we drove down the coast on the beautiful coastal highway, winding up, down, and around the sheer cliffs overlooking the magnificent pacific ocean. we randomly found a camping spot at the quaint san simeon creek campground, a little bit south of hearst castle. our campsite was nestled in the trees, nice and private on the first night with a vacant site on our left and a site housing ghost campers (gone all evening!) to our right.
because we love food so much, we prepped some tasty meals for this trip.
night one: grilled pork chops accompanied by parmesan basil orzo.
night two: fresh pasta topped with chicken and a sun-dried tomato basil cream sauce.
delicioso!
our secrets to gourmet camp cooking:
- plan a grill night (burgers, pork chops, chicken) -- something easy to throw on the grate and go
- pick easy to prep sides -- pasta and rice are easy. potatoes, less so. we did orzo cooked in chicken broth and water. the chicken broth added a lot of flavor with no extra work. topped with fresh grated parm and fresh sliced basil, it was delicious!
- prep at home -- for our fresh pasta night, we cubed and cooked the chicken ahead of time. we also chopped the garlic and sun-dried tomatoes and ziplocked them together with the red pepper flakes our recipe called for. lastly, we made sure we had grated up a bunch o' parmesan for our orzo and to top the pasta.
- make something with wine/beer -- there are a lot of good recipes that call for wine or beer. it adds a lot of flavor and then you get to drink the leftovers!
happy camp cooking! :)
