Session 4 Theme at Camp Natoma: Outerspace
Campers: 113
Staff: 23
Over the past 10 years, there hasn't been a group of campers as big as the one we fed this week. Cooking for 136 people was definitely more exhausting and challenging than previous weeks, but we survived. Breakfast was probably the hardest meal because of the mass quantities of food to be cooked or baked with limited griddle and oven space. However, it was rewarding learning that I was exposing people to new foods, such as rainbow chard.
Several of the campers even asked for some of my recipes, such as the kale black bean brownies and whole wheat buttermilk pancakes.
I was blown away by the beauty of the rainbow chard from the food bank. Just look at those striated stems! I served it raw in a couple different chard salads. I love sautéed chard, but it cools down quite quickly and we lacked the golden raisins and nuts that are needed for visual appeal. People really liked my salad with a lemon vinaigrette, grated carrots, and chopped apples.
We serve oatmeal at every breakfast and have been using leftover oatmeal in oatmeal cake. This session, in addition to oatmeal cake, we used leftovers in some yummy oatmeal-blueberry muffins. I loved their rustic tops which got perfectly crisped in our little oven. (The little oven at camp gets super hot and cooks baked goods in about half the time of a normal oven. The big oven on the other hand, never gets hot enough.)
We cooks get our own nook because the camp directors know that if the cooks aren't happy, the food won't be good, and in turn, everyone will become grumpy. The 4 of us sleep outside on a deck and keep our stuff inside. We also have access to the only shower in camp with hot and cold water. Living for 6 weeks at camp would be much less enjoyable without the rustic comforts provided by our special nook.
We started making pancakes at 6:15 am and finished all 300 by 8 am. However when we made them again on Friday, we decided to set up an assembly line which made prep much faster and we whipped out the same amount of pancakes quite a bit faster. One little boy even wanted the recipe because he liked our pancakes better than the fluffy, white ones his mom makes. Cooks at Camp Natoma typically use pancake mix, but our from-scratch pancakes taste so much better.
I wanted to do something with carrots besides serving them as a raw side veggie on hamburger day, so I made this soup highlighting ingredients mostly acquired from the food bank, such as a 50 lb. bag of carrots, 25 lb. bag of red onions, and a small tub of tahini. The aromas that wafted from the flattop while the onions and garlic cooked with the spices smelled heavenly, and everyone who tried the soup really liked it.
If I had an industrial size food processor or blender, this soup would have been a breeze to make. However, I just had a normal one and spent about a half hour puréeing multiple small batches. But the results were worth it!
Carrot Tahini Soup
16 oz onion (about 2), chopped
6 cloves garlic
1 tsp salt
1/2 black pepper
1/2 tsp ground coriander
1/2 tsp ground cumin
1/2 tsp turmeric
2 lb. carrots, chopped
6 c water
1/4 c tahini
In a pot, cook chopped onions until translucent. Add garlic and cook until golden. Stir in spices, salt, and pepper, & cook about 1 minute to let the spices bloom.
Add chopped carrots and sauté 2-3 min, then add water, increase heat, and bring to a boil. Cover with lid and cook until carrots are soft. Take off heat and stir in tahini. Blend the soup in a food processor. Garnish with pumpkin or sesame seeds or mint. Serves about 6.
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