Campfire Cookin' - Pork Chile Verde

This past June, I had the distinct pleasure of taking a road trip with my brother, sister, and brother-in-law to a family reunion in Montana.  On the way there, we camped out in Yellowstone National Park.  Hooray for that!  It was my first ever time camping and I had a great time, although I froze my ass off that night, had to get up to pee at o'dark thirty (sans contact lenses, in an unheated bathroom that thankfully had a flush toilet but no hot water), and I'm pretty sure I was sleeping head-down on an incline.  >.<

That being said...when we began to plan our camping portions of the trip, I decided that it would be a blog-tacular culinary adventure to cook over a campfire.  I offered to make the food for our dinner in Yellowstone, and I had the perfect adaptable recipe from the March 2010 issue of Bon Appetit magazine- Pork and Poblano Tamale Pie.  I blogged this recipe previously as part of my Operation: Expand Horizons.

I made some changes to the recipe to make it a little simpler for campfire preparation, brought along my trusty Lodge cast iron Dutch oven and some nonperishable supplies, and bought the rest of the stuff in Cody, Wyoming, a charming little burg you'll want to visit some day.

The adaptations I made to the recipe were mostly to make the dish cheaper and easier to cook out of a cooler.  Instead of the scratch cornbread topping, I used a box of trusty Jiffy brand corn muffin mix and left out the cheese.  I omitted the freshly ground spices and opted for the simpler taste of the roasted peppers.  I didn't spring for any cilantro, and I used canned corn instead of frozen. 

It was simple and rustic and tasted freaking delicious, although my own tastes and the compliments I received may have been tinged somewhat with a healthy amount of road weariness and an overdose of convenience store snacks.  Either way, mission accomplished!

Supplies

Blurry picture- pretty sure it's my fault.

Dutch oven on the campfire

Sauteing the pork cubes in olive oil

Adding salsa verde, onions, garlic, water, and chicken bouillon cubes

Lazy girl's chile-roasting setup for 2 poblanos and 1 bell pepper

Peeling roasted peppers

Dicing roasted peppers

Adding corn and roasted peppers...looking good!

Cornbread topping.  If this was oven-baked, or perhaps buried in coals, the cornbread would brown.  Since we used the Dutch oven's lid and bottom heat, it steam-cooked and was light and fluffy.

We pretty much ate the whole pot.

I ate lots of roasted marshmallows for dessert!