Campfire Fusilli w/ Fire-Roasted Tomatoes, Smoked Veg & Kidney Beans

When it comes to cooking, is there anything more alluring than an open flame? The wildness of it, the warmth, the smoke that gets in your eyes as you stand over it.. I love every minute of it.

My brother and I spent a week camping on the north coast of Vancouver Island recently, and this fusilli was one of our meals along the way. We'd been eating a lot of curries and needed a change of pace.

The stars of the show here are the broccoli stem and the fire-roasted tomatoes. I love cooking with broccoli stem — I often see it underused, thrown away in favor of the more beautiful crowns. But there's so much flavor and nutrition in the stems. Treat them as you would the rest of the plant, with just as much love and care.

Both were cooked over the fire, in two ways. The broccoli was lightly smoked and charred over the flame, while the tomatoes took the full brunt of the Canadian fire. I normally would use aluminum foil, but, having none, I threw the tomatoes into the empty kidney bean can, and that did the trick. A little olive oil, garlic, and parsley later, we had a full meal that fueled us for the next days of trail running and hiking.

wait, how am i going to get them out?

drools

Campfire Fusilli with Fire-Roasted Tomatoes and Kidney Beans

Serves 2

Ingredients

• 200g fusilli

• 1 cup cherry tomatoes

• 1 can kidney beans, drained

• 1 medium carrot

• 1 broccoli stem

• 3 cloves garlic (or as many as you want)

• Handful of fresh parsley, roughly chopped

• Olive oil

• Salt and pepper

Method

1. Get your fire going and let it settle into good coals. Place the carrot and broccoli stem above the fire to take on some smoke. Remove from the flame after 10 minutes and slice into coins.

2. Add your tomatoes to a can and season with olive oil, salt and pepper. Set the can directly into the coals or close to the flame. Let them roast for about 15 minutes.

3. Boil your pasta in a separate pot of salted water. Reserve a bit of pasta water, drain, and set aside.

4. Heat olive oil in a pan over medium flame. Add garlic, and cook until fragrant.

5. Add the carrots and broccoli stem. Cook until the veg are tender.

6. Add the kidney beans to the pan. Pour in the fire-roasted tomatoes directly from the can, scraping out all the caramelized bits from the bottom.

7. Stir everything together and let it cook for another few minutes until the sauce tightens up slightly. Add a couple tablespoons of pasta water for better texture, if desired.

8. Add the cooked fusilli and toss to combine. Season generously with salt and pepper.

9. Finish with fresh parsley and enjoy!

Note: If you don't have an open flame, that's just fine! You can get similar results by roasting the tomatoes in an oven or under the broiler with olive oil, salt, and pepper. That said, get out there and get a fire going.

If you want to cook plant-based food with this kind of intention — understanding why each ingredient does what it does — that's exactly what I teach. Download my free e-book, The Flavor Blueprint, a free guide to building bold plant-based flavors from any cuisine. Mahalo & happy eating!