Today's finished meal:

After a day of hiking and exploring (okay, and napping in the afternoon), we were hungry and looking to recharge our energy so we could do a night hike. That night was not only a full moon, but it was also a super moon which means it was at or near its closest approach to earth. Add to that a lack of light pollution and some clear skies and we knew we were in for a full moon viewing treat.

We didn’t want to be weighed down with a heavy meal, so we choose a family favorite – grilled salmon. Our Farm Table delivery the week before had some amazing rainbow chard and spring onions, so I decided to work out a recipe to cook them in the dutch oven. I also had some celery which we’d brought for snacking and some fresh cilantro, also courtesy of the Farm Table. Sounding good already, isn’t it?

Ingredients for what should be a great meal

*Complete ingredient list follows at the end

Prep the fish:

Place fish on a piece of foil, or on a non-stick grill pan with the skin side down. Mince the garlic and finely chop two of the spring onions and about half of the cilantro. Mix together with the juice of half the lemon and salt and pepper to taste, then spread over the fish. Set aside.

The same topping for the salmon goes very well with tofu or mushrooms if you are looking for a vegetarian option.

Salmon cooking over the fire

Prep the Chard:

Chop the remaining two spring onions, the celery stalks and the stems from the swiss chard. Cut the chard leaves and the tomato into bite sized pieces.

Chopped and ready to go on the fire

Putting the meal together:

First I cooked the rice according to package directions. I used a liner in the dutch oven (made from parchment paper and available in the camping section of most stores that sell camping goods), put about 8 coals under the dutch oven and 8 on top, and the rice cooked in 15 minutes. I carefully pulled out the liner with the cooked rice in it and set aside in a bowl and kept it warm.

Rice cooking

I put another liner in the oven, and added some oil to it, and increased the heat of my oven by adding another couple of coals. As soon as the oil was hot I put in the chard stems, onions and celery and the salt and pepper, stirred once, then put the lid on. I then put the fish over the fire. We had a mix of seasoned oak and mesquite charcoal briquettes for a nice, fragrant and hot flame.

Our meal is cooking

After about 5 minutes the vegetables were tender, so I added the tomato and chard leaves, and replaced the lid. I also added a couple of pieces of charcoal to the top of the oven and checked the fish.

Within about 8 minutes the chard was done and the fish was finished a few minutes after that.

Patiently waiting

Serve with the remaining cilantro finely chopped and the rest of the lemon. This goes nicely with some ice cold lemonade.

Let's eat

You don't have to call me twice

The dutch oven liners make clean up very easy, so we were able to tidy up the campsite then head out for some night time exploration. The moon was just as beautiful as we imagined, and so bright it hurt our eyes.

1 plank of wild caught Alaskan salmon (no farm raised)

4 spring onions

4 cloves of garlic

1 tomato

1 lemon

1 whole bunch of swiss chard (pictured is rainbow chard - -isn’t it beautiful?)

1 bunch of cilantro

2 or 3 celery stalks

Salt and pepper to taste

1 package of seasoned rice mix * Not the healthiest, but sometimes I give my family a break

Extra Virgin Olive Oil