Cheesy Corn Jaffles with Spring Onion

The jaffle is the great Australian camp leveller. Two slices of bread, a fistful of cheese, a hot iron and a bed of coals, and suddenly a cold morning at a bush camp feels like a proper sit-down breakfast. This is the version we cook most in spring, when sweet corn is cheap and the mornings are still cool enough to want something warm in your hand. It takes ten minutes, it uses one bowl, and it beats another round of cereal by a country mile. What you need Ingredients Serves 4. 8 slices thick-cut white or sourdough bread 1 x 300 g tin sweet corn kernels, drained (about 1 1/2 cups) 150 g tasty or colby cheese, grated (about 1 1/2 cups) 3 spring onions, finely sliced 1 tsp smoked paprika 50 g butter, softened Salt and freshly ground pepper, to taste Tomato relish or chutney, to serve Optional: 1 small zucchini, coarsely grated and squeezed dry Gear Cast-iron jaffle iron (single or double) Heatproof gloves or a folded tea towel Mixing bowl and a fork Box grater Knife and board A fire with a good bed of coals How to make it Get the coals right before you start. A jaffle wants steady glowing coals, not flames. Rake a 3-4 cm bed to one side of the fire and let the flames die down. Flames will scorch the outside of the bread long before the cheese melts. Grate and slice. Grate the cheese and finely slice the spring onions. If you are using zucchini, grate it coarsely and squeeze it hard in a clean tea towel until it stops dripping. Mix the filling. In a bowl, combine the drained corn, grated cheese, spring onion, smoked paprika, and a good pinch of salt and pepper. Stir with a fork until it is evenly combined. Butter the outside of every slice, right to the edges. This is what gives you the golden crust and stops the jaffle welding itself to the iron. Build the jaffles. Lay four slices buttered-side down. Pile a quarter of the filling onto each, spreading it to a 1 cm border so it has somewhere to go when it melts. Top with the remaining slices, buttered-side up, and press gently. Close and trim. Shut the jaffle iron firmly and trim off any bread hanging past the edge. A clean edge seals properly and stops the filling leaking into the coals. Cook the first side. Sit the iron on the coals for 3-4 minutes, then lift it and check. You want deep golden and the crimps sealed. Pale means another minute; dark means your coals are too hot. Flip and finish. Turn the iron over and cook the second side for another 3-4 minutes. Seven to eight minutes total is typical, but go by colour, not the clock. Rest, then serve. Slide the jaffles onto a board and give them a minute. That filling is molten and will take the roof off your mouth otherwise. Serve with tomato relish. Camp tips Prep the filling at home. Mix the corn, cheese, spring onion and paprika, seal it in a container, and it keeps two to three days in the Engel or the van fridge. At camp you are only buttering bread and cooking. Keep a side fire going. A small secondary fire gives you a constant supply of coals, so round two does not mean waiting forty minutes for the main fire to settle. Change it up. Swap the corn for grated zucchini in summer, add a finely chopped chilli, or fold through some shredded leftover roast chook. Same method, completely different jaffle. Feeding a crowd. Cook in batches and stack the finished jaffles in a folded tea towel. They will stay warm for ten minutes while you work through the rest. Cold jaffles reheat well. Two minutes back in the iron over low coals and they come good, which makes them an easy make-ahead breakfast for an early start. Cooked properly, a jaffle is the best-value breakfast in camp. No pans, no plates, one bowl to rinse, and ten minutes from the esky to your hand once the coals are sorted. And if you are still sorting out the rest of your touring setup, Outcamp covers the 4WD and camping gear that makes a camp kitchen work, from storage bags that keep the back of the wagon organised to 12V accessories for the fridge. Got a jaffle filling that never misses? Tell us in the comments.