NEW YORK (AP) — Look closely at the photo next to Lee Kalpakis’ recipe for “Hot Dogs with Fried Leeks and Sauerkraut” and you might notice a tiny intruder: a honeybee has invaded a photo of an al fresco dinner.
While other chefs might balk at saving the photo, or fret over Photoshopping the bees out of it, Kalpakis doesn’t. He’s committed to celebrating cooking in nature, with all its ups and downs.
“I wanted to show a more authentic version of this lifestyle and encourage some realism and acceptance of the fact that things don’t have to be so perfect,” she says.
Kalpakis earned the right to do as she pleased: She lived in a 22-foot camper in upstate New York for just under two years, refining the 75 recipes featured in her book, “Out There.”
“I’ve become a more efficient cook,” says the former food stylist, recipe developer, and private chef. “I’ve cut back a little bit on the excess.”
The book features recipes for everything from blueberry and olive oil pancakes to shrimp with ramp butter, charred eggplant spread to desserts like sour cherry and nectarine crisps, braised pork shoulder in black vinegar, chicken wings with sumac, deep-fried breadcrumb salads, and pearl couscous with mixed vegetables and feta for a mountaintop lunch.
“I’ve found that cooking this way, using an open flame or a wood fire, makes a lot of things taste so much better,” she says. “It really adds great flavor to a lot of dishes.”
For Campfire Bucatini with Charred Tomato Sauce, the pasta is cooked directly in the sauce rather than boiled separately, the cherry tomatoes are charred on the grill, and the finished dish tastes like smoked meat even though it’s not smoked meat, Kalpakis says.
She also consumes premium proteins. Toss the scallops into a cast iron skilletAdd peas, shallots, white wine, lemon zest, and prosciutto.
“When you cook in a cast iron pan, the heat is distributed evenly, which is great for cooking things like scallops,” she says. “I’m really happy with how they turn out when cooked in a cast iron pan. They’re perfect.”
This book is just Summer camp season Born and raised in New York’s Hudson Valley, Kalpakis enjoys outdoor dinners. Granola Bars And s’mores.
She hopes to provide new recipe ideas for people who are used to cooking outdoors, and also reach out to those who aren’t by “slowly guiding them along, starting out little by little.”
Living in a camper van with his partner, Sean, and their dog, Mac, through winter snowdrifts and August dampness, Kalpakis learned a lesson we all need to remember: stay flexible.
“When you’re camping outside, it’s inevitable that things won’t go as planned. There will be ingredients that aren’t available at the local grocery store, things will burn, things will fall on the ground, stuff will happen. I really think you should embrace that,” she said.
“What’s really important is learning how to pivot rather than thinking that something’s messed up. I think this is super helpful when cooking outdoors, but it’s also super helpful when you’re in any kitchen.”
Interest in communal camping has increased recently, and many people don’t want to have to save money or miss out on the finer things just because they’re vacationing outdoors.
But Roger Shaw, Kalpakis’ publisher at Weldon Owen, a division of Insight Editions, said “Out There” also has ideas and recipes for people who aren’t planning on heading outdoors.
For university students Living in a small space Or, he says, it could be for people staying in accommodations that share kitchen areas or Airbnbs where the kitchens are poorly equipped.
“There are great recipes in here that you can make with minimal kitchen equipment and minimal pantry space, and I think that’s what’s great about the book. It’s not just for hardcore campers,” he says.
Kalpakis laughs when she sees people describing their forest lifestyles on social media, posting photos tagged “#vanlife” with bug-free, trash-free, sunshine shining down on perfect smoothie bowls.
Meanwhile, she has endured rat infestations, frozen pipes, bears, fallen trees and wasp stings.
“It’s important to show the other side of it and to show it in a realistic way, but from this vantage point, there’s nothing to be scared of. I really wanted to show how difficult it is,” she says.
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Mark Kennedy is http://twitter.com/KennedyTwits
