After a big day in the hills or out in the kayak, you need to refuel for the next day, but if you’re anything like me, what you really crave is protein! Muscles need to be patched up, bones need to be grown and tendons need to be reconstructed… and preferably in a tasty fashion. As far as re-building your body while rewarding your taste buds, it doesn’t get much better than this.

Profile
Serves: Two hungry hikers
Weight: 0.65g
Volume:  1L
Kilojoules:  5300
Cost: $12
Time: 40min
Fuel: 250ml of white spirit or 100g of gas*.
*Based on an MSR Whisperlite or Primus Classic operating at sea level.

Ingredients
Olive oil: 1tbsp
Garlic: 1 clove finely chopped
Onion: 1 chopped
Lentils: 150g
Spinach: 2 handfuls finely chopped
Beef stock: 1 cup
Carrot: 1 chopped
Lamb Sausages: 3
Bacon: 5 small rashers
Cream: 1 tbsp

Method
When you arrive at camp and put on water for a cup of tea, heat an extra cup of water and use it to make stock. Soak the lentils in this boiling stock for at least 20min (you can do this recipe in a hurry, but the more time you can give it, the better the results will be).

In a separate pot, cook the sausages and bacon and set aside. Use the bacon fat to fry the onions and garlic. Add the lentils, spinach, carrot, bacon and sausages with a little cream. Simmer to evaporate any remaining liquid and soften the lentils to taste and then serve with fresh bread.

Tip: if I’m tramping I’ll often cook the sausages and bacon at home to save time in the field. But if it’s just car camping then it’s easier to take the sausages frozen and do the whole thing under the stars.