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Easy Dutch Oven Chorizo and Egg Bake

2/20/2016

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PictureChorizo and egg bake--I don't usually use metal on my cast iron, but I forgot my usual spatula
This turned out so good!  And, it's only 3 ingredients!  

Ingredients:
  • a pack of your favorite chorizo 
  • 8-12 eggs (depends on you eggy you like it add less or more depending on how you like your meat vs egg ratio
  • shredded cheddar cheese (roughly a cup)

Directions:
  • I started with about 8 coal briquettes under the dutch oven
  • add the chorizo and brown all the way through
  • add the eggs, break yolks up and mix together with the chorizo, making sure the eggs are evenly distributed throughout the chorizo
  • add cheese and mix in--I like to reserve a little of the cheese to melt on the top right before it's done
  • ​cover with the dutch oven lid
  • add about 16 briquettes to the lid
  • I rotated the oven a quarter turn to the right and the lid a quarter to the left every 5 minutes to help with event baking
  • bake for roughly 25 minutes, but keep an eye on it. I wait until the eggs pull away from the sides of the Dutch Oven but before it starts turning too brown. I also stick a toothpick in the middle to ensure the middle is getting cooked too.
  • When it's pretty much done, I add my reserved cheese and place the lid back on, it usually takes about 30 seconds to get a nice melty cheese on top.

Slice up and enjoy 
This recipe serves about 4 people. 



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Dutch Oven Loaded Cornbread!

6/2/2015

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Cornbread tends to be a Dutch oven staple. It's something  that people love to bake in a Dutch oven, which stands to reason since stews and chilli are also very popular Dutch oven recipes and cornbread goes so well with those dishes.

Well we have a super yummy Dutch oven loaded cornbread recipe for you today!  It has lots of good stuff, corn, tomatoes, chilies, cheese and even bacon, yep that's right yummy, crispy, bacon!

Ingredients:
  • 1 box of cornbread mix or make your own which is preferable 
  • 2 Tbsp butter
  • ~3 ears of corn (cut the kernels off, discard cobs)
  • package of bacon, cooked crispy the chopped into bits
  • 1 cup of diced tomato 
  • 1 medium to large chilly finely diced
  • 1/2-1 cup shredded cheddar cheese (depending on how cheesy you like it)
  • salt & pepper to taste
Directions:
  • Get your coals ready however you like to do so
  • put about 10 coals out and heat up your Dutch oven an melt 2 tbs of butter in the oven. Add your corn kernels and cook until they are a nice golden yellow.
  • In a bowl, mix your cornbread batter according to the box or your favorite recipe.
  • add corn, bacon, tomatoes, chilly and shredded cheese and mix well
  • If the oven is not still nice and buttery from the corn add some more. make sure there is a nice thin layer of butter on the bottom and edges of the oven
  • add your batter to the oven
  • I like to sprinkle some of the shredded cheese on top to give it a nice cheesy crust on top
  • Especially for baking you want fewer coals on the bottom than on the top so you you don't burn the bottom of your bread.
  • For cornbread I typically back at 350 degrees, so that means 17 coals on the top and 8 on the bottom--usually, but I keep an eye on it and adjust if necessary.  I wouldn't put more than 8 on the bottom though, you'll likely burn it
  • bake for ~25 minutes the top should be evenly golden and the bread should be pulling off the sides of the oven, use a toothpick in the center.
  • One trick for backing in a Dutch oven is to rotate the oven 1/4 turn to the right and the lid 1/4 to the left every 5-10 minutes depending on the bake time.  This helps to ensure even baking.  You also want to make sure the coals are evenly dispersed on both the top and the bottom.



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Dutch Oven Shrimp Orzo

4/13/2015

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Picture
This is a pretty simple recipe and it turns out tasty too!  I decided to go with this recipe because we had a bag of orzo in our pantry that I had absolutely no idea what to do with. We were headed to the family ranch for Easter and we decided it would be fun to bring the Dutch Oven and make something in it to share for Easter dinner. So I looked up a few orzo recipes and found some with shrimp that sounded pretty good.  The inspiration for this recipe comes from: http://damndelicious.net/2014/08/15/one-pot-lemon-orzo-shrimp/ I made a few changes, mostly not adding the peas, it called for frozen peas, no thanks, but add them if you like them.

And I forgot to take a picture of the final product again, so the old Dutch oven and coal photo will have to do.

Ingredients:
  • 1 pound medium shrimp, peeled and deveined
  • salt and pepper, to taste
  • 1 tablespoon olive oil
  • 3 cloves garlic, minced
  • 1 onion, diced
  • 1/2 teaspoon dried oregano
  • 8 ounces orzo pasta
  • 2 cups chicken broth
  • 1 (14.5-ounce) can diced tomatoes, drained
  • Juice of 1 lemon
  • 1/4 cup grated Parmesan cheese

Directions: 
  • Get your coals going, however you like to do so.
  • Lay out enough coals so you can heat the olive oil in your Dutch oven at about medium high heat. Add garlic, onion and oregano, and cook, stir often, until onions are translucent, ~3 minutes. Stir in orzo and brown, ~2 minutes.
  • Stir in chicken broth and 1/2 cup water. Bring to a boil; cover, reduce heat and simmer until pasta is cooked, about ~13 minutes. Stir in tomatoes, lemon juice and shrimp. Sprinkle with Parmesan.
  • Place coals on bottom and the lid so the oven will be ~400 degrees, bake until shrimp are cooked through, about ~14 minutes.
  • Serve and enjoy! Oh, and I set the parmesan out when people were eating so they could add more if they wanted it extra cheesy. 


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Dutch Oven Potatoes and Sausage

3/7/2015

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This delicious recipe is one  of my go to dutch oven or even regular oven meals. I make it ALL OF THE TIME--such an easy favorite. I made it at a group camp-out that hosted a Dutch Oven Cook-off and got third place with it!  I was surprised since, it's such a straight forward, simple recipe.

Ingredients:
  • ~1 Tablespoon Extra Virgin Olive Oil
  • ~8 small potatoes--i like to do a mix of colors (Trader Joe's bags of potatoes with the red, yellow and purple potatoes make for a good mix), cubed 
  • 1 onion, diced
  • ~3 cloves of garlic, minced 
  • 1 pack of sweet Italian sausage links, cut into hunks

And that's it--for my award winning recipe I only used the above ingredients.

All though, I like to mix it up once in awhile and add a variety of  veggies depending upon my mood, below are a few examples
  • 1 large sweet potato, cubed
  • 1 small butternut squash, cubed
  • 1/2 bunch of asparagus, cut into 1 1/2 inch lengths
  • 3 beets, cubed--be aware, adding beets does tend to turn the whole dish pink
  • whatever else you think will go well with potatoes and sausage

Directions:
  • heat dutch-oven to roughly 400 degrees Fahrenheit 
  • I typically separate the ingredients into slow baking and quick baking items
  • I toss both groups (separately) in olive oil, salt and pepper
  • I add the slow baking veggies to my dutch-oven, the slow baking items typically includes the potatoes, sweet potatoes, onions and garlic
  • bake for ~ 30 minutes or until the potatoes are just starting to get tender, stir occasionally 
  • add the rest of the veggies and the sausage and bake for another ~40 minutes , stir occasionally
  • once the potatoes and sausage are done and the veggies are to a tenderness that you like, it's done
  • serve up and enjoy!!!!
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Dutch Oven Jambalaya

1/31/2015

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Picture
View of the Smoke Creek Desert and the Buffalo Hills from the steep slope of Granite Peak.
Last weekend we went camping with some friends at the base of the Granite Range near Gerlach, NV. We wanted to hike up Granite Peak, but we got a late start and it was super steep so we ended up hiking about two-thirds of the way up. And, although the morning was fairly chilly at 15° F, it was a fun, beautiful and way too warm of a weekend.

Since we were camping, I decided it was a good weekend to breakout the dutch oven, I haven't used it in a while and I love cooking in it.  I decided to make a sausage and shrimp jambalaya.  It was delicious on a chilly night and I made enough that we heated some up in the morning, threw it in a thermos and enjoyed it for lunch on our hike.  I forgot to take pictures of the food, I'll try to remember to do that in the future.

Ingredients:
  • Olive oil
  • ~1/2 lb Smoked sausage
  • ~1 lb Shrimp, peeled and deveined
  • 1 medium onion, chopped
  • 1 bell pepper, chopped
  • 1 cup uncooked white rice
  • 1 (14.5 ounce) can diced tomatoes
  • 2 cloves garlic, minced
  •  box of broth (4 cups), your choice--can use water too
  • 2 bay leaves
  • 1/4 teaspoon dried thyme
  • 1/4 teaspoon Cayenne pepper--adjust to your spicy level
Directions:
  1. Heat the olive oil in a Dutch oven. Add sausage, and cook for ~2 minutes. Add the onion and bell pepper; season with salt, thyme and cayenne. Cook and stir until the vegetables are soft, ~7 minutes.
  2. Stir in the rice until evenly mixed into the vegetable mixture, then add the tomatoes with juice, garlic, chicken broth and bay leaves. Bring to a simmer and simmer for ~25 minutes.
  3. After simmering, stir in the shrimp, and cook ~10 minutes uncovered until the shrimp turn pink and are no longer translucent in the center.
  4. Remove the pot from the heat, and let stand ~5 minutes. Discard the bay leaves before serving.
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