The Caravan Cookout: French Feasts from a Mini Fridge
What we cooked in a static caravan in France, and why it was magic. Plus, my French supermarket shopping list
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This time last weekend, I was waking up in a caravan beside a lake in France.
“Make sure you travel as much as you can with your kids, before they start school” is one of the most frequent refrains I hear from dewy-eyed friends whose kids are now bound by the tyranny of term timetables. And it’s something I’ve really taken to heart. Our daughter starts school next September, which means that this year, we’re seizing every chance we can to travel as a family before we’re at the behest of the schedules and steep costs of school holidays. This is of course a total privilege, and one I really don’t take lightly. I’m so grateful for every opportunity like this we can take to explore together while the kids are little.
Before my father’s cancer diagnosis tethered them to the UK (and our amazing NHS), my parents had actually planned on retiring to France (turns out Deal was the next best thing), a country they loved so deeply they took us camping there every summer. I have the happiest, most vivid memories of these long, formative and bonding weeks spent cooped up in a Conway Tardis trailer tent with my parents and sister, at the mercy of the elements and in-step with nature. In my — perhaps nostalgic idealism — I long to give my own kids a little slice of these innocent and simple adventures.
So when a chance conversation with some mutual friends at a party resulted in a generous invite to stay in their beloved static caravan in The Vendée in Western France before half term, we jumped, knowing we could set off from where we are in the very early morning and drive the 7-hour stint down there by the afternoon. It was a wonderful, whirlwind visit over a long weekend, and we barely scratched the surface of what there is to do there — so no travel guide from me this time. But since we were in the rhythm of tiny people’s bedtimes, we ate in every night, and we ate like kings. I absolutely loved cooking in our pocket-sized caravan kitchen, with the French market and supermarket produce as my muse.
Because we were eating lunch all together as a family, Jamie and I decided to treat our evening meals, once the kids were finally down, as our special time together, and so we were looking to make quick, but elevated evening meals that wouldn’t take too long to bring together. Thankfully, it’s just so easy to assemble the most memorable and delicious meals when you’ve got French produce on hand, and we ended up eating some of the best meals of recent memory. As an aside, I also feel like I cook better when I’m relaxed and loose and on holiday, listening to the sound of birdsong at dusk, with a glass of chilled BSP at my elbow. Who’s with me? I thought it’d be quite fun (and potentially helpful?) to share a few of our caravan suppers with you here, to give you inspiration for any self catering holiday trips you might be planning, and also in the hope of whetting your appetite for next week’s recipe drop, which draws on some of those same flavours.
The barbecued sardines to end them all
Saint Gilles Croix de Vie, a nearby town to where we are staying, is particularly famous for its sardines, and having picked some up for an absolute steal — I think I got twelve for around 3 euros, I grilled them very simply on the barbecue, just with a bit of salt and pepper. I used a fish grilling basket, which is actually a bit of a game-changer as you don’t have to worry about the skin sticking to the barbecue grate. Just make sure you heat it up really hot before you sandwich your fish between its metal grate, then the skin won’t stick). I also charred a lemon and squeezed that over them once they were a bit charred and crispy on the outside and still moist and juicy inside - a few minutes each side over glowing coals. I can concur re their quality - they were packed with umami flavours and some of the most intensely delicious sardines I’ve ever eaten.
We had the sardines alongside my favourite and best EVER shaved fennel and white bean salad (recipe coming next week), some supermarket langoustines (again, total steal), boiled and heavily buttered noirmoutier potatoes, Dijon mayonnaise, lemon wedges and bread.
Buckwheat galettes with onions cooked down in herbs, egg and cheese
Rotisserie Chicken
It’s impossible for me to resist a rotisserie chicken, so I’ll always grab one if I find one at the local market or supermarket, along with a tub of the ridiculously tasty potatoes that have been cooked in the roasting juices. They make for a really good picnic lunch or evening meal, which is what we did. I always let the chicken cool and refrigerate it, then carve it up. Sometimes I’ll scrape the jellied juices from the bag and warm them up, perhaps with a little milk to very gently reheat the chicken for the kids (as pictured below), I also poached some radishes and fennel and served this as a supper for them with the boiled new potatoes.
For us, I made a green salad and vinaigrette, and we ate the chicken alongside whelks (might sound strange, but they have an almost chicken-y taste and are cooked in bouillon, so work nicely with chicken, green salad and mayo).
Seafood, mayo, new potatoes
A feast of local shellfish (prawns and whelks), piled atop ice and eaten with lemon wedges, mayo, baguette and salad.
One of the biggest highs of the trip for me was, (because I actually am this meme) perusing the nearby supermarché. I’m just always so blown away by the quality and range of products available at French supermarkets, and I feel like a kid in a sweet shop wandering the aisles with my trolley, loading up on sheep’s milk yoghurts, ogling the butter selection, marvelling at the staggering quantities of sausage and CHEESE. Over the years, I’ve developed a sort of unofficial “greatest hits” list: the things I find myself buying again and again, because they’re just that good, or because we can’t easily get them at home. So I thought I’d share it with you guys, in all its glory. I’ve tried to keep it as concise as possible, but it’s invariably still a bit long, and I’d love to hear what you can’t resist on a French visit too — perhaps we can get some Francophile foodie chat going on down there in the comments.
What I Always Buy in a French Supermarket and or market
A bottle (or six) of Crémant (because Champagne vibes, €6 price tag) - I usually go for ‘de Bourgogne’, which, broadly speaking, is creamier and more champagne-like, but I also love the ‘de Loire’ for its fruitiness and acidity
Rotisserie chicken — I usually get this in the market because there’s usually a rotisserie chicken stall somewhere and you can sniff it out, just follow the undeniably delicious scent of garlicky, gently burnishing chicken and its fragrant, fatty juices (in which potatoes are roasting).
Whole lettuce, I love a frisee or butterhead. They always taste 50 x nicer than any lettuce I can buy in the UK and I’m not sure why
French breakfast radishes: they are so pretty, so peppery, so good. Our kids love them too. Try finely sliced on top of thickly buttered bread, oh my.
At least two ‘rustic’ baguettes (because one never quite survives the walk back to the car)
Tinned sardines, tuna and/or mackerel in beautiful packaging — always in olive oil, you’ll find out why next week
Butter with big crunchy sea salt crystals. This is the one I love
A ridiculous selection of cheese, because I get really over excited. I like a mix of hard and nutty, and soft, stinky, washed rind and sweet and fresh. This usually includes