Recipes for 12

[Anniesantiago]

Do any if you have any simple stovetop recipes that would feed 12 hungry pilgrims?
I just secured a hospitalera position for the first two weeks of June at San Anton!
That settled my "what to do the last two weeks" question.

I love this albergue and I'm very excited!
San Anton was one of my favorites on my first Camino.
No electricity. No hot water. 12 beds in the ruins. Lovely.

I can make a pot of caldo gallego but would like to hear about other good options.
:::happy dance:::

 

[peregrina2000]

Hi, Annie,
I had a conversation along those lines with koilife and others a while back: https://www.caminodesantiago.me/com...ike-koilife-in-the-kitchen.25231/#post-198498

I am not an intuitive cook and I need recipes, and there are some great ideas on that thread!

 

[Anniesantiago]

Hi, Annie,
I had a conversation along those lines with koilife and others a while back: https://www.caminodesantiago.me/com...ike-koilife-in-the-kitchen.25231/#post-198498

I am not an intuitive cook and I need recipes, and there are some great ideas on that thread!

Thanks Laurie!

 

[scruffy1]

Cooking for twelve people is not the problem. One night there will be 12 - the next 2 - and you won't even know until say 1830? Somebody wandering in as you are doing the dishes say 2130? In March the great outdoors is a wonderful place for leftovers but that won't work in June no refriderator! Pasta? By the time most pilgrims reach San Anton they have already consumed 7 kilos and more go easy so maybe go for lasagne? The precooked stuff can be made to work on a stove top. A pot of stuffed peppers/squash with rice and a lot of herbs, spinach, toasted almonds will keep for another day maybe two but whatchythe rice it will ferment and spoil in the heat. Salt cod was always the answer to no electricity today very expensive. Chorizo? San Anton attracts an alarming number of vegitarians so careful there. Italian style frittata can hold anything meat or vegetable and a welcome change from the Spanish omlette. Watch the eggs, only buy a dozen at a time they also don't like the heat. Ask your guests, there is often a chef/cook hiding in the pilgrim woodpile, plenty of ideas and help there. Potatoes are a good option, bangers and mash with chorizos, add a turnip for body or fried squash or aubergine sticks for your vegetarians, watch the cheese? The vegans are coming!!! Lastly do ask about alegeries, nuts, gluten etc may cut short a pilgrimage.

 

[HeidiL]

If you buy (or bring) a cheap stick blender, you can make any number of cheap and filling soups. Vegetable stock cubes, potatoes, garlic, any kind of onion/leek/cheeves, any extra vegetable. Serve with grated cheese, chopped ham, hard-boiled eggs, chickpeas, yoghurt or sour cream, croutons made of yesterday's dry bread...

 

[mla1]

The gites in France serve fabulous lentil stews all along the LePuy route, usually with regional sausages. And sometimes they just served roasted or steamed vegetables, salad and sausages - so very easy to cook - and to adjust for numbers. I am not a vegetarian but I live with one - - you would make some peregrinos very happy if you were to cook vegetarian food.

 

[Anniesantiago]

Cooking for twelve people is not the problem. One night there will be 12 - the next 2 - and you won't even know until say 1830? Somebody wandering in as you are doing the dishes say 2130? .

Oh Scruffy! I can cook the heck out of salt cod, and hadn't even thought of that.
I guess if they don't eat fish, they can eat a salad.
Seems like the night we stayed there, we had macaroni and cheese with tuna in it and I was just happy to eat.
Thanks!

 

[Anniesantiago]

If you buy (or bring) a cheap stick blender, you can make any number of cheap and filling soups. Vegetable stock cubes, potatoes, garlic, any kind of onion/leek/cheeves, any extra vegetable. Serve with grated cheese, chopped ham, hard-boiled eggs, chickpeas, yoghurt or sour cream, croutons made of yesterday's dry bread...

No electricity You mean the crank kind?

 

[naplesdon]

I was there last year for two weeks with Oliver. He is a master chef when it comes to candle light dinners at San Anton. He worked there for 6 weeks last summer. He tends to gravitate to pasta dishes with vegetables and makes a memorable spaghetti aioli. We also did a few potato dishes. You are going to be limited to the food supplies that Ovidio delivers every few days and his shopping is limited by the amount of donations that are left by the visiting pilgrims. Not every night is a full house, so don't be surprised it's dinner for one once and a while.
I stopped there a second time in August and was told the two hospitaleros were into rice dishes and vegetable paellas.
There is a farmers' market in Castrojeriz once a week with cheese, chorizo and vegetable vendors but it means walking or riding the bike there and toting what you had enough money to buy back to the refugio.
Salads, if we had the ingredients, were very popular on really hot days with tuna and olive oil.
I learned today that I will be back there as a hospitalero from 14 to 24 June.
You can probably get in contact with Oliver through Reb. I heard he was working at Bruno's in Moratinos the last time I asked about him.
Enjoy your stay at San Anton, it is a wonderful experience.

 

[gypsywind]

Do any if you have any simple stovetop recipes that would feed 12 hungry pilgrims?
I just secured a hospitalera position for the first two weeks of June at San Anton!
That settled my "what to do the last two weeks" question.

I love this albergue and I'm very excited!
San Anton was one of my favorites on my first Camino.
No electricity. No hot water. 12 beds in the ruins. Lovely.

I can make a pot of caldo gallego but would like to hear about other good options.
:::happy dance:::

I am a chef, and can give you a ton of ideas if you would like!

 

[Anniesantiago]

I was there last year for two weeks with Oliver. He is a master chef when it comes to candle light dinners at San Anton. He worked there for 6 weeks last summer. He tends to gravitate to pasta dishes with vegetables and makes a memorable spaghetti aioli. We also did a few potato dishes. You are going to be limited to the food supplies that Ovidio delivers every few days and his shopping is limited by the amount of donations that are left by the visiting pilgrims. Not every night is a full house, so don't be surprised it's dinner for one once and a while.
I stopped there a second time in August and was told the two hospitaleros were into rice dishes and vegetable paellas.
There is a farmers' market in Castrojeriz once a week with cheese, chorizo and vegetable vendors but it means walking or riding the bike there and toting what you had enough money to buy back to the refugio.
Salads, if we had the ingredients, were very popular on really hot days with tuna and olive oil.
I learned today that I will be back there as a hospitalero from 14 to 24 June.
You can probably get in contact with Oliver through Reb. I heard he was working at Bruno's in Moratinos the last time I asked about him.
Enjoy your stay at San Anton, it is a wonderful experience.

Thanks!
Looks like I'll be there the two weeks before you!
I have to leave on the 14th to get back to Madrid.
I'm really excited!
I know it'll be fine, just poking around for recipes.

 

[naplesdon]

Thanks!
Looks like I'll be there the two weeks before you!
I have to leave on the 14th to get back to Madrid.
I'm really excited!
I know it'll be fine, just poking around for recipes.

I definitely do not want to lower your expectations. I felt the same way last year before I got there with hip pocket of recipe ideas. Reality bites, the resources are limited and the lack of refrigeration renders ideas of yogurt, etc. pretty much useless.

 

[Saint Mike II]

Hola Annie - I can vouch for the role of kitchen assistant - I was one at Morantinos. As for recipes I agree with earlier comments come prepared with some "starters" and go from there. In this day with more and more people opting for vegetarian lifestyle a vegetable pasta dish or vegetable "curry" is one that can be quickly and easily "whipped up" and extended. I would bring from home or buy at the nearest large town (Burgos?) a supply of garlic (ajo); chillies (fresh is best, but dried or powdered are ok) - any other spices you are familiar with would also be useful. You should be able to obtain the basic vegetables - onions. carrots, leeks and tomatoes (fresh or canned) and potatos and a couple of packets of rice and/or pasta - any variety will do!. If the budget stretches then add some meat/chicken/fish.
Check out some of the recipes posted on the link above and do some practice cooking at home before you leave. I am sure you have 4 or 5 friends who will act as guinea pigs or tester/tasters!!

Remember - whilst you might get sick of eating the same meal 3 or 4 or 5 times in 15 days, the hungry pilgrim will only get one opportunity to sample your cooking and they are not going to complain!! Good luck

 

[Anniesantiago]

Hola Annie - I can vouch for the role of kitchen assistant - I was one at Morantinos. As for recipes I agree with earlier comments come prepared with some "starters" and go from there. In this day with more and more people opting for vegetarian lifestyle a vegetable pasta dish or vegetable "curry" is one that can be quickly and easily "whipped up" and extended. I would bring from home or buy at the nearest large town (Burgos?) a supply of garlic (ajo); chillies (fresh is best, but dried or powdered are ok) - any other spices you are familiar with would also be useful. You should be able to obtain the basic vegetables - onions. carrots, leeks and tomatoes (fresh or canned) and potatos and a couple of packets of rice and/or pasta - any variety will do!. If the budget stretches then add some meat/chicken/fish.
Check out some of the recipes posted on the link above and do some practice cooking at home before you leave. I am sure you have 4 or 5 friends who will act as guinea pigs or tester/tasters!!

Remember - whilst you might get sick of eating the same meal 3 or 4 or 5 times in 15 days, the hungry pilgrim will only get one opportunity to sample your cooking and they are not going to complain!! Good luck
Remember you probably only need to be able to prepare 2 or 3 different dishes - you might be sick of the same meal 4 or 5 times in the 15 days but for the pilgrim it will be their only time to sample your cooking.
emember you probably only need to be able to prepare 2 or 3 different dishes - you might be sick of the same meal 4 or 5 times in the 15 days but for the pilgrim it will be their only time to sample your cooking.

Thanks Mike.
I'll be sure to try to nab some supplies on my way.
I'm a pretty good cook. Just was looking for new ideas.
And maybe my fellow hospitalero/a will want the job.
We'll play it by ear.
I'd be happy with Sopa de Ajo every meal!

 

[Kanga]

@Anniesantiago how great that you are in for this challenge - I am still trying to work out the logistics of a camino this year but I'd love to see you. I agree with Mike - go with a couple of dishes only because only the hospitaleros will be there more than once.

 

[fraluchi]

Do any if you have any simple stovetop recipes that would feed 12 hungry pilgrims?[...]
No electricity. No hot water. 12 beds in the ruins. Lovely.[...]

Plenty of ideas have been suggested above. Remember that pilgrims are not in for a culinary experience, and at worst will chew on a toothpick!
Find out what ingredients are available (i.e. can be supplied and are "workable" under the limited circumstances) and take it from there without any frills. Mixed with your imagination and your enthusiasm your meals should satisfy any hungry pilgrim and "si Dios quiere" lead to this unexpected experience .

 

[annakappa]

As Scruffy writes, beware of keeping cooked rice. Without a frig, never, never serve it up the next day.

 

[zzotte]

A pot of Chili with beans will go well

Zzotte

 

[Urban Trekker]

Do any if you have any simple stovetop recipes that would feed 12 hungry pilgrims?
I just secured a hospitalera position for the first two weeks of June at San Anton!
That settled my "what to do the last two weeks" question.

I love this albergue and I'm very excited!
San Anton was one of my favorites on my first Camino.
No electricity. No hot water. 12 beds in the ruins. Lovely.

I can make a pot of caldo gallego but would like to hear about other good options.
:::happy dance:::

Snack Ramon. Just add Veggies, pepper sauce, and some chicken or sausage and your set. Collage students seem to thrive on it.

 

[GreatDane]

There is a farmers' market in Castrojeriz once a week with cheese, chorizo and vegetable vendors....

What day of the week is the market? And does it run in the spring? Early April? Or only in the summer? Thanks!

 

[GreatDane]

We eat a tasty, savory and filling dinner called "Crack Slaw". The filling part is the cooked down shredded cabbage, doesn't take too much protein per person and can be very flexible with the number of people it feeds - just add more shredded cabbage. I can PM you the recipe for 4 giant servings if you'd like. Oh and it doesn't need water to cook it.

 

[Anniesantiago]

We eat a tasty, savory and filling dinner called "Crack Slaw". I can PM you the recipe for 4 giant servings if you'd like. Oh and it doesn't need water to cook it.

yes please.

 

[Alan Pearce]

We eat a tasty, savory and filling dinner called "Crack Slaw". The filling part is the cooked down shredded cabbage, doesn't take too much protein per person and can be very flexible with the number of people it feeds - just add more shredded cabbage. I can PM you the recipe for 4 giant servings if you'd like. Oh and it doesn't need water to cook it.

Hi GD

Would you please PM me the recipe as well?

Alan

Be brave. Life is joyous.

 

[naplesdon]

What day of the week is the market? And does it run in the spring? Early April? Or only in the summer? Thanks!

If my memory serves me well, it was the final day I was at San Anton, so that would have been on a Friday and I would assume it is year round. Hopefully some one else can confirm my answer.

 

[GreatDane]

...it was the final day I was at San Anton, so that would have been on a Friday and I would assume it is year round...

If it's Friday I just might make it!!! My plan is to be in Castrojeriz on a Friday. I didn't run into any markets last trip.

 

[naplesdon]

If it's Friday I just might make it!!! My plan is to be in Castrojeriz on a Friday. I didn't run into any markets last trip.

There is a great market day on Thursdays in Estella. The meal del dia that day is sucking pig in many restaurants around the town square.

 

[GreatDane]

There is a great market day on Thursdays in Estella. The meal del dia that day is sucking pig in many restaurants around the town square.

Oh I love suckling pig! I think I was in Estella on a Saturday. Time for me to search on a market day on the camino calendar!!!

 

[Dennis Tam]

Hola Annie,
During my first Camino, I cooked for 10 pilgrims for a total of 25 Euros. The cost for each of us was 2.50 Euro, about the price for a cup of café con lache. We used a combination of can goods and fresh vegetable, whatever is available at the local tiny tienda. Since then on all my caminos I carried a little pouch of curry powder to add flavour to all the pilgrim meals I cooked for others (curried potatoes + local bread = easy yummy).
Here is what I cooked for 10 (easily for 12 as we gave the rest away):

Ensalada with canned chick pea, canned shredded carrot, canned corn, lettuce, (colourful, mix and serve)
Pasta sauce with zucchini, tomatoes, canned corn, onion, garlic (all in one pot)
Pasta (just boil and add sauce)
2 bottles of red
1 bottle of sparkling water
Water melon

The food was humble and nourish, but the company was a total of five stars!
Have fun and Buen Camino!

 

[Anniesantiago]

Hola Annie,


The food was humble and nourish, but the company was a total of five stars!
Have fun and Buen Camino!

I didn't know you could buy canned shredded carrots.
Sounds great.
Thanks Dennis

 

[Seeker43]

Do any if you have any simple stovetop recipes that would feed 12 hungry pilgrims?
I just secured a hospitalera position for the first two weeks of June at San Anton!
That settled my "what to do the last two weeks" question.

I love this albergue and I'm very excited!
San Anton was one of my favorites on my first Camino.
No electricity. No hot water. 12 beds in the ruins. Lovely.

I can make a pot of caldo gallego but would like to hear about other good options.
:::happy dance:::

I suggest a look at this recipe for a vegan dish which is very good with yoghurt on top for nonvegans ( and, at home, pomegranate seeds). Less onions is OK, more lentils is OK. Frying the rice and the spicing will allow it to be kept a day without refrigeration. Onions can be fried way ahead. And, by the way, eggs that have been layed recently keep quite awhile without refrigeration. Yoghurt makes itself easily, especially in warm climates, and keeps, though getting more sour in the process.
http://gu.com/p/2jz5h/sbl

 

[Albertagirl]

Could I make a couple of suggestions, as a vegetarian who walked the camino frances in the fall? If you are making a large vegetable curry. or other form of vegetable stew, as the base for the dinner, you will save time and work if you add cooked meat at a final stage, rather than making a second dish for vegetarians. Take out what you think you will need for vegetarians, then add meat if you want it to be a one dish meal. Please do not suggest that a vegetarian might want to eat the remains of a vegetable stew (which, unknown to me, had had most of the meat removed in serving the carnivores). This happened to me at Tosantos and I only discerned the remaining chorizo after taking a bite or two, and therefore threw out the rest of the dish full that I had served myself. I really hate waste and would have contented myself with my modest share of the vegetable dish prepared for the two vegetarians present, but I was hopeful and really hungry. By the way, if you can't guess how many vegetarians may show up and you have meat to add to the dish, it doesn't hurt to leave a fair bit without meat, because non-vegetarians who are hungry will happily eat it. Incidentally, my best meal of my camino was at Zabaldika, where a volunteer hospitalera from Cork served up an amazing, all vegetarian, meal for a large number of pilgrims, some of whom showed up when the food was already on the table. You folks are wonderful! Blessings on all hospitaleros/as, especially on those who cook.

 

[Madidi]

We eat a tasty, savory and filling dinner called "Crack Slaw". The filling part is the cooked down shredded cabbage, doesn't take too much protein per person and can be very flexible with the number of people it feeds - just add more shredded cabbage. I can PM you the recipe for 4 giant servings if you'd like.

Hi GD

Would you please PM me the recipe as well?

So we can expect 'Crack Slaw' at Rabanal in June if we are stopping there then Alan

Take care, be safe.

 

[dougfitz]

Nice tip, @Albertagirl, I used that approach when I was the duty cook on overlanding tours in my younger days.

As for Crack Slaw, here is my interpretation, made freshly this morning for breakfast (and some left-overs!). I seem to use much more carrot in mine than the recipes on the web call for, which gives it a bit more colour.

 

[Devon Mike]

I just secured a hospitalera position for the first two weeks of June at San Anton!
That settled my "what to do the last two weeks" question.
I love this albergue and I'm very excited!
San Anton was one of my favorites on my first Camino.
No electricity. No hot water. 12 beds in the ruins. Lovely.

@Anniesantiago what date do you arrive at San Anton?

 

[peregrina2000]

Oh I love suckling pig! I think I was in Estella on a Saturday. Time for me to search on a market day on the camino calendar!!!

Hi, GreatDane, don´t want to derail the thread but Melide has an amazing market every Sunday.

 

[Anniesantiago]

@Anniesantiago what date do you arrive at San Anton?

If I do it, I'll start around June 1.

 

[Kanga]

For those interesteD @dougfitz has just posted a compilation of information about market days in the resources section. you can find it here https://www.caminodesantiago.me/com...ys-on-the-camino-routes.449/update?update=356

 

[dougfitz]

For those interested @dougfitz has just posted a compilation of information about market days in the resources section. you can find it here https://www.caminodesantiago.me/com...ys-on-the-camino-routes.449/update?update=356

And if you want to help expand the list or correct any errors, there is a thread to do that here.

 

[Alan Pearce]

So we can expect 'Crack Slaw' at Rabanal in June if we are stopping there then Alan

Take care, be safe.

Only if you cook it - I will have my knife and fork ready!

Seriously, seeing you there in early June would be a treat. And we could talk about what a great cook Ruben ["Master Chef"] was.

Alan

Be brave. Life is joyous.

 

[Devon Mike]

If I do it, I'll start around June 1.

Might see you there then. I plan to stay there on the 31st of May.

 

[scruffy1]

Watch that cabbage, expectations of this vegatable from our American brethren differ greatly from say our Teutonic friends and there are those who drop on the floor from the smell of the stuff when cooking. Cabbage takes a light hand otherwise its overcooked and soggy, stir fried into a grey oblivion, or half raw-not always a bad thing. If made into a salad, there are those, and I'm not pointing fingers, who expect it to be sweet???!???

 

[Kiwi-family]

Just wondering.....is it left to the hospitalera's discretion as to how many people stay at San Nicolas? I know there are twelve beds, but we had that many people again spread out on the floor.

 

[Anniesantiago]

When I stayed there, only 12 pilgrims were allowed.
I would say you might NOT want extra pilgrims.
There are laws and you might be shut down.
Check with the Confraternity?