Serves 2 hungry kayakers

Once again, we were leaving in a bit of a rush in order to catch the perfect weather/tide combo, so prep for this camp stove dish took around 5 minutes. I chose to chop the veg beforehand though you may wish to include this as part of your adventure; preparing vegetables can serve as a bonding experience with your fellow wanderers.
Breaking the spaghetti in half was a necessity for fitting into one of our few Tupperware boxes and also to fit in our small 2-man pan. Please skip this step if you have a big brood of adventurers and a jumbo pan to boot. Sub the veg for whatever vegetables take your fancy…think bolognese mixed veg and you’ll be onto a winner.
I actually used mixed green and red lentils but would recommend sticking with only red, because green lentils take longer to cook and didn’t work so well with the spaghetti.
Ingredients
- 2 tbsp butter (or oil)
- 1 onion (sliced)
- 3 mushrooms (chopped)
- 1 jar or carton of tomato passata (500g)
- 3 tbsp tomato puree
- 2 tbsp pesto
- 1 quarter of a broccoli (broken into small florets)
- 1 carrot (sliced into rounds and cut in half)
- Half a courgette (chopped)
- 100g spaghetti
- 1 cup (200g) red lentils
- 500ml water
- 1 stock cube
Method
- Fry the onion in 1 tablespoon of butter. Once it has turned translucent, add the second tbsp of butter and the chopped mushrooms. Things should start smelling delicious here!
- Once the mushrooms have browned and softened, add the passata, tomato puree and the pesto. Stir, and cook for 3 minutes.
- Time for the veg: add the water followed by broccoli, carrots, courgette and stock cube.
- Break the spaghetti in half and add it to the pan along with the lentils.
- If you have a lid, put it on and let the dish simmer for 12 – 15 minutes. If you haven’t covered your spaghetti, have a little extra water on hand to top up your pan if your spaghetti starts to look a little dry.
Enjoy this dish while it’s still warm, just as the sun is setting. It’ll keep you toasty until it’s time to get in your tent.