Wild Blueberry Biscuits:

2 Cs Flour

1 C milk (cold)

1/3 Cup sugar

5 Tbsps. of butter (cold or frozen)

4 tsps. baking powder

1 tsp salt

3 ozs. wild blueberries (fresh or frozen)

At home, Glaze:

1 C powdered sugar

1/8 C water

1 tsp. vanilla

½ tsp. lemon juice

Directions:

Preheat oven to 450F. Mix salt, sugar, flour, and baking powder in a bowl. Add the super cold milk into dry ingredients and mix. As dough begins to form take each tablespoon of hardened solidified butter and break chunks off and spread evenly over dough. Fold dough, and knead… repeat until all butter is spread in chunks evenly throughout dough. Move dough to floured cutting board and roll flat to about ¼ - ½ thick (or to desired thickness) and cut approximately 6 biscuits with a biscuit or cookie cutter. If you notice the butter start to melt (hot kitchen) during this process it may be necessary to return the dough to the freezer for 10-15 minutes. Do not exceed 20, as the baking powder’s 1st stage may become inactive past that. Place in oven and bake for about 7-12 minutes. Melt 1 tablespoon of low-fat butter in the microwave, and paint finished biscuits with pastry brush. Mix glaze ingredients in a bowl, and drizzle over biscuits. © Al (Alex-Alexander) D Girvan.

BREAD IN A BAG

PREP TIME: 20 mins         COOK TIME: 30 mins

TOTAL TIME: 50 mins

Serves: 2 mini loaves or 1 full size loaf

INGREDIENTS

3 Cs all purpose flour, divided

3 Tbsps. white sugar

1 (.25) package rapid rise yeast (2¼ tsps.)

1 C warm water

3 Tbsps. olive oil or vegetable oil

1½ tsps. salt

INSTRUCTIONS

In a resealable plastic bag place 1 C flour, sugar and yeast and add in warm water.

Squeeze air out of the bag and seal.

Squish with your hands until well mixed together.

Let it rest for 10 minutes at room temperature. Bubbles will form.

Open bag and put in 1 C of flour, oil and salt.

Seal bag again and squish until well blended.

Add last cup of flour and continue mixing in the same manner until well blended.

Remove dough from bag and put onto a lightly floured surface.

Knead for 5-10 minutes or until smooth.

Divide dough in half and place each half into a greased mini loaf pan  Or make one large loaf

Cover with a towel and allow to rise for about 30 minutes.

Bake in a 375 degree oven for 25-30 minutes or until bread is golden brown.If you are in the bush and you do not have any pans; wrap around a stick and roast over the damp fire.

Western Mountain-Ash (Sorbus scopulina).

There are three main species: European, Sitka and Western.

The mountain-ash is not an ash tree, but leaflets (presumably individual) are thought to resemble the ash.

Common Name(s): Western Mountain-Ash, Greene's Mountain-Ash, Mountain-Ash.

Scientific Name: Sorbus scopulina.   Scopulina means "of the rocks or cliffs".

General Info: A several-stemmed deciduous shrub, 3-15 ft. tall.

Ecology:  Widespread and common at low to subalpine levels in moist forests, openings and clearings.  Generally absent from warmer, arid areas.

Range:   Western mountain-ash is native to broad areas in the southern half of Alaska, and broad areas of the Yukon, Northwest Territories, British Columbia, Alberta, Saskatchewan, Montana, Idaho, Washington, and scattered areas in Oregon, California, Wyoming, North Dakota, South Dakota, Utah, Colorado, Nevada, and New Mexico.

Flowers: White and small, up to 200 in flat-topped to rounded clusters.  May - early July.

Fruits: Orange to scarlet glossy berry-like pomes, which persist into winter.

Leaves:  Alternate, divided into 9-13 oblong yellow-green leaflets with sharp pointed tips.  Most of the length of a leaflet is sharply toothed.

EDIBILITY: Edible. But not great.

Notes:

Winter buds and early growth are white-hairy and sticky to the touch (as contrasted to the Sitka Mountain-Ash). 

Many birds, (notably Bohemian Waxwings), eat the berries, and elk, wapiti, and deer, browse on the twigs.

The bitter-tasting fruits of these trees are high in vitamin C and CAN be eaten raw . Usually they are cooked or dried. In British Columbia, some of the aboriginal peoples were known to have consumed Sitka mountain ash fruit and possibly the fruit of the Western Mountain ash but most pioneer Canadians considered them inedible.

 High in vitamin C, the berries of the Western Mountain ash have been used to make jams, jellies  pies, ale and a bitter sweet wine.

In  Northern Europe, the berries, which can be quite mealy, were historically dried and ground into flour, which was later fermented and used to make a strong liquor.

In Canada, the most common use was as a marinade for such meats as marmot and ground squirrel (Brunswick Stew), or as a flavouring for salmon head soup (this is a particularly nutritious and delicious--the North American Aboriginal prably learned it from eaarly Norse or Europeans-- traditional in fishing communities worldwide) soup well worth the making if your cooking char, salmon or other larger fish.

©Al (Alex-Alexander) D. Girvan. All rights reserved.

Braised Hare or Rabbit:

Braised Hare or Rabbit:

1. Skin and clean rabbit, taking special care not to puncture the bladder.

2. Place rabbit in braising pan, and cross the hind legs. Season with onion, salt and pepper, cover with fat and add a small amount of water.

3. Braise very slowly with cover on, for 3 hours.

4. To brown, turn heat up and remove cover the last 1/2 hour or so of cooking.

Sow Thistle Greens, Wilted in Butter

This recipe, for Sow Thistle greens; which I have recently adapted and revised once again, is from a Traditional British recipe; I originally published in From The Mother’s Garden Pantry for Survival.

Sow Thistle Greens, Wilted in Butter, and “Finished”; by Cooking in a Little Beef Stock, With Spices.

 Ingredients:

 2 handfuls of young sow thistle leaves

2 ozs. butter, for frying

1 tsp. flour

¼ cup beef stock

Salt, and black pepper, to taste.

Freshly grated nutmeg, to taste.

 Preparation Method:

Three varieties of sow thistle can be found in western Canada:Perennial sow thistle Sonchus arvensis, Prickly sow thistle Sonchus asper, and Annual sow thistle Sonchus oleraceus. All grow by roadways and in disturbed areas Only pick young sow thistle leaves (less than 4ins. long) as these will not be as bitter as the older leaves, (you also won't have the spines to contend with). Heat some butter in a pan and add the leaves. Stir to coat the leaves in the butter then stir-in the flour and continue cooking about 1 minute or until the leaves are slightly wilted. Then add beef stock; reduce to a simmer; and continue cooking, for about 6 minutes or until thickened, (this should still leave you with a decent bite or crunch). Add some nutmeg (to taste) before serving. Young leaves are edible raw but are best prepared as above. 

© Al (Alex-Alexander)D. Girvan 2013. All rights reserved.

Trout, Aurora Borealis, Cooking Style

 Trout, Aurora Borealis:

1. Sprinkle salt all over the skin of the fish on both sides, as much as you'd normally use for seasoning.

2. Let salt settle into the skin for 20 minutes; then broil and the skin will take on iridescent rainbow colours as it cooks. 
See also:  Trout Broiled Blue in an older post
and 

Aurora Trout, About the Fish - This Truly Canadian Fish Will Only Live in Canada

http://cookingforsurvival--yourdownbutnotout.blogspot.com/2010/09/some-of-canadas-fresh-water-fish.html