Campfire Recipe: Roasted Summer Vegetable Salad with Cheese

My husband and I have a culinary agreement when we go camping and that is that we will have at least one salad a day. While this changes somewhat when we are camping out in the backcountry, there is no deviation when it comes to camping at a campground. This is especially true in the summer when fresh vegetables are plentiful, both on the road and in my own backyard.

The other reason I like this dish is the fact that it is simple to get kids involved in the preparation, which makes them want to eat it. If they are too young to cut the vegetables, they can easily be involved in preparing the dressing for the salad. I really like it to pair with organic cottage cheese and it is delicious.

Keep in mind though, if this dressing is not something your taste buds enjoy, by all means create your own and enjoy. Just keep in mind fire safety, never leave your “stove” unattended while there are still hot coals under it, the time somebody did this their tent caught on fire and they needed to call fire damage restoration services for their help.

Campfire Recipe:  Roasted Summer Vegetable Salad with Cheese

Ingredients

Spray or liquid oil

4 Tablespoons olive oil

1 pound of red and/orange bell peppers

1 red onion

1 pound eggplant

½ zucchini

3 cloves of garlic

¾ teaspoon of ground cumin

¾ teaspoon of smoked paprika

½ teaspoon of salt

¼ teaspoon of fresh ground black pepper

3 Tablespoon red wine vinegar

1 romaine lettuce head

4 ounces of soft cheese like goat

Steps

1. Start a fire to prepare the coals for cooking.
2. Oil the inside of a 10 inch Dutch oven.
3. Add 2 tablespoons of olive oil to the Dutch oven.
4. Prepare the vegetables first by washing and then slicing. Peppers will need to be seeded and then cut into 1 inch pieces. Slice the red onion and cut the eggplant into 1 inch pieces. Place these vegetable into the prepared Dutch oven.
5. Cut the zucchini into 1 inch pieces. Add to Dutch oven.
6. Mince garlic and add to Dutch oven. Top the ingredients in the Dutch oven with cumin, paprika, salt and pepper. Stir and top with lid.
7. Move the filled Dutch oven to a heat resistant location.
8. Arrange 10 prepared coals in a circle and top with Dutch oven.
9. Cover the lid with 24 prepared coals and cook for 35 minutes.
10. Once the time has passed, gently remove the lid and check the doneness of vegetables.
11. Drizzle the roasted vegetables with 1 tablespoon of red wine vinegar.
12. In a separate bowl, combine the remaining olive oil and vinegar.
13. To this bowl, add the leaves of the romaine and stir to coat.
14. Divide this lettuce mixture between 4 plates.
15. Top the lettuce leaves with roasted vegetables.

Divide and crumble the soft cheese between the 4 plates. Serve.