Campervan Cooking Adventures - Piña Colada Campfire Pineapple

Campervans and Campfires

When people ask me what living in a campervan is really like, I often refer to the cliché of a rollercoaster. The highs are incredible, the lows, not so. You are much more exposed to the seasons, the climates and the reality of being contained within a tight space. But along comes summer and suddenly everything becomes easier. The daylight is extended, the battery lasts longer and the diesel heater tank doesn’t need topping up. The changing of seasons become major moments in vanlife.

Spring is full of optimism. Having survived a full winter, you are excited to see the last of the cold, damp days. The sun becomes your best friend and things slowly become easier. Your posture improves and the winter clothes are put away.

Cue the next phase. The early arrival of summer. This can be a flash heatwave. One week you could be wrapped up, the next you are looking for somewhere to cool down. The heat can arrive quickly, but so can a cold breeze from the north. Taken off guard, you can find yourself struggling with the heat or wondering if it will ever arrive. The days can be intense, but the nights are cold. Shaded areas are preferred, but they often leave you feeling cold as the night settles in. This is something you notice more at altitude, as the Alps once again transform.

Life begins to feel like it’s working properly. Living in a small van no longer seems like a stupid idea. You now have the biggest garden to spend most of your time. Vanlife suddenly makes perfect sense, capturing those long sunsets and shaded river camps in the wilderness.

My food at this time of the year begins to reflect this feeling. The menus change from one pot warming stews, to summer flavours. Cooking over campfire becomes an obsession. Playing with the smoke to enhance ordinary dishes. It’s usual for our camper to start stocking some summer cocktails. Personally, I like a negroni, a margarita, a mojito and a pinacolada. If I’m really honest, I like anything in the sun. But Pinacoloda has a soundtrack that really gets the summer mood going.

The song by Rupert Holmes is song worth listening to properly. A song about looking for something new when it was there all along. Sitting by a campfire, listening to music, the words can often sink in. The Alps have become a vanlife home for us, we often rush to leave after being there too long, but easing down the mountain roads at the start of summer is a completely different experience, same place, different time. The variables of vanlife continue and learning to live with them is important.

This dish is a cheeky celebration of summer arriving. It’s about enjoying campfire cooking again, listening to a summer soundtrack and planning all the things you are going to do over summer. The dish becomes a focal point for the whole day and when served, it’s a suitable finale.

For this dish, we take the most summer fruit I can think of, a pineapple. We cut the pineapple and brush it with rum. We hang it above the fire whilst we cook everything else. The smoke slowly penetrates the pineapple, inducing a unique flavour. The natural sugars begin to caramelise around the edges and take on a sticky texture. Leaving the pineapple hung above the fire for 4-6 hours is no problem, the longer the better. We occasionally brush it with a watered down rum.

Once all of the dishes are cooked, our focus turns to the pineapple. We take rum and sugar, and create a rum caramel. The pineapple is then sliced and charred over the campfire.

On both sides, whilst gently mopping it in our rum solution. All of this topped with a rum caramel and served on top of cocunut cream. It’s a campfire Pina colada on the plate!

Piña Colada Campfire Pineapple

Serves: 4

Cooking time: 45 minutes minimum, but 4–6 hours over gentle smoke is ideal

Kit needed: Campfire, grill or tripod, small pan, knife, brush or spoon

Ingredients

• 1 whole pineapple
• 100ml rum, plus extra for brushing
• 3–4 tbsp brown sugar
• 1 tbsp butter
• 100ml coconut cream
• Small pinch of salt
• Splash of water, if needed

Optional extras

• Lime zest
• Toasted coconut flakes
• Mint leaves
• Vanilla ice cream, if you have freezer space
  

Method

1. Prepare the pineapple

Peel the pineapple and remove any tough eyes from the outside. Keep it whole if you are hanging it over the fire, or cut it into large wedges if cooking directly on a grill.

Brush the pineapple with a little rum. If you want a gentler flavour, water the rum down slightly before brushing.

2. Smoke it slowly

Hang the pineapple above the fire, away from direct flames, and let it slowly take on the smoke.

You are not trying to burn it at this stage. The aim is to gently warm the fruit, dry the outside slightly and allow the smoke to work its way into the pineapple.

Leave it for as long as you can. Around 45 minutes will work, but 4–6 hours over a gentle campfire is even better. Brush occasionally with the rum mixture as it cooks.

3. Make the rum caramel

Place a small pan over a gentle heat and add the brown sugar with a splash of water.

Let the sugar dissolve and begin to bubble. Once it starts to darken slightly, add the butter and stir carefully.

Pour in the rum and let it bubble until glossy and syrupy. Be careful when adding alcohol near fire, as it can flare.

Finish with a small pinch of salt.

4. Char the pineapple

Once the pineapple has smoked, slice it into thick rounds or wedges.

Place the slices directly over the grill or near the hot embers and char on both sides. Brush with a little more rum as it cooks, letting the edges caramelise and become sticky.

5. Serve

Spoon coconut cream onto the plate or into a shallow bowl.

Place the warm charred pineapple on top, then pour over the rum caramel sauce.

Finish with lime zest, toasted coconut or mint if using.

ChefCampers tip

The trick is to keep the pineapple away from fierce flames for the first stage. Let the smoke do the work slowly, then finish it hot and fast at the end to get those sticky charred edges.

It is basically a piña colada by the campfire — pineapple, rum, coconut and smoke, served on a plate.

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