Cooking up Memories

In search of a little pot

I never really thought of investing in a cast iron pot just for camp cooking as it seemed a bit extravagant just for a little overnight trip until I met Rami Gilboa and his wife, Dorit. Up until now we would use a little gas stove to warm up simple meals but Rami Gilboa, travel writer, cookbook author and maximizer in all things fun convinced me that camp food should be a celebration of the great outdoors. Together with his wife Dorit, he wrote an outdoors cookbook in which all the top celebrity chefs in Israel contributed their own fabulous recipes and prepared them over a campfire.

Rami and Dorit decided to shed the extra stress of everyday living, of mortgages and monotonous routines and walked away, or in their case drove away, in a second hand RV throughout North America. It is easier to leave everything all behind when you are gifted with a lilting prose and a passion for photography to bind the journey in a way which any travel magazine would love to publish. From his cozy RV home Rami sends articles of fishing trips, bear encounters and scarlet autumn landscapes to the Hebrew language Driver magazine where he has a regular column.  To me that sounds sublime, to be able to travel and make a living from it, at an easy and relaxing pace.

For three nights, in the RV park of Seward Alaska, a modest town surrounded by spectacular views of Resurrection bay and glacier studded mountains our neighbors, Rami and Dorit made us dinner. Although we never met them before we fell into an easy companionship which usually takes years to develop and it is strange to think that it was simply by chance that we pulled off adjacent to them. We enjoyed campfire stories, great food (I will not forget the seafood fettuccine with white wine and cream) and companionship which will leave me not only with memories but the inspiration to do things a little differently. When I arrived back in Israel I decided to buy a poyke, a little cast iron witch’s cauldron perfect for camp cooking which Rami and Dorit spoke so fondly about.

Last weekend an opportunity presented itself on our way to the Golan Heights for a camping trip. My husband remembered seeing a poyke for sale in Marinado, a steak restaurant and store on the south eastern side of the Golan Heights, a bit of a detour from our original destination which annoyed the boys to no end.

Eventually we reached the campground and this particular night we had the pleasure to listen to a group of happy tourists play a recorder, tarbuka and guitar with the musical ability of toddler play group. They would occasionally take short breaks from their creativity giving me the false hope of a quiet evening but each time I fell asleep I was jolted awake by a squeaking, off tune recorder, an exuberant tarbuka which would go off on wild tangents and a guitar player who was strumming to the beat of a different drummer. Much later that night their music faded away to be replaced by howling coyotes.

The Zavetan trail, which is maintained by the Society of Nature Protection of Israel (SPNI) is a popular hike in the summer because it is one of the few areas with flowing water and small pools in which to swim.

It is one of the rare places still green even in the height of summer, with capers, figs, carobs and grapes vines shading the cooler canyon. Hardy oak trees and the skeletal remnants of last year’s thorny plants can be seen along the path leading to the canyon, which will transform to lush fields in the first rains of winter.

I hope that next time we come here I will have a seasoned pot, campfire and a recipe for lasting memories.  As Rami’s and Dorit’s book was sold out and all their extra books are in storage I will have to come up with my own poyke recipes and I thought that osh plov (pilau), an Uzbeki rice dish would be perfect campfood, tasty and filling.

Uzbekistani carrot rice

Osh Plov

Samarkand and Buhara are both cities in Uzbekistan, located directly on the Silk Road, facilitating trade between China and the West. Uzbekistani cuisine has been heavily influenced by Persian, Turkish and Arab conquests. Jews of Buhara, who have preserved their religious heritage from the Babylonian captivity of two thousand years ago, have largely migrated to Israel or America. These Jews have introduced this recipe to Israeli cuisine. Traditionally this dish is made by men in large outside pots. If you decide to do it over an open campfire good luck and tell me how it came out because I never tried it that way yet.

2 cups long grain rice such as basmati

5 carrots, cut into thin match sticks

2 onions, sliced

½ teaspoon cumin

½ teaspoon black pepper

1/2 teaspoon ground coriander seeds

2 teaspoons salt

4 cups chicken stock or water

3 each of chicken thighs and drumsticks, or 600 grams of beef or lamb, cubed

4 tablespoons barberries, soaked in water and drained

Dredge the chicken or meat pieces and fry until golden, set aside to cool. If using beef or lamb, cover with water, bring to a boil and simmer until tender, about 2 hours. In a narrow and deep pot fry the onions until golden brown. Add the carrots and cook for about 5 minutes until they begin to soften. Add the spices. Remove about ½ the carrot mixture to a bowl. Add the chicken pieces, and the reserved carrots on top. Add salt to the rice (about two teaspoons) and add to the pot. Add the water or chicken stock. Cover the pot without peeking for about 45 minutes to 1 hour. Let stand to cool for about 20 minutes. Flip the rice dish on a serving plate and decorate with barberries. This can be made with chicken breast but the bones add much more flavor.