Unless the sea is relatively calm, we try not to spend too much time in our yacht galley on passage. Not everyone has a freezer on board, or a fridge that can handle lots of ready-to-go meals, but if you do, some of the sailing recipes from The Hunter & The Gatherer are perfect for simple passage meals. Consider preparing batches of Puttanesca Pasta sauce and Red Lentil Bolognese, some Veg-out Burger patties and jars of Coriander (or Tropical Almond) Pesto that can be defrosted later in the passage.
Pumped with excitement, we rarely sleep much over the first few days of any long passage, and all this awake-time makes for hearty appetites. We invariably crave ‘proper’ food over snacks, so before we set off, I fry up a big batch of fish for one-handed snacking, like Easy-peasy Panko Strips, and prebake vegetarian sailing recipes like Save-the-day Silver Beet Pastries, and this Rustic Pumpkin Pie.
I don’t often make pastry from scratch on our yacht, but this sailing recipe doesn’t call for perfection and is so forgiving, you can cook it on the stove and finish it under the broiler. This is another ‘day-before-sailing’ bake, stored in the fridge and reheated (or served cold at midnight on watch) when the seas are rough and you don’t want to be in the boat galley long.
This is and edited excerpt from The Hunter & The Gatherer, a sailing cookbook and provisioning guide for boatlife. Get it where all good boat books are sold, or as an eBook from Google Play or Kindle.
Feeds 4 • Prep 20 mins • Cook 50-55 mins
half a butternut pumpkin (about 800g/28oz)
1 large red onion, cut into wedges
6 garlic cloves
2 tbsp extra virgin olive oil
8 cherry bocconcini balls (or 340g/12oz chopped mozzarella, fresh or frozen)
1/2 cup (75g) crumbled feta
fresh or dried herbs (basil, thyme, rosemary work great)
Pastry
2 cups plain (all purpose) flour
150g (1 1/3 sticks) cold butter, diced
1 medium free range egg
1/2 teaspoon salt
Cut the pumpkin into small chunks (about 4cm/1.5in), removing, and discarding the skin (save the seeds for sprouting and nibbling). Place the pumpkin pieces on a baking tray with the onion and garlic cloves (crush them a little and leave the skins on). Pour over a drizzle of olive oil and bake at 200ÅãC (390ÅãF) for 20-25 minutes, until just tender. If using the stovetop, cook the veggies in a heavy-based pan, uncovered, over medium heat until tender, adding as much oil as you need to stop the pumpkin from sticking, and turning them occasionally. When tender, set the veggies aside to cool, and remove the onion and garlic skins.
For the pastry, pour the flour into a bowl, stir in the salt and butter, and rub it through the flour with your fingers until it resembles breadcrumbs. Crack in an egg, bring the pastry together and knead gently on a floured bench for one minute. Form the dough into a flat disk and refrigerate it for 20 minutes. Don’t worry too much about getting a perfect texture.
When the veggies have cooled, roll out the pastry to fit your pan or tray, leaving a nice edge to fold over the filling. Pour in the cooled pumpkin mixture and add the torn bocconcini balls (or roughly chopped mozzarella), crumbled feta and some herbs (a handful of fresh or a tablespoon of dried). Fold over the pastry edge and bake at 200ÅãC (390ÅãF) for about 30 minutes, until golden. If you don’t have an oven, cook it on the stovetop over low heat and finish it to crispy perfection under the grill.
Think this recipes sounds great? Check out this reel by @theseafaringproject cooking it aboard their yacht SV Complicité.
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