For the past three years, the “Family” and I would embark on a camping trip into the “wilderness” during our Thanksgiving weekend. This year’s third annual trip was at McGrath State Beach near the city of Oxnard, CA. The fun thing about our trips is that it always revolves around food. This year was no exception! Just check out the pics below to get an idea of the goodies we had during our Thanksgiving getaway!
(top) Sweet Rolls, (top-right) Green Bean/Potato/Egg salad, (middle-left) Aged-Smoked Gouda Cheese, (middle-right) Scalloped Potatoes, (bottom-left) Lemon Bars, or what’s left of them, (bottom-right) Cranberry Stuffing, (way on the bottom) Pumpkin Bread
Lemon-Pepper Salmon
Ribeye Steak with Montreal Seasoning
(left)Chimichurri (right) Hmmmm Steak…
Dutch Oven Jambalaya
(left) Dutch Oven! (right) My Cousin Michelle’s Ultimate Salad
Most of the stuff we made was pretty easy. Salmon is pretty much lemon zest, salt, crushed peppercorns and minced garlic. Steak seasoned with Montreal Seasoning then served with Chimichurri sauce . The other goodies were pre-packaged foods we either had to just reheat or bake, nothing too difficult. The one thing we made from scratch was the Jambalaya. If you have a Dutch Oven and are interested in giving it a try, here is what you’ll need.
- Dutch Oven Pot with Lid (seasoned).
- Cans of diced Tomatoes. Or you can just dice like 3-4 large Tomatoes yourself.
- Chili Powder (to taste)
- Two Onions, I like the white ones personally, but you can use yellow ones too.
- Salt & Pepper (to taste)
- 2 packs of sausages (4 sausages each pack) and cut into pieces.
- Fresh or dried Thyme (around 2 tablespoons)
- 1 cup of chopped parsley
- 4 cups of rice
- 4 cups of water
- 4 cloves of chopped garlic
You can also add seafood like shrimp, crawfish, lobster, muscles and clams. We opted not to in order to keep thing simple.
Preparation
Use a seasoned Dutch Oven and put over coal. You could do this on a gas stove or gas grill, but I think it sort of takes away from the whole “Dutch Oven” experience.
Put all sausages in and cook for about 5 minutes. You don’t need to add oil since the saugages are probably pretty fatty already. Add onions and stir them a bit until the onions soften and look semi transparent. Add garlic and parsley, cook and stir some more until parsley softens. Add diced tomatoes, thyme, rice, water and bring to boil. Add your chili powder, salt, pepper to taste.
Cover dutch oven let it simmer. Put a few pieces of charcoal on top of the lid to distribute heat more evenly. You might want to check occasionally to make sure it doesn’t burn. Stir it a bit so the rice cooks evenly. Just be careful not to get any ashes into your food. Check the softness of the rice. Once is starts to soften a bit, you can add your seafood into the mix. Stir again, cover, put the coal back on the lid and wait around 5 minutes or so until it’s cooked.
Be sure to remove the Dutch Oven off the coals and don’t burn yourself! Serves around 6-8 people.
Enjoy!
1. Weirdest thing you have had for breakfast?
* Sushi & Sashimi
2. Most desperate meal you've ever had?
* Canned corn with a slice of American cheese, microwaved.
3. When you eat too much, you...
* Sit back on my chair and stare at the ceiling blankly...in pain. 
That Jambalaya looks great, mouth is watering just looking at the picture. Unfortunately for me, it’ll have to be electric stove top when I try it!