On our last camping trip, the piece de resistance of the weekend was our dinner Saturday night. After a full day of canoeing 15 miles (and many of us drinking as many beers), we knew we needed a substantial, delicious meal that a monkey could prepare (who knew what state the cooks would be in?).
Foodie genius Courtney's time-tested solution? Foil-packs! (note to self: must think of a more appealing name for said delicious feast). We chopped chicken breasts and beef tenderloin into bite-sized pieces. The chicken got a marinade of lemon juice, olive oil, dijon, garlic, salt, pepper and herbs. The beef was marinated in worcestershire, soy, canola oil, garlic, salt, and pepper. Onions and bell peppers were chopped and bagged with some olive oil. Mushrooms were sliced and bagged. Red potatoes were chopped into 1-inch pieces and par-boiled. We let them cool, bagging them with olive oil and steak seasoning. Haricot verts were washed and trimmed.
When the meat had marinated 24 hours, the packs were assembled. Potatoes went on the bottom, then the meat (about 8-10oz of beef or chicken) with the veggies on top. The were wrapped in foil twice to prevent marinade leakage or cooler-water infiltration (apparently Courtney learned that trick from an unfortunate experience last trip).
After coming back to the camp site tired, tipsy, bug-bitten, sore (4/11 of our canoes tipped--some with dramatic crashes), and overexposed from the Indiana's midsummer sun, the foil packets were a sight for sore eyes and an answer to our hungry prayers. Every happy camper grabbed their dinner, threw it on the grill grate over the fire ring, and happily devoured their bounty of meat, potatoes and veggies only 15-20 minutes later. Such simple food, so simply prepared... absolutely joyous in our condition. Cheers!
