Just back from the most fabulous weekend at the Sisterhood Camp where I did my first cooking demo.  Cooking over an open fire and making five jugs of cocktails, how’s that for setting the bar high for a first event!

Sisterhood Camp is a weekend of learning new skills, enjoying nature and relaxing with fellow sisters.  The venue this year was at the wonderful Fforest, Manorafon site, West Wales.   I came away feeling relaxed, happy, uplifted, nurtured and that I had found a certain magic.  The perfect retreat.

My demo was campfire cooking, cocktail making and an insight to our beach hut life.  You know what? I thoroughly enjoyed it, so much so that a YouTube channel is coming soon.

Over the next few posts I will be sharing the food and cocktails I made for the Sisterhood Camp lunch.  Firstly, my campfire dish – Shakshuka, a rich, spicy dish of onions, peppers and tomatoes with eggs poached in the cooking liquour then I scatter over crumbled feta and freshly chopped parsley to give the dish a fresh lively finish.  Depending which cookbook/website you read, Shakshuka comes from Turkey, Morocco or Libya but where ever it lays its head, beach hut life is its home.

Shakshuka (feeds 8)

3 tablespoons olive oil

2 large onions, peeled and finely sliced

3 garlic cloves, peeled and crushed

2 large red peppers, seeded and thinly sliced

1 teaspoon ground cumin

1 scant teaspoon chilli flakes – more if you like it hotter

1 teaspoon of smoked paprika

1/2 teaspoon of each of sea salt and freshly ground black pepper

1 bay leaf

4 large sprigs of fresh thyme, leaves stripped

2 x tins 400g plum tomatoes

200g feta cheese, crumbed

8 eggs

Large bunch fresh parsley, finely chopped

Although I cooked this on an open fire you can cook this quite happily on a regular cooking stove at home or on a camping gas burner.

First get your pan hot with oil hot and add the onions and peppers then lower the heat so everything cooks over a medium heat and after five minutes add the garlic and continue cooking for a total of 20 minutes until the onions and peppers are soft and coloured but not charred.  Add the spices and herbs and cook through for another five minutes.

Add the tomatoes and cook for 20 minutes until thick.  Make a series to dips with the back of a spoon in the sauce and carefully crack an egg into each one.  Cook until just set, this can take a good 10 minutes.

Remove from the heat and scatter over crumbled feta cheese and chopped parsley.

SISTERHOOD – check out their website for various events held all over the UK such as coaching workshops, seasonal suppers and retreat weekends.

Linking up to  – http://munchiesandmunchkins.com/eating-al-fresco-may-2016/