A few weeks (ok, maybe closer to a month) ago, while I was taking some time away from being creative or clever or productive or anything useful, we went camping. We went to Tobermory, which has been our default camping location since Jack was about 2, and we did all the things we usually do there - well, not all of the things, because it was about 15 degrees celsius colder there than at home, which did not make for nice swimming weather, but we hiked, and kayaked and made s'mores, and one day, I made camp salad.

See? Cold.

Camp salad is not new, I've made it for several years, and I don't really know where I came up with the idea, other than the desire for something other than food cooked over a flame, and the need to use the ingredients on hand. But it's pretty good, if I do say so myself.

And obviously, since it's salad, and made up, all ingredients can be adjusted to suit your tastes.

You will need:

2 ears of sweet corn
1 red pepper
½ of a cucumber
a handful of cherry tomatoes
olive oil (I don't measure while camping - a generous drizzle, maybe a tablespoon or two?)
hot sweet mustard (same quantity as the oil)
black pepper to taste
a handful of spicy peanuts (I like lime and chili flavoured ones)

Roast the corn and red pepper over the fire. Or on your barbeque. Or stove. Once both are slightly blackened, cut the corn off the cob and dice the pepper and combine in a bowl that has a lid. (A pot works too, if you're actually camping.) Dice the cucumber and halve the tomatoes and add those to the corn and pepper. Drizzle with oil and mustard and as much pepper as you like. (I am very generous with the pepper for this.) Put the lid on, and shake vigorously. Once everything is well-coated with the oil-mustard, sprinkle with peanuts and enjoy.