Palomar Mountain News

 Folks have been cooking with dutch ovens on Palomar for decades.

Click for a dutch oven temperature chart. Really almost anything you do in an oven can be done in a dutch oven.

Per the chart, if you have a 12″ oven and something needs to bake at 350 degrees, you use 25 hot briquets (17 on the lid and 8 underneath). You may want to check things part way through and move briquets from top to bottom or vice versa if one part is getting more done than another and rotating the lid a quarter turn occasionally is a good idea.

Here are a couple of recipes. I haven’t made the dumplings but I have made all of the others before. The dump cake is a standard for the Boy Scouts.

Mountain man breakfasts are always a big hit. You can do a search for “mountain man and dutch oven or camp oven” and probably come up with one that hits your hot button.

Here are also a couple of blogs that I look to for inspiration:

http://roguedutchovencookers.blogspot.com/

http://dutchovenmadness.blogspot.com  she is trying to cook something everyday in her dutch ovens and she and her family grade the dish so at least you know whether it’s worth a try.

Have fun!

APPLE DUMPLINGS

Serving Size: 8 Ingredients:

2 whole Granny Smith Apples

2 cans (8 Oz. Cans) Crescent Rolls

2 sticks Butter

1- 1/2 cup Sugar

1 teaspoon Vanilla Cinnamon,

To Taste 1 can (12 Oz.) Mountain Dew Soda

Directions: Peel and core apples. Cut each apple into 8 slices each. Roll each apple slice in a crescent roll. Place in a 12″ buttered dutch oven. In an 8″ or 10″ DO, melt butter, then add sugar and barely stir. You will only need a few coals for this, I used 8, since you only need to melt the butter, not cook the mixture. Add vanilla and stir, you want the mixture lumpy and grainy, so just barely stir. Pour entire mixture over apples. Pour Mountain Dew around the edges of the pan. Sprinkle with cinnamon and bake at 350 degrees, using 10 coals on the bottom and 14 on top, for 40 minutes, or until the tops are golden. Serve with ice cream, and spoon some of the sweet sauces from the pan over the top. Serves 8. Notes: 12″ dutch oven

CHICKEN ENCHILADAS

Ingredients: 15-20 corn tortillas 2 cups cooked,

cubed chicken

1 lg. onion, chopped

3-4 cups shredded cheddar or Monterrey Jack cheese

1 can sliced olives

For the sauce: 1 cup butter

1 1/2 cups flour

3/4 cup chili powder (Don’t be scared, it isn’t spicy!)

1 teaspoon cumin

1 teaspoon cayenne or to taste

4 quarts chicken stock or broth

Directions: 12″ dutch oven

For the sauce, melt the butter in a large stock pot.  Add the flour and cook slowly for about 5 minutes. Gradually add the stock. Add the seasonings. Bring to a boil and cook until it starts to thicken up. Reduce heat and simmer for 45 minutes. Assembly: Dip each tortilla in the sauce. Place in the DO and add cheese, a few pieces of chicken, onions and 2-3 olive slices. Roll up and place in pan seam side down in a single layer. Repeat for the remaining tortillas. It is a bit messy. When the pan starts to get full, just put the dipped tortilla on top of the rolled up enchiladas to put in the filling ingredients. When the DO is filled, pour some sauce over the top, and top with remaining chicken, onions, olives and cheese. Bake at 350* for 20-25 minutes or until bubbly and the cheese is melted. I used 10 coals on the bottom and 14 on top. Serves 12-14. **This makes a lot of sauce! It makes enough for about 3- 9 x 13 pans or 12″ DOs full. The sauce freezes well, just thaw in the refrigerator and bring to a boil until it is smooth to use it.

DEILCIOUS DUMP CAKE

Ingredients: 1 can (20 ounces) crushed pineapple with juice, undrained

1 can (21 ounces) cherry pie filling 

1 package yellow cake mix

1 cups chopped nuts

1 1/2 sticks butter

1 tsp cinnamon

Directions: Dump cherry pie filling and crushed pineapple into dutch oven. Stir together. Sprinkle cake mix over the top of the fruit. Spread nuts over top. Slice butter and distribute over the surface of the cake mix or melt and pour evenly over cake mix. Bake at 350 degrees for 45 minutes to 1 hour.

MOUNTAIN MONKEY BREAD

Ingredients: 1/2 cup brown sugar 2 sticks of butter (1 cup)

2-3 teaspoons cinnamon 3 cans of Buttermilk Biscuits (the non-flaky ones)

1 cup sugar Bundt cake pan or dutch oven

Directions: PreHeat – 350° Preheat the oven to 350°. Open up all 3 cans of biscuits and cut each biscuit into quarters. Next, combine the white sugar with 2-3 teaspoons of cinnamon. Dump these into a 1 gallon zip lock bag. Drop all of the biscuit pieces into the cinnamon-sugar mixture. Seal the bag and give it a vigorous shake to coat all of the pieces. Spread the pieces out evenly in a bundt pan. Melt the 2 sticks of butter together with the brown sugar in a saucepan over medium high heat. Cook the mixture, stirring for a few minutes until the two become one. Pour it over the biscuits. Bake for 30-40 minutes until the crust is a deep brown on top. Cool for 15-30 minutes then turn it over onto a plate.

Enjoy!

Submitted by one of our neighbors who would like to be anonymous but is well-known for delicious campfire cooking!  THANKS from all of us Mountain folks!