Camping in the Rough - Blast from the Bayou - Breakfast

Asparagus Camembert Omelette with Mimosas

Who says you can't have good food while camping, certainly not me!  Here are some of our experiences from our recent trip to CT for the Blast from the Bayou Cajun & Zydeco Festival.  It truly is a blast. We always have a great time when we're there.

Dan backstage-ish with Cedric Watson

Since Dan had to work, I got to stake out our site & begin set up of the camp.  The tent is easy.  It's the easy-up and kitchen that are the hard part!  I never said that I travelled light.  You bring a knife block when you camp, don't you?  Luckily, he got to CT in time to help me out in between the downpours that are inevitable when festival camping.

So for breakfast we had the omelette pictured above.  I made it with the last purple asparagus.  Only needed one, since he was a monster (yes, definitely a he).  Had picked up some beautiful Camembert from  Brookford Farm in NH.  If you get a chance to visit there, you should!  http://brookfordfarm.com/.  And we HAD to have bacon, it's one of the rules.

To make the omelette, I first peeled the lower portion of the asparagus.  You have to peel the large ones, or you won't be able to eat them.  Then I sliced it thinly and blanched until tender in a bit of lightly salted & sugared water.  Drain & set aside.

Looks yummy already, doesn't it?!  Heat a medium sized nonstick skillet over medium low heat, add a pat of butter & a little olive oil. When the butter stops foaming it's time to add your 4 eggs that you've lightly beaten with about 1/4 cup of milk and some salt & pepper to taste.

Then cut off the weirdo rind.  You can see how ripe the cheese is, by the time it went into the pan it was really runny!  Once the eggs have set a bit add the asparagus pieces & the cheese.  Once the cheese has melted a bit, flip over one side of the eggs, cook for another minute or two, the serve!  There was a Cajun food vendor on site, so we bought grits from her.  She couldn't figure out why we just wanted plain grits, heh heh, wasn't telling her!

Moral of the story?  Eat well, no matter where you are!  Enjoy!

Portabella Pizzas

So, I really wanted to have some pizza, but didn't want it to be too heavy.  Luckily I found these beautiful portabella mushrooms in my new fancy Market Basket in Lowell (my new favorite store).

These were super easy to make.  You will need:


2 or 3 large portabella mushrooms per person, stems removed and wiped clean
1/2 c of your favorite tomato sauce, preferably home made, per person
a little olive oil
Your favorite toppings, I used peppers and vidalia onions
1 slice of mozzeralla cheese for each mushroom
parmesean or romano cheese for grating
pinch of crush red pepper flakes
Fresh basil, finely sliced


Turn your oven onto 400 degrees to preheat.


In a large nonstick skillet, heat a small amount of olive oil.  Put in as many mushroom as will fit in the pan.  Cook the mushrooms flipping a couple of times until they are softened.  If you don't cook them ahead of time, they'll still be raw when you go to eat them, blech!  Continue cooking your mushrooms until you have them all precooked.


Place the mushrooms in a baking dish that is large enough to hold them all.  It needs to be at least 1" deep since there will be lots of juice, not a bad thing!
Top each mushroom with some of the tomato sauce, add a pinch of salt and crushed red pepper.  Add a few threads of the sliced basil.  Cover each mushroom with a slice of mozzerella.  Top with your favorite pizza fixins.  Add some parmesean if you like.  Pop in the oven for 15 minutes or so, or until they are nicely browned.


They don't make a crisp pizza, but the flavor is incredible.