Recipe

Nut & Dish Oil, and the Many Dishes That Follow, Made at Camp

May 20, 2022

Part of the reason for going camping is to taste something out of the ordinary, outdoors. A good many people feel that way.

The recipe here is an aromatic oil seasoning, built from the toasted note of nuts and the spice and herb flavour that Dish brings.

Nut & Dish Oil, and the Many Dishes That Follow, Made at Camp

We call it nut & Dish oil. Make this first, and a wide range of dishes becomes easy — rice, stir-fries, salad dressings, sauces for meat.

Food that tastes carefully made but is quick and easy to put together is exactly what camp cooking wants.

Cracking the nuts with the children, tap by tap, is worth doing in itself.

Dish blends we recommend for this camping recipe.

Ingredients for the nut & Dish oil

To make more, scale each quantity up by two, three, and so on.

Mixed nuts (or whichever nuts you like): about 40 g
Dish, whichever blend you like: 1 tsp
Olive oil: 3 tbsp
Salt: as needed

Method

Crush the nuts.

Put them in a zip-lock bag and bash them with the back of a knife or with a stick.
In a deep bowl — a sierra cup works well — put 1 tsp of Dish, whichever blend you like, and 3 tbsp of olive oil, and mix well.
Crush about 40 g of nuts, add them to step 2 and mix through.
Add the salt a little at a time, tasting as you go, until the seasoning is where you want it.
(Nuts may already be salted, which changes the balance, so leave this to the end.)

Dishes to make with the nut & Dish oil

Nut & Dish oil rice

Ingredients (serves 1)

Cooked rice: 200 g
Nut & Dish oil: about 2 scoops with a large spoon
Cherry tomatoes: 2
Basil (coriander also works well): as needed
Lemon juice: as needed
Salt: as needed

Method

Put about 2 large spoonfuls of nut & Dish oil into a frying pan and heat it over a low heat.
Once the oil is warm, add 200 g of cooked rice, 2 cherry tomatoes cut into quarters and finely chopped basil, and stir-fry together over a medium heat.
Taste, adjust with salt, squeeze over the lemon juice, and it is ready.

Stir-fried vegetables with nut & Dish oil

Ingredients

Vegetables and anything else you like: as needed
Nut & Dish oil: as needed
Salt: as needed

Method

Heat a frying pan with as much nut & Dish oil as you like in it, and stir-fry whatever vegetables and other ingredients you have chosen.
Taste, adjust with salt, and it is ready.

Chicken steak with nut & Dish oil

Ingredients (serves 1)

Chicken thigh: 1
Nut & Dish oil: as needed
Salt

Method

Rub as much nut & Dish oil as you like into both sides of 1 chicken thigh and leave it to rest for about 10 minutes.
Cook it however you prefer, starting skin side down, and make sure both sides are cooked through properly.
Taste, adjust with salt, and it is ready.

Those are only a few examples.

It is good poured over a salad, and very good added to an ajillo. Even a simple grilled sausage with a spoonful on top is excellent.

Nut & Dish Oil, and the Many Dishes That Follow, Made at Camp

When you cannot decide what to cook at camp, make the nut & Dish oil first and think from there. It is a seasoning that takes the pressure off, so do give it a try. Which Dish blend you put in changes the flavour of the finished dish a great deal, which is part of the pleasure.