Steamed Gluten-Free Cornbread – Smooth & Delicious!
Serves 12
Ingredients:
1 cup corn meal
1cup gluten free baking mix or you can substitute your favorite flour
2 teaspoons baking powder
1 tsp salt
1 cup coconut milk
2 eggs, beaten
1 cup water, or enough more to make the consistency of pancake batter
Set your cooking pot (pasta pot or 3-legged cast iron pot) with two inches of water and a steamer rack over hot coals
In a mixing bowl, add dry ingredients.
Thoroughly beat all the wet ingredients into the mixing bowl until all lumps are gone from the batter.
Grease a stainless steel bowl. Bread will come out more easily if you line the bowl with wax paper.
Pour batter into the prepared cooking bowl.
Put cooking bowl into the steamer rack. Cover the pot.
Steam 1 hour at a medium boil, adding more boiling water as needed.
The top of bread will be firm to touch, but will not be browned
Invert bread onto a plate or rack.
Cool for ten minutes before slicing. Enjoy!
Cabbage & Sow Thistle (Common sow thistle, or sonchus oleraceus, is in the Aster family, and self seeds in many areas of the US, from dry to wet.)
Serves 10
Preheat 2 tablespoons olive oil, bacon drippings, or coconut oil in medium 3-legged cast iron pot with a lid over hot coals
Add 1 large yellow onion, chopped.
Add 1 tsp of salt
Add 1/2 tsp ground black pepper
Sauté until translucent
Add 2 quarts of fresh, tender young sow thistle leaves, prior to flowering, or other wild greens mixture such as chickweed, cress, or dandelion greens to the onions
Cover and cook for two minutes to wilt.
Add 1/2 of a large head of cabbage, chopped coarsely
Add 1-1/2 cups water, chicken broth or vegetable broth and bring to boil, covered
Cook 10-20 minutes to desired tenderness.
Sweet Potatoes
Build a hot cooking fire, and when coals form, create a bed of ash to the edge of the fire.
Soak in water two (trimmed) corn shucks per potato. These are usually used to wrap tamales, (and are also known as hojas de maiz). Alternately harvest summer corn, and save the green corn shucks to wrap around the potatoes
Wash potatoes and rub with olive oil, coconut oil or ghee
Wrap each potato in two shucks, and pin shucks securely with a tooth pick
Bury potatoes in hot ash and cover with coals
Allow to cook 1 1/2 hour, remove from fire, remove shucks, and serve.
Rotisserie or “Dangle” Chicken – slow-cooked over camp fire coals
Wash and salt the inside of a whole chicken.
(Alternately, you can brine the chicken overnight with a tablespoon of salt per quart of water, to which you add a couple bay leaves and a teaspoon each of thyme, rosemary, and sage)
Truss the chicken with cotton twine, prior to cooking, after sprinkling on any additional seasonings like thyme, rosemary, sage, garlic powder or spice rub, and hang about 24” over red-hot coals from a tripod or diagonal spike .
Turn the chicken periodically by twisting the twine.
When the chicken is browned on the side facing the fire after 1-1/2 or 2 hours, remove and retruss with the uncooked side facing the fire.
This takes about three hours to cook completely.
Keep replenishing the coals underneath the chicken from the main fire to maintain a consistent temperature.
Serve when inner temperature reaches 165 degrees F.

Boiled Plum Pudding
1/2 lb suet or butter
1/2 lb dried plums
1/2 lb raisins
4 eggs, minus 2 whites
1 small roll grated into breadcrumbs
1 tsp grated nutmeg
1 tsp grated ginger
1/2 lb flour
pinch salt
1 cup milk
Optional: 1/2 cup chopped walnuts
Pudding Sauce
3/4 cup sherry, brandy or mead
1/2 cup sugar
1/4 cup butter
Fill a stockpot 2/3 full of water and bring to a boil
Whisk eggs until frothy.
Add 1/2 cup milk
Gradually add flour and breadcrumbs
Incorporate the butter, spices and fruit
Gradually add remaining milk as needed to make a thick batter
Prepare pudding cloth – lay lightly woven 24”x 24” linen cloth on the table
and spread a thin layer of softened butter over the cloth, sprinkle a layer of flour on top of the butter.
Put the cloth inside a bowl and carefully spoon 1/2 of the pudding batter into the center
Pull the ends of the cloth up and tie them securely with twine – leaving long ends of twine to tie to a long wooden handled spoon. This will hang the “bags” of pudding in the boiling water.
Boil about 2 1/2 hours.
To check the pudding remove from the water and set in a colander. Tap the pudding. It should feel slightly firm, not squishy. If it is finished let it cool a while and unwrap it, carefully pealing the cloth away from the pudding.
In a small saucepan add the sauce ingredients and heat until sugar is melted and throughly mixed with the butter and brandy.
Pour the sauce over the pudding and serve.
Recipes from LWES Folk Workshops April 20
New England Fish Chowder
INGREDIENTS
- 4 ounces meaty salt pork, rind removed and cut into 1/3-inch dice
- 2 tablespoons unsalted butter
- 2 medium onions (14 ounces), cut into 3/4-inch dice
- 6 to 8 sprigs fresh summer savory or thyme, leaves removed and chopped (1 tablespoon)
- 2 dried bay leaves
- 2 pounds Yukon Gold, Maine, PEI, or other all-purpose potatoes, peeled and sliced 1/3-inch thick
- 5 cups Strong Fish Stock ,Traditional Fish Stock ,Chicken Stock , or water (as a last resort)
- Kosher or sea salt and freshly ground black pepper
- N/A freshly ground black pepper
- 3 pounds skinless haddock or cod fillets, preferably over 1 inch thick, pinbones removed
- 1 1/2 cups heavy cream (or up to 2 cups if desired)
For garnish
- 2 tablespoons chopped fresh Italian parsley
- 2 tablespoons minced fresh chives
PREPARATION
- 1. Heat a 4- to 6-quart heavy pot over low heat and add the diced salt pork. Once it has rendered a few tablespoons of fat, increase the heat to medium and cook until the pork is a crisp golden brown. Use a slotted spoon to transfer the cracklings to a small ovenproof dish, leaving the fat in the pot, and reserve until later.
- 2. Add the butter, onions, savory or thyme, and bay leaves to the pot and sauté, stirring occasionally with a wooden spoon, for about 8 minutes, until the onions and softened but not browned.
- 3. Add the potatoes and stock. If the stock doesn’#over the potatoes, add just enough water to cover them. Turn up the heat and bring to a boil, cover, and cook the potatoes vigorously for about 10 minutes, until they are soft on the outside but still firm in the center. If the stock hasn’4hickened lightly, smash a few of the potato slices against the side of the pot and cook for a minute or two longer to release their starch. Reduce the heat to low and season assertively with salt and pepper (you want to almost overseason the chowder at this point to avoid having to stir it much once the fish is added). Add the fish fillets and cook over low heat for 5 minutes, then remove the pot from the heat and allow the chowder to sit for 10 minutes (the fish will finish cooking during this time).
- 4. Gently stir in the cream and taste for salt and pepper. If you are not serving the chowder within the hour, let it cool a bit, then refrigerate; cover the chowder after it has chilled completely. Otherwise, let it sit for up to an hour at room temperature, allowing the flavors to meld.
- 5. When ready to serve, reheat the chowder over low heat; don’,et it boil. Warm the cracklings in a low oven (200 °F) for a few minutes.
- 6. Use a slotted spoon to mound the chunks of fish, the onions, and potatoes in the center of large soup plates or shallow bowls, and ladle the creamy broth around. Scatter the cracklings over the individual servings and finish each with a sprinkling of chopped parsley and minced chives.
- Strong Fish Stock made with the heads and bones from the cod or haddock you buy for chowder is by far the best choice for this recipe. I urge you to make it, but if you can’4here are alternatives listed in the recipe.
- For equipment, you will need a 4- to 6-quart heavy pot with a lid, a slotted spoon, a wooden spoon, and a ladle.
Venison Stew with wild nettles and collards
Dredge a two pound roast in 1/4 cup of gluten free flour, 1 tsp curry powder, salt and pepper
Preheat dutch oven over the coals with 2 Tb coconut oil
Place venison in heated Dutch oven
Brown on all sides.
Add one quart of bone broth to the Dutch Oven
Add 2 cups of elephant garlic bulbs, diced
Add 3 cups of chopped Elephant garlic greens
Simmer for 1.5 hours, adding more water as necessary to cover meat.
Add 4-5 medium potatoes.
Add two chopped carrots.
Simmer for 30 minutes or until potatoes are fork tender.
Add one Tb gluten free flour to broth.
Add more water if needed to cover meat.
Add 3 cups of fresh nettle leaves.
Add two cups chopped kale, mustard, or spring greens.
Simmer for 30 minutes.
Remover from heat.
Remove meat and slice.
Return meat to Dutch oven.
Serve.
Bone Broth
Brown 3 lb bones ( I used beef bones, but chicken, goat, and mutton also work great) in covered Dutch oven or in 2 Tb oil. Browning produces more of the umami flavor. You can boil the bones without browning for a more delicate flavor.
Cover bones with water.
Add one sliced onion
Add 3 stalks of elephant garlic
Add 2 sliced carrots
Add a cup of sliced Shitake mushrooms
Add one cup of parsley
Add a tsp of peppercorns
Add 5-8 cloves of garlic
Add one half cup of vinegar
Simmer bones for 12 hours.
Strain and store in fridge or freezer for soup, rice, or gravies.
Garlic Paste (used in venison stew instead of cloves of garlic)
2 cups peeled garlic cloves
1/2 olive oil
1/4 coconut oil
Juice of 1/2 lemon or lime, or 2 Tb vinegar
1 tsp salt
Process all ingredients in the food processor adding more olive oil as needed to mix ingredients.
Pour in jelly jars or 1/2 pint jars.
Store in Refrigerator or freezer.
Use 1/2 tsp in place of one clove of garlic.
Plank Roasted Alaskan Salmon Fillet
Heat a 6 x 18 inch oak plank on a grill over hot coals.
You can soak the plank in water or wine to keep it from catching fire.
Season the salmon with salt, pepper, garlic powder, old bay, cayenne and paprika.
Lay the half salmon, filleted, on the plank.
Place the plank on the grill over hot coals.
Cook for 8-10 min.
To brown the top, tilt the fish side of the plank toward the coals, by leaning the plank against a rock near the coals.
If you are using a BBQ grill, you can close the lid and grill until the salmon flakes with a fork.
Slice and serve directly from the plank.
Recipes from Cooking With Herbs – Henrietta Cummings
Dark Chocolate with Turmeric and Black Pepper
16oz bitter sweet dark chocolate
1 cup coconut oil
1 cup finely chopped walnuts
1 tsp vanilla extract
1/2 to 1 cup turmeric
1/2 to 1 tsp coarse ground black pepper
Pinch coarse ground salt
Melt chocolate & coconut oil together in a double boiler on low heat
Stir in vanilla and add herbs
Stir well, then add nuts
Pour into a shallow baking dish and refrigerate
Cut into small pieces
Tzatziki Sauce – Greek yogurt & Cucumber Garlic Sauce
2 cups yogurt
2 cloves garlic
1 large cucumber, chopped very fine
Small amount sea salt
4 tablespoons dill, chopped very fine
Let chill one hour so flavors marry.