Mossflower Vegetable Stew with Dumplings

7 cups water or vegetable stock
6 Tbls. corn meal
3 Tbls. oil
1 1/2 tsp. salt
3/4 tsp. pepper
3/4 tsp. basil
1/2 tsp. thyme
1 1/4 pound potatoes, diced
5 carrots, chopped
3 celery sticks, chopped
1 1/2 medium onions, chopped
1 1/2 cup peas
1 1/2 cup corn
3 cups beans, precooked

Dumplings:
2 1/4 cup flour (whole wheat, white wheat, or whole wheat pastry)
3/4 tsp. salt
1/4 cup butter
1 1/4 cup milk or nut milk
1/3 cup minced parsley
3 egg whites

Whisk the corn meal into the water/vegetable stock. Add the rest of the ingredients. Cover and cook over medium heat for 10 minutes. Let it simmer, but not boil.

Combine flour and salt in a bowl. Cut in butter until mixture is like coarse crumbs. Stir in milk and parsley. Beat in egg whites. Drop dough in spoonfuls into the stew. Cook, uncovered, for 10 minutes. Cover and cook for 10 more minutes until dumplings are done.

(duplicate post for tags)

Honey Bread

4 cups whole wheat flour or white wheat flour
2 cups warm water
1 Tbls. salt
2 tsp. Dry yeast or .6 oz fresh yeast
about 1/4 cup honey

In a large mixing bowl, dissolve 2 tsp honey in the water. Stir in the yeast. When it is starting to foam, add 3 cups of flour, one cup at a time, mixing completely after each addition. On the third cup, add in the salt as well.  Dump the fourth cup of flour onto the clean counter, then dump the dough on the flour and knead it. You may not need to knead in all of the flour, just until the dough is no longer sticky clumps. Knead the dough until it is smooth and stretchy. Coat the inside of the bowl with oil, coat the outside of the dough with oil, put it in the bowl, cover with plastic wrap, and let rise for 30 minutes or until doubled.

Roll out the dough into a large rectangle between 1/2" and 3/4" thick. Drop globs of honey randomly onto the dough. Don't spread it in an even layer. Roll up the dough into a log and form into a loaf. Grease the inside of the bread pan and put in the dough. Cut a slash along the top of the loaf. Cover with plastic wrap and let rise for another 30 minutes.

Put the bread pan in the oven, then set the temperature for 350° f. Bake for 40-50 minutes until the top is a deep golden brown & the loaf sounds hollow when you tap the bottom.

Apple Scones

2 cups flour (white wheat, whole wheat, or whole wheat pastry flour)
1/2 teaspoon salt
1/4 cup butter, cubed
1/2 cup - 1 cup finely chopped apple
3 tablespoons honey
1 cup sour cream
1 egg

1 teaspoon baking powder
cinnamon and sugar

Preheat oven to 400 degrees F.

Stir together flour, salt, and baking powder. Cut in butter until crumbly and there's no more dry powder. Stir in apple, honey, sour cream and egg until combined.

Line a baking sheet with parchment paper, or grease the sheet. Use an ice cream scoop with one of those levers that helps remove the ice cream (or in this case, dough) to make round, small scones. Gently press down the tops of each scone to make them flat. Sprinkle the tops with cinnamon sugar.

Bake in preheated oven for 12 to 14 minutes until the bottoms of the scones are light brown.

Remove from oven, cool slightly on the sheet pan and then transfer to a wire rack to cool completely.

Fruit Scones

2 cups whole wheat flour or whole wheat pastry flour
2 tsp baking powder
1/2 tsp salt
1/4 cup butter
2 Tbls. honey
1/2 cup any fruit on hand (dried or fresh)
1/4 cup milk

Preheat oven to 425.

In large bowl, sift flour, baking powder, and salt. Cut in butter thoroughly, then add honey and fruit. Mix well. Stir in enough milk to form a stiff dough.

Either roll out the dough and cut into circles, or drop spoonfuls of the dough onto the baking sheet.

Bake on a greased sheet in the middle of the oven for about 10 minutes or until the tops are golden.

Maple Scones

2 cups white wheat flour or whole wheat pastry flour
1 1/2 tsp baking powder
pinch of salt
1/4 cup butter
2 Tbls. Maple syrup + some
1/2 cup milk


Preheat oven to 425. Line baking sheet with parchment. Sift flour, baking powder and salt into a bowl. Cut in butter until it resembles fine breadcrumbs. Stir in maple syrup and add enough milk to make a soft dough. Either roll out the dough and cut into circles, or drop spoonfuls of the dough onto the baking sheet. Brush with maple syrup to glaze. Bake for 10 minutes.

Carrot, Turnip, Pea and Leek Stew

2 large carrots
1 turnip
3 cups peas
2 leeks
2 small potatoes
1/4 onion
3 Tbls. oil
1/2 cup whole wheat flour
About 6 cups vegetable stock
Parsley
Basil
Pepper
Nutmeg

Chop the carrots, turnip, leeks (using the white part), and potatoes.

Coarsely mince the onion and sautee it in the oil. Add the flour in fourths, alternating with some of the vegetable stock.

With the rest of the stock, simmer the turnip. When those are softer, add the onion mixture, and the carrots, and potatoes. Let simmer for a bit, then add the leeks, and parsley, basil, pepper, and nutmeg to taste. Let simmer until the turnips and potatoes are done. Remove from heat, then add the peas.

Honey-Rhubarb Crumble

3 Cups 1/2-Inch sliced Rhubarb
1/4 Cup Honey
1/2 cup water
1/2 Cup Regular Oats
1/3 Cup whole wheat or white wheat flour
1/4 Cup butter

Combine rhubarb, honey and water over medium heat. Let boil as you prepare the following:

Combine flour and oats in a bowl. Cut butter in thoroughly.

Prepare a bread pan with cooking spray. Pour in the stewed rhubarb, then cover evenly with the oats mix. Drizzle extra honey over it. Bake at 350 F for 10 minutes.

Raspberry Scones

2 cups whole wheat flour or whole wheat pastry flour
2 tsp baking powder
1/2 tsp salt
1/4 cup butter
1/4 cup honey
1/4-1/2 cup raspberries (fresh or dried)
1/4 cup milk or water (enough to make a stiff dough)

In large bowl, sift flour, baking powder, and salt. Cut in butter thoroughly, then add honey and fruit. Mix well. Stir in enough water or milk to form a stiff dough. Preheat oven to 425. Either roll the dough and cut into circles, or drop spoonfuls onto the baking sheet. Bake on a greased sheet in the middle of the oven for about 10 minutes or until the tops are golden.

Shrimp Vegetable Soup

The idea was to make this tenuous and loose, more in the Redwall style than having a strict recipe. This one is mentioned in Pearls of Lutra and all it said was to have carrots, mushrooms, other vegetables, watershrimp, herbs and hotroot. So that's exactly what I did. The only change is that I used vegetable stock instead of water. I can't imagine veg stock being feasible when you're traveling around defeating pirates.

For the record, as my "other vegetables" I used onion, radish, turnip, beet, barley and potato. For my herbs I used parsley, dill, basil, lavender and nutmeg.

Also, just as a general note, if you're using turnips be sure to chop them up really small because they take forever to cook.


2 large carrots, chopped (or about 3 cups)
2 cups chopped mushrooms
4 cups other vegetables, chopped (Whatever you have on hand)
Vegetable stock (a lot)
2 cups shrimp
Herbs (whatever you have and want to use)
Hotroot (cayenne pepper and black pepper)

Simmer vegetable stock and vegetables about 10 minutes. Add herbs to taste, and continue simmering until all vegetables are tender. Meanwhile, prepare the shrimp however necessary (taking out veins, shells, tails, etc.). Add hotroot to taste and shrimp, cook until shrimp is done.

Dunehog Pancakes

From Legend of Luke.

1/4 cup rye flour
1/4 cup white wheat flour or whole wheat pastry flour
3 eggs
1/2 tsp. baking powder
1/2 cup milk

Mix all ingredients.

Pour a small amount onto a greased, hot griddle. Lift the pan and tilt it to coat the bottom with the batter, making a large, thin pancake. Let cook until it looks mostly solid and the bubbles have formed holes in the batter. Carefully flip it and continue cooking for another 30 seconds - 1 minute.

This makes about 5 large pancakes.

If you had Dunehog pudding or Dunehog stew, you would spoon some onto the pancake, fold it up, and twist one end to close it. (I haven't made recipes for those yet)

Teabread

1/3 cup butter
1/3 cup brown sugar
3 tsp. honey
1 cup applesauce
1 egg

2 cups whole wheat flour or white wheat flour
3 tsp. cinnamon
1 tsp. nutmeg
1.5 tsp. baking powder
1/2 cup oats
As much currants and slivered almonds as you want

Cream butter, sugar and honey. Beat in egg. Stir in applesauce. In another bowl, mix dry ingredients. Stir into wet ingredients until just mixed. Pour evenly into a bread pan and bake at 350 F for 30-45 minutes.

Leek and Potato Soup

1 leek
1/2 white onion
1 clove garlic
2 potatoes
1 cup vegetable stock
1 1/2 cans black beans, drained
olive oil
pepper

Chop up the onion, garlic, and potatoes into small pieces. Sautee with a just enough olive oil and a dash of pepper until things are looking browned around the edges. Add the vegetable stock and beans, bring to a boil while you slice the leek, using as much of it as possible. Add the leeks, then remove from heat and serve with salt and pepper.

Soft Flowerbread

2 cups warm herbal tea
1/4 cup honey
2 Tbls. yeast
4 cups white wheat flour
1 tps. salt
1-2 Tbls. edible flowers, dried or fresh

Dissolve the honey in the tea and sprinkle the yeast in. When the yeast is foamy, add it to 2 cups flour. Let rise until about doubled (big and spongey).

Add the rest of the flour, the salt, and the flowers. Knead for about 10 minutes, with more flour as necessary.

Coat the bowl and dough with a thin layer of oil and let rise, covered, in a warm place until about doubled again, but not for too long.

Form into a loaf. Spray the inside of your oven or put in a pan of water. Put loaf in oven while it's preheating to 350, and bake until for about 1 hour.

Edible flowers can sometimes be found at grocery stores in the refrigerated section with the fresh herbs. Also look for herbal teas that are made with flowers. Also check out herbs that are from the flowers of plants. Small, aromatic seeds such as fennel seeds are a good addition, or seeds from flowers like poppy seeds.

You can also harvest flowers and blossoms from you garden. Not all of them are sweet. I like chive flowers and squash flowers. Be sure you look each flower up to see if they are edible.

Info on edible flowers

Spicebread

4 cups whole wheat flour or white wheat flour
1 tsp. salt
2 cups warm herbal tea
2 Tbls. honey
2 Tbls. yeast
1 Tbls. spices of choice (I used a mixture of cinnamon, nutmeg, allspice, ginger, and cloves)

Sift together the flour, salt and spices. Meanwhile proof the yeast with the honey in 1 cup of the tea. When that is nicely risen, stir into the flour with the rest of the tea. Knead in more flour as necessary. Let rise in an oiled bowl, covered in plastic wrap, in a warm place for 15 minutes. Knead again and form into a loaf. Glaze with butter or oil, cover and rise for 30 minutes. Mist the inside of the cold oven with water, place loaf inside and turn up to 350. Let bake until done (sorry, I keep forgetting to time these).

Oat Bread and Farls

 Dough too stiff. Try adding oats after kneading


3 cups whole wheat flour or white wheat flour
2 cups rolled oats
3 Tbls. butter
.5 tsp. salt
2 tsp. yeast
2 tsp. brown sugar or honey or molasses or maple syrup
1.5 cups warm water or milk

Dissolve sugar in 1 cup warm water. Add yeast and let rise. Stir together flour, oats and salt, cutting in butter. Add the yeast mixture when it's foamy, mixing in the rest of the water as well. Knead on a floured surface, kneading in as much flour as necessary. Let rise in a covered, oiled bowl for 15 minutes. Knead again, form into a loaf and let rise in the pan, still covered, for 30 minutes in a warm place. Bake at 350 F for about 1 hour.


For farls:

After the dough has risen, roll it out into circles about 9" wide and 1/2" thick. Cut into quarters. Let rest for about 15 minutes, then grill the pieces in a skillet, until cooked through, flipping once to brown each side.

Nutbread

2 cups warm milk
4 tsp. honey
2 tsp. yeast

Combine these three and let sit while working on the rest . . .

2 cups white wheat flour or whole wheat flour
1/2 cup chopped nuts (raw, any assortment)
1/4 tsp. caraway seed
1/2 tsp. fennel seed
1 1/2 tsp. poppy seeds

Stir these together. When the yeast mixture is nice and foamy, stir that in, then let rest until about doubled.

1 tsp. salt
2 cups flour

Add these to the sponge dough. Knead for about 10 minutes. Place in an oiled bowl, turning the ball of dough so it too gets coated in oil, cover with plastic wrap, and let rise in a warm place for 30 minutes, or until nearly doubled again. I find it works best, in this weather, to stick it outside. Darn people always over-air-condition everything.

Form the dough into a a log-resembling shape and stick it in an oiled bread pan. Spray the inside of your oven or place a pan of water on the bottom. Put the dough in. Set the oven to 400 and bake for about 1 hour.

Deeper ’n Ever Turnip’n’Tater’n’Beetroot Pie

In The Bellmaker, they garnish the pie with hogweed; however, I don't think that's edible for humans, so I'd recommend parsley leaves. In Outcast of Redwall, it's specified to have mushroom gravy.


Filling:
1 1/2 cup potato, chopped into medium-sized pieces
1 1/2 cup beets, chopped into medium-sized pieces
1 1/2 cup turnip, chopped into medium-sized pieces
3 tsp. seasonings (your choice of herbs. This time I used sage, fennel seeds, and black pepper)
1/2 cup water
3 Tbls. whole wheat flour

Gravy:

1 Tbls. oil
3/4 cup mushrooms, chopped small
1/4 cup minced onion
1/4 cup grated carrot


Crust:
1 batch of double-crust pie dough. I like to add 1-2 tsp. of herbs to the dough for some extra flavor.

Preheat oven to 350 F.


Roll 1/2 the crust large enough for a 9" pie tin or square baking pan, and put it in the pan. Roll out other half for the top of the pie. Refrigerate until ready to use.

For the gravy, saute the mushrooms, onion, and carrot in oil until it is all nice and juicy.

Stir together the gravy mixture with the potato, beets, turnip, seasoning, and flour. Put in the pie crust. Pour the water over it all, then cover with the top crust, tucking in and trimming the edges of the crust. Cut some slits in the top crust.

Bake the pie at 350 F for 50-60 minutes.

Leek and Bean Soup

1 small carrot
1 leek
1/4 apple
1 cup bean sprouts
2 cups (or more) beans, (either canned, fresh, or presoaked)
1 cup lentils (dehydrated, canned, precooked, fresh, whatever—as long as they can be cooked in the time allotted)
5 cups veg stock

Coarsely chop or grate the carrot. Slice the leek, using as much as possible, making sure the insides are clean. Coarsely chop the apple.

Combine all ingredients in a pot and simmer until veg are tender. Don’t cook too long or you will destroy the flavor of the leeks.

This is very nice with some brown sugar added just before eating.

Soft White Bread

4 cups white wheat flour
1 3/4 cups warm water or milk
1 Tbs. salt
2 tsp. yeast
1 tsp. honey

Mix flour and salt. Proof the yeast with the sugar in 3/4 cup warm water--when it's foamy, mix with the flour. Stir in the rest of the water/milk. Knead so that it's nice and malleable. Coat inside of bowl in oil and coat dough in oil and let rise for 1 hour--in a nice, warm spot--with plastic wrap over the top of the bowl. Knead a little bit, then form into a loaf and let rise for another 1/2 hour with oil + plastic wrap. Put a container of water into bottom of oven, put the dough in and then start preheating to 350 F. Bake until it is done, about 50-60 minutes. The smell helps, it should also be golden-brown on the top. Not beige, not light brown.

Radish Salad

Use whatever kind of radishes you like (or can get). This recipe was made using red globe radishes (the smallest kind), so adjust amounts according to size. The important thing is that there's slightly more radish than cucumber.

about 3 inches cucumber
6 radishes
1 tablespoons vinegar (whatever kind you like)
1/2 tablespoon olive oil
1/2 teaspoon dill weed
1/4 teaspoon salt

Slice the cucumber and radishes very thinly and mix together in a bowl. In a separate bowl combine the other ingredients for the dressing. Then pour the dressing over the vegetables and stir so that it's all nicely coated.

Makes 1 or 2 servings, depending on how much you want to eat.

PS. This actually makes too much dressing, but it's hard to get the measurements smaller than that (and keep it proportionate, anyway)

Mossflower Salad

From Mattimeo.

1 fennel bulb + greens
2 carrots
About 1.5 inches cucumber
Parsley
Olive oil
Vinegar

Grate the fennel bulb and the carrots together. Line the edge of the dish with alternating thin cucumber slices and sprigs of parsley and fennel leaves. Drizzle with olive oil and vinegar.

Makes 1 largish salad, can easily be divided into smaller portions.

Barley and Beet Soup with Corn Dumplings

3/4 cup hulled barley (or rolled barley)
About 16 cups delicate vegetable stock
2 teaspoons olive oil
2 leeks, white only, chopped
16 oz. white mushrooms
1 clove garlic, minced
salt and pepper to taste
3 fresh beets, chopped
1 large fennel bulb, chopped
2 Tablespoon chopped fresh dill
1/2 cup corn

Dumplings:
1 1/2 cup white wheat flour
1 1/2 cup Cornmeal
1 1/2 teaspoon Salt
1 1/2 cup water
1/4 cup Vegetable oil

For hulled barley, you have three choices.
1. sprout the barley over the course of several days.
2. let the barley simmer in 4 cups of water for 60 minutes.
3. cook the barley in a rice cooker or a pressure cooker, again using about 4 cups of water.

If you are using rolled barley, you can just add it to the soup with the vegetables.


Combine the ingredients for the dumplings in a medium bowl and mix with a fork until combined.

Bring the stock to a boil, then add barley, dill, olive oil, leeks, mushrooms, garlic, beets, fennel and corn, and let it simmer for about 5 minutes.

Plop in the dumpling dough by the spoonful, cover the pot and let simmer for 10 minutes. Do not lift cover until dumplings have cooked for 10 minutes, but make sure it doesn't overflow and make a huge mess like the one I made. Add salt and pepper to taste.

Serve this soup garnished with dill sprigs.

Makes about 4 quarts

Spring Vegetable Soup

8 cups vegetable stock
1 cup beets, chopped
1/2 cup fennel stalks and leaves, chopped
1 clove garlic, chopped
3 potatoes, cubed (medium size, or large for new potatoes)
1 parsnip, chopped
3 red globe radishes, sliced
3/4 cup currants
1/2-1 tsp. lavender buds
1/2-1 tsp. dill weed
2 Tbls. chives, chopped
2. Tbls. dandelion leaves, chopped

Be sure to chop the fennel stalks and leaves really well, otherwise you'll end up with what looks like globs of seaweed floating about in your soup. Put the beets, fennel, garlic, potatoes, parsnip, radishes and currants into the stock, and boil until the potatoes are soft (sorry, I lost track of the time on this). Add the lavender, dill, dandelion, and chives. At this point it's pretty much done and you can eat it.

Snacks

(repost for tags)

Here are some foods mentioned in the books, that don't really need a recipe written for them.

Basic snacks:
Apple and cheese
Autumn pears
Cinnamon toast
Dried fruits
Gooseberries and cream
Grapes and almonds
Mixed fruits with honey
Nuts and berries
Russet apples
Strawberries coated in honey
Traveling fruit (I didn't write context for this, so maybe it's fruit you take with you traveling, or fruit you pick up while traveling.)

Toppings:
Fresh cream
Maple syrup
Pouring cream (in US, single cream or half-and-half come closest)
Whipped cream (I strongly recommend using real cream and whipping it yourself)

Jams and jellies: (the usual kind that are easily available at stores. Of course, you can make your own; I certainly will try)
Blackberry jelly
Cherry preserve (this terms means jam with an especially high content of fruit)
Raspberry preserve

Cheese: (again, the kinds available commercially, but you can make your own if desired)
Cheddar cheese
Goatsmilk cheese
White cheese
Yellow cheese

Apple and Celery Slice

(repost for tags)

It took me a long time to find out what exactly a "slice" is. After some Google research it still seemed kind of nebulous. A bar cookie? A cake type thing? A biscuit type thing? Seems like it's any kind of dessert/sweet food that has a crust, is baked in a rectangle, and is cut into small rectangles to serve. We don't have anything called a slice in the US so I'm just trying to figure it out.

2 1/2 cups white wheat flour, whole wheat flour, or whole wheat pastry flour
1 teaspoon salt
1/3 cup butter
1/3 cup cream cheese
1 egg yolk
1/2 cup milk or nut milk
2-3 apples, cored and sliced thinly
1 stick of celery, sliced thinly
2 Tbls. sugar
2 Tbls. honey
1 teaspoon ground nutmeg
1 tsp fennel seeds (or 1/2 seeds, 1/2 leaves)
1 tsp. arrowroot powder
1 egg white

Preheat oven to 375 F.

In a large mixing bowl stir together the flour and the salt. Cut in butter and cream cheese till the mixture resembles coarse crumbs. Lightly beat egg yolk in a glass measuring cup. Add milk to make 2/3 cup liquid total; mix well.  Divide dough in half.  

On a floured surface, roll half the dough thinly to a large square; fit into and up sides of an 8 x 8 inch baking pan.  Trim excess.

Stir together the apples, celery, honey, sugar, nutmeg, fennel, and arrowroot powder. Place in the crust. 

Roll remaining dough to a large, thin square; place over apples. Trim excess and seal edges.  Beat egg white until frothy, and brush on top of pastry. Cut slits in the top for steam to escape. 

 
Bake at 375 degrees F for about 50 minutes or until golden brown.