Sunday, January 6, 2013

Girl Scout Camp Stew

I'm not sure where I came across the "original" recipe for Girl Scout Camp Stew, but my version is leaner (ground turkey instead of ground beef), meaner (jalapeños), and adultified (i.e., fortified with a couple shots of whiskey)...Oh yeah, baby! After a cursory search on the web, I found many iterations of this eponymous concoction, but the recurring ingredients seem to be ground meat, chopped onions, canned tomatoes, corn, elbow macaroni and cheese. I can't take credit for the whiskey addition though - we had made (i.e., modified) this recipe in a Dutch oven over a camp fire on a couple of our desert camping trips years ago, and my sis EE was the one to suggest the whiskey shots. So simple and homey, yet so delish! Anyhoo, since we haven't gone camping for awhile, I thought I'd try this dish stovetop in the kitchen. Except for the campfire aroma, it's as good and addictive as I remember it to be. 


Ingredients:
2-3 lbs. ground turkey
1 tbsp. olive oil
1 lb. frozen or canned corn
1 red or yellow onion, chopped
Four 15-oz cans stewed or fire-roasted diced tomatoes (to your taste)
2 tbsp. tomato paste
2 jalapeño chiles, seeded and choppped
4 cooked sausages, chopped (I like Aidell's apple sausage) OR 1 lb. bulk Italian sausage
3 tbsp. whiskey or bourbon
1 tbsp. salt
2 tsp. granulated garlic
1 tsp. black pepper
2 tsp. dried minced onion or onion powder
16 oz. (4 cups) elbow macaroni
4 cups water

Shredded Mexican blend cheese
Crystal Hot Sauce or Tabasco

1. I a large pan or Dutch oven, add olive oil and heat over medium-high heat. Add the chopped onion and cook for 2-3 minutes or until softened. Stir in the ground turkey, diced sausages and jalapenos and saute until the meat is cooked through.

2. Add corn, tomatoes, tomato paste, whiskey, salt, granulated garlic, black pepper, dried minced onion, macaroni, and water. Stir, cover, and cook over medium low heat 20-30 minutes or until pasta is done. Taste halfway through cooking and re-season as needed. 

3. Serve with shredded cheese and Crystal Hot Sauce or Tabasco (just in case anyone likes theirs extra spicy) on the side. 

Granulated garlic, black pepper, dried minced onion, and bourbon whiskey.

Canned stewed tomatoes.


1 lb. frozen corn. This is the roasted frozen corn from Trader Joe's.

Chopped onion, jalapeños, and sausage. If you don't have sausage, you can always substitute with 4-5 strips of bacon (diced).

Saute the onion in 1 tbsp. of olive oil.

Add the ground turkey, sausage and jalapenos.

Add the corn, stewed tomatoes, tomato paste, whiskey, salt, granulated garlic, black pepper, and dried minced onion.

Stir in macaroni and water. Cover and cook over medium low about 20-30 minutes or until pasta is done.

Voila! 

Serve with shredded cheese and Crystal Hot Sauce or Tabasco on the side.

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