Three Square
Dirty Gourmet: uncomplicated, outdoor-friendly recipes from three friends
Lemony Dill Chickpea Salad Sandwiches
Chickpea salad recipes are pretty common in vegan cookbooks and blogs, and they work as a great substitute for deli meats on sandwiches. Chickpeas are rich in protein and work well with many common sandwich flavors. I always want to have quick sandwich ingredients on hand for when I’m starving or squeezing in a last-minute hike, but some recipes are complicated enough to force me back to the old PBJ instead. I wanted this one to be very last-minute-outdoorist friendly, so I limited the list of chopped fresh ingredients. I also mashed the chickpeas more than usual, so the salad stays in the sandwich better, making it easier to follow Leave No Trace principles on the trail. —Emily Nielson
- ¼ cup plant-based mayonnaise
- 1 tablespoon fresh lemon juice
- 1 tablespoon dill pickle relish or chopped dill pickles
- 1 teaspoon whole-grain mustard
- 1 teaspoon dry dill or 1 tablespoon chopped fresh dill
- ½ teaspoon pepper
- 1 (14-ounce) can chickpeas, drained and rinsed
- Salt
- 8 slices bread
- Lettuce, pickle slices, and/or onion slices
- In a medium bowl, mix the mayo, lemon juice, pickle relish, mustard, dill, and pepper until well combined.
- Add the chickpeas and mash well with a potato masher. Season to taste with salt.
- Spread 1/4 of the mix onto a piece of bread. Top with crunchy lettuce, pickles, and/or fresh onion, followed by a second slice of bread. Repeat to make the remaining sandwiches and pack them for your trip.
Turkish Flatbread
This recipe is inspired by my husband Daniel’s time living in Berlin, where he would pick up Turkish flatbread (lahmacun) most days for the equivalent of a couple bucks. As part of my research for this recipe, I reached out to my Turkish friend Rengin to get insider information. She shared that this dish is usually made in a large wood-fired oven with a thin layer of spiced meat baked right into the dough. The whole thing is typically topped with lots of fresh leafy greens, tomatoes, and raw red onions. For our campified plant-based version, we kept the rich spiced tomato base and went with shallots for a slightly milder allium. Our addition of tahini and pine nuts is totally nonregulation, but it has Rengin’s approval. —Mai-Yan
- 2 tablespoons olive oil, divided
- 1 small yellow onion, finely chopped
- 2 cups (10 ounces) plant-based meat crumbles
- 2 garlic cloves, minced
- 3 large tomatoes, finely chopped
- ½ cup roasted red pepper, chopped
- 3 tablespoons chopped flat-leaf parsley
- 1 tablespoon tomato paste
- 1½ teaspoons sumac
- 1 teaspoon paprika
- ½ teaspoon ground cumin
- ½ teaspoon crushed red pepper flakes
- Salt
- 4 to 5 flatbreads or naan
- For Serving
- Tahini
- 1 shallot, thinly sliced
- Toasted pine nuts
- Lemon, sliced in wedges
- Heat skillet over medium heat and add 1 tablespoon of oil. Add the onions and cook, stirring occasionally, until they are translucent, about 7 minutes.
- Add the meat crumbles, garlic, tomatoes, roasted red peppers, parsley, tomato paste, sumac, paprika, cumin, red pepper flakes, and another tablespoon of oil and mix well. Cook the mixture for 5 minutes, stirring occasionally. Season to taste with salt.
- Warm the flatbread, wrap each separately in foil. Set on the campfire grill out of direct heat or over a low flame on the camp stove for a few minutes.
- Place the flatbread on a cutting board and spread about ½ cup of spiced crumble mixture all the way to the edges. Cut into quarters and top with tahini, shallot slices, pine nuts, and a squeeze of lemon.
Origami Foil Bowl
Even if you never forget to bring a bowl when camping (we wish we could say we’ve never forgotten), this bowl-in-a-pinch is a pretty handy trick to learn. All you need is a good sized piece of aluminum foil and about five minutes.
- Cut a length of foil roughly equal to the height of the sheet, aiming for as close to a square as possible.
- Fold the foil in half, corner to corner, to make a triangle.
- Fold the top corner of the triangle down so the right edges meet the bottom edge. Press down to crease.
- Then unfold back to number 1 position.
- Fold the bottom-right corner up so its tip meets the left edge of the foil at the creased line.
- Next, fold the bottom-left corner up so it meets the right-center corner you just created.
- Fold the top-layer flap down toward you. Fold the other back-layer flap down to the backside.
- Open to form a bowl.
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