A camper always wakes up with one thing on their mind first thing in the morning – Breakfast!!!! A hot, filling, hearty breakfast that gears you up for all the activities of the day. The smell of crispy bacon frying away on a chilly morning is enough to drive everyone out of their tents in a real hurry. This recipe today is quite authentic, in that I do cook it in a Dutch Oven. A Dutch Oven is simply a very heavy cast iron pan, although many these days are made with aluminium (lighter to manage)  that is traditionally used to cook over hot coals. This comes with an equally heavy lid that allows you to add hot coals on the surface of the lid, so that the heat source is from the top and the bottom – creating, well a Dutch Oven!

This is such an easy camping breakfast recipe and very filling, keeping all those hungry troopers super happy, so make sure you give it a go and bring some gourmet flair to the outdoors!!!

Photo 2 dutch oven covered in coals

 

Photo 1 Dutch Oven pic

Of course you can cook this in any heavy duty pan and you don’t have to cook it on coals, so I have adapted this for you to make at home in the comfort of your kitchen !

Serves 4-6

6 large white potatoes,  peeled and grated on the larger not the fine side of the grater.

400 gms of smoked back bacon, cut into small pieces

1 white onion chopped roughly into thick chunks

200gms good quality cheddar cheese, grated on the larger not the fine side of the grater.

1 leek, cut into thin slices

Olive oil for shallow frying

1 tsp finely minced garlic

1 tsp cumin seeds

1 ½ tsp smoked Spanish paprika

1 tsp dried sage

1 tsp dried oregano

2 red peppers cut into small chunky cubes

½  tsp salt

1 tsp freshly cracked black pepper

1 cup cream

6 large eggs

photo 4 grated cheesechopped red pepper photos

 

chopped leek photo

 

Heat the oven to 200 degrees centigrade. Now if you are cooking this over coals, heat the coals until they are white. Place the Dutch Oven on the coals.

Start by rinsing the grated potato in cold water. Repeat once more and squeeze out all the excess water. Make sure all the water has been squeezed out. Cover with a damp cloth.

In the pan / Dutch Oven,  gently heat the oil. Now add the garlic, the leek and the white onion.  Fry gently for a minute or so, taking care not to burn. Now add the peppers and stir fry for a few minutes until just softening. Remove all this from the pan and set aside.

photo 6 red pepper frying

In the same pan, add another small splash of oil. Add the bacon and fry until crisp. Drain excess oil on a kitchen towel. Once this is done, add it to the onion-pepper mix.

photo 5 crispy bacon

In the same pan, add another splash of oil and add the cumin seeds. Fry this gently for 30 seconds until starting to sizzle and chuck in the grated potatoes. Fry these gently until crispy and light golden. This should take 5-7 minutes.

Now combine the cream, the paprika, sage, oregano, salt and black pepper.

Add the onion-pepper-bacon mix to the crispy grated potatoes. Combine well.

Next add half the cheese and the cream mix. Stir this all well together.

The mixture should feel quite creamy and thick with all the filling.

Now lastly, crack all the eggs on top, sprinkle with the remaining cheese and finish with a sprinkling of salt and pepper.

eggs on hash browns

If you are cooking this over the coals, cover with the heavy lid and cover with coals as shown. Cook for at least 8 minutes. If you are cooking this at home, simply cover with the lid and place in the oven for around 10-12 minutes.

photo 3 finished dutch oven photo

This is creamy and crispy and chock full of flavour. Serve with plenty of English mustard and tabasco for those that need some extra heat. Serve with fat wedges of bright red tomatoes, tossed with some salt, black pepper and herbs of your choice.

Ofcourse, no breakfast is complete without steaming mugs of coffee… so make sure you have this brewing whilst your breakfast bakes ! Happy Camping!