One of the things I love the most about camping is the food. A lot of people have their staples that they make when they are camping. Then there are people like @mrsbozz and I who pretty much make the same things we would make any other day (with a few exceptions).
Even though we are camping we always have a proper vegetable with dinner. Broccoli, asparagus, brussels sprouts, you name it, we often have it. That doesn't mean we don't enjoy the occasional hot dog roasted over the fire as a midnight snack!
This weekend our camping trip took a bit of a different turn when my friend booked the site next to us and brought along his full sized Weber Kettle to play around with.
These are a recipe he found online called "shotgun shells". It's basically a manicotti noodle stuffed with pork sausage and shredded cheese then wrapped in bacon and smoked on the grill for a couple of hours.
I have to admit, I wasn't quite sure what to expect at first, but I think they turned out pretty fantastic.
All that being said, they were a tad greasy for my tastes. While the fat from the sausage and bacon plays a key roll in softening the noodle to a point it doesn't break your teeth when you bite down into it, I think there need to be a sweet bbq sauce or something to cut the fat.
Overall, the shotgun shells were a success. @mrsbozz was already trying to think of ways she could "trim them down" to make them not quite so bad for you. Something like par-boiling the noodles and using a less fatty chicken sausage or something like that. I'd probably add veggies into the cheese/sausage mixture like peppers and onions.
With shotgun shells out of the way, my buddy decided his next cook was going to be "burnt ends". While these are typically made with brisket, my friend decided to go the "poor mans" burnt ends route and used a chuck roast that you see here.
While the rest of us made our way to the beach, he manned the grill and kept an eye on the chuck roast. Normally I would have helped him out, but I haven't been to the beach in quite some time, so I decided to hang out with the ladies for once.
He was running his grill at a bit higher temperature than most smokes, so he was able to cook the piece meat in a pretty reasonable amount of time. He did say he wished he had let it go a bit longer, but I don't think he was too upset about it.
After pulling it off the grill he sliced the roast up into cubes and then tossed them with some special seasonings and sauce and returned them to the smoker for another hour and a half or so.
I had my own ribeye steak for dinner, but I was more than happy to walk over to their campsite and check out the finished product. I tried it out, and it was indeed very tasty. He asked me what I thought and since I have never had authentic burnt ends, I didn't really have anything to compare it to. I let him know that and if these are considered poor mans burnt ends, I'd love to try the real thing some day!
They had them the next day at lunch for leftovers and he actually mentioned they seem to get better the more you reheat them. Good to know for the future!
It was a fantastic weekend of great food. I got to have some big breakfasts in the morning completed with a bagel, bacon, and sunny side up eggs. I even got to have some treats too which I will talk about more in a later post!
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