Why a Campfire Suits Vegetarian Cooking

Cooking over flames has a reputation for being all sausages and burgers, but the fire itself is wonderfully democratic. A bed of glowing embers will roast a whole aubergine until its skin blackens and its flesh collapses into something silky, toast a flatbread in seconds, and give halloumi a crackling golden crust that no domestic grill quite manages. Vegetarian food actually thrives in this setting, because so much of it is at its best when it is charred, smoked and slightly imperfect.

The trick is preparation. A campfire is a poor place to be chopping onions on a wobbly picnic table while the light fades. If you do the fiddly work at home — the slicing, the marinating, the parcelling — you arrive at the pitch with everything ready to lay on the coals. That shift, from cooking outdoors to simply assembling outdoors, is what turns a stressful supper into the best part of the day.

Prep at Home: The Saturday Morning Hour

Give yourself an hour in the kitchen before you leave, and the whole trip becomes easier. Most of what follows travels happily in a cool box for a day or two.

• Chop and bag: peppers, courgettes, red onion and mushrooms, all cut to a uniform 3cm, so they cook at the same rate.
• Marinate: whisk olive oil, lemon juice, crushed garlic, dried oregano and a pinch of salt into a jar. Pour over the vegetables and halloumi in separate bags.
• Cook the chilli base: fry onion, garlic, cumin and smoked paprika at home, add tinned tomatoes and two tins of beans, and simmer for twenty minutes. Cool it, then freeze it flat in a sealed bag. It doubles as an ice block in the cool box and defrosts by the fire.
• Pack dry goods separately: foil, skewers, salt, a small bottle of oil, and a heatproof glove.

Soak wooden skewers in water for at least half an hour before packing, or buy metal ones and never think about it again.

Foil-Wrapped Vegetables: The Reliable Workhorse

Foil parcels are the beginner's friend because they forgive inattention. Build a double layer of foil for each portion — a single sheet tears and leaks, and you will lose the juices that make the dish worth eating. Pile in your marinated vegetables, add a handful of cherry tomatoes and a few slices of butter, then fold the foil tightly with a crimped seam along the top so steam cannot escape.

Place the parcels directly on embers that have stopped flaming — you want grey ash over a deep orange glow, which takes roughly twenty-five to thirty minutes from a good blaze. Turn them once after fifteen minutes. They are ready when the foil puffs up and the vegetables yield to a skewer. New potatoes, sliced thick and parboiled at home, work beautifully alongside; sweetcorn cobs with the husks on need no wrapping at all.

Open the parcels carefully, away from your face, because the steam is fierce. A squeeze of lemon and a scatter of crumbled feta finishes them properly.

Halloumi Skewers That Hold Together

Halloumi is the vegetarian camper's greatest ally because it keeps its shape and squeaks rather than melts. Cut a block into 3cm cubes and thread them onto skewers alternating with peppers, red onion and cherry tomatoes. Leave a little space between pieces so the heat can circulate, and don't press halloumi too tightly against the skewer or it will split.

Grill the skewers over the flames rather than in them, holding them about 10cm above the embers and turning every minute or so. They need six to eight minutes; you are looking for a deep bronze crust on each face. Brush with the reserved marinade as they cook, but not in the first couple of minutes — oil dripping into flames causes flare-ups that taste of soot.

If you have a grill grate, lay it across two logs or stones and use that. If not, skewers propped on a forked stick work perfectly well, and children tend to enjoy the responsibility enormously.

Smoky Bean Chilli Over the Coals

A pot of chilli is the one dish that genuinely improves on a fire. Rest your defrosted chilli base in a cast-iron pot or a heavy saucepan on a low trivet over embers, not flames. Let it come to a gentle bubble and hold it there for twenty minutes, stirring occasionally with a long spoon.

Just before serving, stir through a handful of chopped coriander and a spoonful of cocoa powder, which deepens the colour and adds a quiet richness nobody can quite identify. Serve with rice cooked on a separate burner, or — better — with foil-wrapped flatbreads warmed at the edge of the fire and torn straight into the bowl.

Add a splash of water if it thickens too far. It is far easier to loosen a chilli than to rescue one that has caught on the base of the pot.

Practical Firecraft and Packing Notes

• Cook on embers, not flames. Flames blacken food before it cooks through; embers give steady, even heat.
• Test the heat with your hand at cooking height: two seconds is fierce, five is moderate, ten is gentle.
• Bring a trivet or two flat stones to lift pots off the coals and control the temperature.
• Pack out everything. Foil, skewers and food scraps go home with you, not into the fire pit.
• Check the site rules on open fires and disposable barbecues before you travel; many places ask you to use a raised fire bowl.

Do the chopping at home, keep the cooking simple, and let the fire do the work. A plate of charred halloumi and smoky beans, eaten outdoors as the light goes, is one of the great pleasures of a cabin weekend.