New Cookbook Features Best Creations of Ogichi Kitchen

By Ben Woods

Twelve turkeys. Forty-four blueberry pies. One-hundred and fifty pounds of mashed potatoes. That’s what it takes to feed a full house of hungry campers at Ogichi. Add gravy, green beans, cranberry sauce and the option of crispy tofu and you’ve got a classic Thanksgiving dinner, served twice a summer to show gratitude for the entire Ogichi community.

Quiche awaits hungry campers at breakfast. (Liz Hattemer)

Detailed instructions for recreating this meal, along with more than 30 other recipes, will be part of a new cookbook authored by veteran Ogichi chefs Erica Roodhouse and Peggy Vollmer.

“Our kitchen can be a crazy place, with lots of deliciousness happening at different parts of our workspace,” they write in the introduction. “That said, the best thing we serve is love. In this year of the pandemic, when we cannot be together to share this love, we hope this book will remind you and yours of our shared past meals and the joy we take in our strong-spirited young women.”

The new cookbook is a follow-up to Erica and Peggy’s 2013 collection, “What’s Cooking? Gluten Free Meals at Ogichi Daa Kwe,” which comprised a week’s worth of breakfast, lunch and dinner recipes.

The new book includes eight breakfasts, 17 lunches and dinners (entrees and sides), three desserts, two salad dressings, the aforementioned turkey-tofu feast, a recipe for energy bars supplied by incoming chef Lisa Burgess, and a variety of options for fresh-made juice from Frances Carroll’s “legendary” juice bar.

Campers help staff member Frances Carroll make juice. (Liz Hattemer)

“Never celery,” Frances warns in the cookbook. “Never. Campers can always taste it, even one celery stick juiced into 150 servings.”

Ogichi’s gluten-free kitchen is famous for dishes that are both delicious and nutritious, and for experimenting with flavors and ingredients that might be foreign to most campers. 

“We are thoughtful about offering comfort foods early in the camp program,” Erica and Peggy explain. “Later, we introduce more adventurous foods, when everyone becomes more comfortable with camp life.”

This strategy is evident in the recipes included in the cookbook, which range from crowd-pleasers like chicken parmesan and tomato soup to bold creations such as chicken tikka masala, sticky sesame cauliflower and savory jackfruit tacos. Bon Appétit!

This article was originally published in the Fall 2020 issue of Songs of the Paddle.