Over lockdown, in anticipation of better days, I’ve been trying out new recipes for our camping trips!

Tasty lunches can be particularly tricky to plan out. You want something light, especially if you had a cooked breakfast not so long ago! You also want something that’s transportable with ingredients which won’t go off if you’ve only got a cool box not a fridge. Warm lunches can be particularly welcome if the weather’s a little chilly.

Here’s my latest find – quesadillas!

These are super simple – you just need tortillas (the soft kind – I used wheat ones), grated cheese, any other fillings you fancy and a frying pan.

Place cheese and other fillings on the torilla, pop another tortilla on top. Lightly oil your pan and heat on a medium heat. Cook the tortilla sandwich until the bottom is crispy and the cheese is melting. The melting cheese will help hold everything together when you flip it with a fish slice. Once the other side is also golden and toasted, transfer to a chopping board and cut into wedges.

“Queso” is cheese in Spanish and you need that to help them stick together, but in terms of fillings you could try adding to the cheese how about:

slices of tomato

sliced mushrooms

chopped olives

sliced spring onions

sliced avocado

spinach (although can be bit fragile to transport when camping)

wild garlic

ham (but be careful of how you store it if you’ve not got a fridge)

thinly sliced onion

…basically anything you fancy! I’m going to make these this weekend and try adding capers, because they transport so well for camping and I think the little bit of acidic bite will cut through the rich cheese well.

Different types of cheese are also worth trying – guyere works particularly well, but for camping I usually take pre-grated cheddar as it’s easier.

I’d love to hear your favourite quesadilla fillings – leave a comment if you want to inspire me!

L