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for those colder evenings
Winter meals on the road
Margaret Earle
Winter meals on the road
At the beginning of May we spent a week caravanning from Cambridge to Hastings with our son, daughter-in-law and two granddaughters. The weather was getting colder and we were keen to have warm evening meals. Here’s recipes for some of the meals we made.

Ohiwa Harbour creamy pasta
Serves 4–6
This is a meal that my daughter-in-law makes regularly for their household. It can be adapted to use whatever protein and veges you have available, or to take account of food allergies or preferences.
We used some left-over chicken and bacon as well as some carrots, mushrooms and frozen peas.
Ingredients
1 onion, chopped
2 cloves fresh garlic, chopped (or 2tsp crushed garlic)
1 Tbsp cooking oil
2 Tbsp butter (if required)
2 Tbsp flour
¼ – ⅓ cup milk
1–2 teaspoons or cubes of stock powder (chicken or vegetable)
Dash of Worcestershire sauce (optional)
1 packet of pasta
Bacon (optional)
Chicken (raw or cooked)
Chopped vegetables (such as mushrooms, carrots, broccoli, cauliflower)
Frozen peas
1 cup grated cheese (optional)
Method
Put pasta on to cook in a large pot of hot water.
At the same time, fry onion and garlic in a large pot or pan. Add bacon and brown. Add raw chicken (if using). Stir regularly until cooked. At this stage, add harder vegetables such as carrots or cauliflower and cook for a couple of minutes.
If there is not enough fat in the pan, then add a couple of tablespoons of butter. Stir in flour. Cook for 30 seconds and continue stirring.
Add milk, stock powder and 1–1½ cups of water from cooking the pasta. If using broccoli add it at this stage. Stir mixture regularly.
Add pasta while it is still al dente and also vegetables such as mushrooms and frozen peas.
Add grated cheese just before serving.
Serve directly from pan.
Some alternatives:
– replace milk with sour cream or non-diary milks.
– include wine in the sauce.
– use mince or vegan proteins instead of chicken bacon.
– use gluten-free flour and pasta.

Waikanae Beach pulled pork
Serves 4–6
As we were a large group and because we were intending to mostly stay in campgrounds, I took my slow cooker with me. We stayed two nights at the campground at Waikanae Beach in Gisborne, so this was a good opportunity to use the slow cooker.
Pulled pork is very simple to make in a slow cooker.
Ingredients
Pork roast (1.5kg or more)
1 can of cider
1 Tbsp brown sugar
Method
Cut skin and fat off the pork roast. Put this aside uncovered in the fridge. This can be cooked any time over the next week when you are using the oven. Drying the pork fat out in the fridge will result in really good crackling.
Put the roast in the slow cooker and add cider and brown sugar. You can also add chopped onions, garlic and/or your favourite sauce.
Slow cook for around 8 hrs.
Before serving, shred the pork. This can be done with two forks. We’d just bought a set of bear claws at the second-hand shop, so we tried them out.
Drain any remaining liquid from the pork and serve the meat with fresh bread buns, coleslaw and pickles. You can also offer accompaniments like chilli sauce, cheese and salad veges of your choice.

Mahia pork and noodles
We had some left over pulled pork, so I used this as the base for our next night’s dinner in Mahia. This one pot meal can be made in any large pot or pan.
The number of servings depends on the quantity of ingredients used.
Ingredients
Left-over pulled pork, including liquid
1 Tbsp cooking oil
1 onion, chopped
2 cloves fresh garlic, chopped (or 2 tsp crushed garlic)
1 Tbsp chopped fresh ginger (optional)
2 Tbsp soy sauce
2 Tbsp sweet chilli sauce (optional)
Chopped veges such as carrots, mushrooms, broccoli, capsicum, cauliflower
2–3 packets of vacuum packed ready-to-use noodles
Frozen peas or other frozen vegetables (optional)
Method
Chop onions, garlic, ginger and vegetables.
Heat a large pan and add cooking oil. Fry onions until they start to go clear. Add garlic and ginger (if using) and cook for another 2 minutes. You can also add mushrooms and capsicum at this stage.
Add in hard vegetables such carrots and cauliflower and cook for 2–3 minutes more. Then add left-over pulled pork and liquid along with soy sauce and sweet chilli sauce. Bring to boil and simmer.
Meanwhile, soften noodles in boiling water for a few minutes before adding to pork and vegetable mixture.
Simmer for 5 minutes and then add any frozen vegetables. I also add pre-cooked broccoli at this point.
Once everything is heated through the meal is ready to be served.
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8 Winter 2024
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