 

Serve with baby potatoes done on the barbecue, creamy tzatziki and a simple salad for a Mediterranean feast.

Ingredients (for 4)

Lamb

• 4 lamb steaks (or chops if you prefer)
• 120ml olive oil
• 75ml freshly squeezed lemon juice
• 3 tsp dried oregano
• 1 tbsp chopped rosemary
• 4 chopped or minced garlic cloves
• Salt and pepper to taste 

Roasted potatoes

• 500g baby new potatoes
• 60ml olive oil
• 1 tbsp chopped rosemary
• Salt and pepper

Method

1. Combine all the marinade ingredients – oil, lemon juice, oregano, rosemary and garlic – in a zip-lock bag and mix well.
2. Put the lamb steaks in the bag and coat them with the mixture, leaving to marinate in a cooler for at least 15 minutes (the longer the better).
3. While the meat is absorbing the flavours, mix the potatoes, oil, rosemary and seasoning until well coated then divide up into four squares of aluminium foil. Fold up the sides of the foil, leaving room for the heat to circulate inside. Cook on the grill for around 40 minutes.
4. Cook the lamb chops on the grill until caramelised on the outside and medium rare in the centre, or to your own preference.
5. Leave the lamb to rest for five minutes then serve with the potatoes, tzatziki and salad.