The baker has called!

Just in time for the summer solstice, the hot water heating in the Mistral is finally functional thanks to the direct and personal delivery of missing spare parts from Scotland and Zappa's tireless and selfless efforts. Of course, this needs to be put to a practical test.

The weather forecasters predict monsoon-like downpours for the weekend, with cloud bursts relentlessly approaching from the southwest in the weather ticker. One cumulonimbus after another is piling up on the horizon. The decision to take a trip with the caravan is obvious.

The hot water test drive takes us once again towards the Solling. We have long been planning a hike in the local Hutewald, which was established as a pilot project in 2000 and has since developed into one of the largest Hutewald projects in Germany.

We set out to find the robust Heck cattle and Exmoor ponies, which are kept here in the oak forest as living landscape managers. A hiking trail leads along gnarled and overgrown trees and a cheerfully babbling stream. Colorful blooms make us marvel again at how abundant the flower display can still be when not everything, like on many field edges, has fallen victim to floral genocide. Through gentle land management, the goal here is to preserve biodiversity.

And after about a kilometer, the loud roaring sounds of motorcyclists on their way to the Weserbergland fade away, and we enjoy the peace and birdsong. We also come across the remains of old livestock breeds on our route through the nature reserve, but unfortunately not the culprits themselves. We suspect that all the ponies are spending the weekend in the exhibition enclosure, so we probably shouldn't hope for an encounter.

Unlike in the Dead Valleys near Naumburg, where the Konik horses ventured very close to us without permission, despite large signs urgently requesting hikers to keep at least 20 meters away and not feed them! But the little wild horses don't care at all and insistently demand treats and carrots.

However, even without any animal sightings, we have a beautiful hike and return to our mobile home just in time for a picnic. But now we realize that we need to do some shopping and that we still need to test bake a quiche for our dear guests next week.

The first problem is quickly resolved in Beverungen, but the second one develops into one. Because although we now have the ingredients for the French vegetable tart on board, what is missing is the baking equipment. There is neither a kitchen scale nor a rolling pin, nor a mixing bowl nor a flour scoop, let alone a KitchenAid mixer, to be found in the caravan's catering equipment.
And now what?

Of course, once again, I am the one worrying, because Zappa McGyver will now show you how to prepare a bell pepper quiche in the mobile kitchen without the usual tools and without the highly acclaimed and highly praised Omnia camping oven.

For the shortcrust pastry, the Maître simply measures out the 250g of flour by roughly marking half of the kilo package with the pen, then half of that, and thus has the exact amount of flour on the table!

Zappa does the same with the butter: half a stick makes 125g. Plus/minus.
Butter is a flavor enhancer, so 10g doesn't matter!

One egg and one teaspoon of salt are easy!

Then knead. The butter must be cold for the shortcrust pastry, so that it doesn't stick and can be easily worked with. Fresh from the supermarket shelf, it still has the right temperature even when camping!

Then roll into a roll, wrap in a cloth, and refrigerate so that the dough can "relax" and be easily processed.
But darn it: the Mistral refrigerator is warm!

Oh well, that's not a big deal! The wrapped mixture goes into the shade under the wagon, in the fresh Solling breeze, where it will be perfectly chilled.

Now the ingredients for the filling are chopped, which is not a special challenge for the chef. Onions, bell peppers, and garlic are placed on a cutting board and finely chopped with a sharp knife.

The small pot also serves as a mixing bowl, where a deliciously tasty filling is made with the help of ajvar, crème fraîche, two eggs, tomato paste, and grated Gouda cheese. It is seasoned with salt, pepper, and especially spicy Pimenton de la Vera. 

Now the dough has relaxed enough and needs to be rolled out.

No rolling pin at hand? No problem for Zappa! He does it just like Mama used to do, he simply takes a bottle. In this case, it's my half-full wine bottle, which he of course thoroughly cleans first so that my fingerprints don't leave any traces on the future quiche.

And one, two, three, the dough is rolled and distributed in the well-buttered baking dish, which was specially purchased for camping kitchen experiments.

Now just evenly spread the deliciously savory filling on the dough and into the oven it goes! Because Château Mistral has the ultimate, super functional, and now indispensable Maxol Monte Carlo 3000 oven! Hot, quick, and unbeatable with its blue gas flame!

After about 30 minutes, a wonderful vegetable cake is standing in front of us. Baked to perfection, finely spiced, with a tangy flavor, deliciously fragrant, hot and tasty, with an incomparably crispy crust and an exquisite and delicious vegetarian bell pepper filling.

The Fitou wine goes perfectly with the fine aroma of the quiche, even if it flows from the bottle closed with a thoroughly buttered cork, rolled and not shaken. 

The camping chef will continue to work on the seasoning and will pre-bake the dough for 10 minutes during the next round to make it even crispier.
In any case, the Maxol Monte Carlo 3000 has passed the stress test with flying colors. Baking without tools and without the Omnia is no problem for Zappa, and in the future, I will also prepare Christmas cookies in the caravan.

By the way, the hot water heating passed the functional test without any issues: morning showers, hot dishwashing water from the tap, turn on the faucet and go!
That's really cool! I'm thinking of moving completely into Château Mistral soon!