Encelia californica-photo

Photo: Near Birch Aquarium, La Jolla, CA

This is our native sunflower which is seen along roadways and throughout Southern California. It has slender stems and the flowers are much smaller than standard sunflowers.

New Blogs

Since the recipes and photos of the three cookbooks are randomly entered in this blog, it seems better to develop a blog for each cook book. Currently the recipes for each book are labeled in this blog. However, here are the new beginning blogs for each cookbook. Again, information is always subject to revision. If you are interested in newer entries, please use the links to the right or click on one of the following:
http://wildmountaincookbook.blogspot.com
http://wildcoastcookbook.blogspot.com
http://wilddesertcookbook.blogspot.com

Coastal Tide

January 2008

I am so grateful to Google for making the blogging format available to everyone. I have found that it is an excellent way to handle "work in progress." It has been a month now with one dinner and other assorted recipes having been formulated. I am so thankful for everyone's interest, suggestions and help. No particular dietary style will be emphasized although sometimes substitutions are offered. In the first month , the emphasis was on various breads and mountain themes, but just yesterday the first coastal effort was made. Southern California has a unique mixture of desert, mountain and coastal areas. It continues to be a challenge to incorporate its themes and resources. Contributions to the process are always appreciated as this is a learning adventure in art, cooking, and knowledge of our local surroundings.

Flaked Halibut with Kombu, Laver and Nori

This is the first recipe for the Wild Coast Cook Book. It uses local fish and dried packaged seaweed.

1/8 c soy sauce
1 c water
handful of dried Kombu, Laver and Nori
2 small carrots, cut into pieces
1/2 lb local halibut
lemon

Place dried seaweed in pan with carrots, water and soy sauce and cook until carrots and seaweed are softened.
In a separate pan, pan fry the halibut in a small amount of oil. When almost cooked through, make it into flakes with a fork.
Place halibut on a plate, drain seaweed, and arrage Kombu, Nori and carrots around the edges. Pull very thin stirps of Laver lengthwise from the large piece and place on top. Squeeze 1/2 lemon over dish.

Berry Soup

Although there are many wild berries in the mountains, at this time, they have not yet developed on the vine, ie., blackberry, chokecherry, gooseberry, thimbleberry, and wild strawberry . Commercial raspberries and dried elderberries have been used in this recipe. It can be expanded to combine any type of wild or dried berry.

l package fresh raspberries (about 1 1/2 c)
1/2 c chopped currants or dried mixed berries
1 T dried elderberries www.obpeoplesfood.coop
1 t cornstarch

Mix and cook to a boil then simmer till the mixture becomes slightly thick. Cool. Serve in small bowls with berry leaves on the plate around the bowl. Add a few whole berries to the leaves. Accepts many garnishes including a very light sprinkling of balsamic vinegar.

Gold and Brown Leaves with Butterflies

Gold Leaves
1 c cornmeal
1 c whole wheat flour
1/4 c red quinoa
3 t baking powder
1/4 c sugar or raw sugar
1 t salt
2 eggs or egg replacer
1 c milk or soy or rice milk
1/4 oil

Brown Leaves
1 c blue corn meal
1/2 c whole wheat flour
1/4 c acorn flour www.zionmarket.com
1/4 t salt
1 1/2 t baking powder
2 T sugar or raw sugar
1 egg or egg substitute
1 c milk or soy or rice milk
1/4 c oil

For both these recipes, mix ingredients, spray cookie sheet with oil, place leaf cookie cutters on pan, fill half way with bread mixture, very slowly lift cookie cutters, correcting edges as cutter is lifted, make marks for the veins of the leaves and cook in preheated oven at 425 degrees for 15-25 minutes, depending on the size of the leaves.
Serve with choice of butter or butter substitute, wild berry spread, hazelnut butter, etc.

Butterfly Cookies
1 1/2 c whole whole wheat pastry flour
1/4 t salt
1/4 c sugar or raw sugar
1/2 t baking powder
1/2 t grated lemon rind
1/2 t crushed dry raspberries
1/2 t vanilla
1/4 t cinnamon
1/4 c oil
1/4 c milk, soy milk or rice milk

Mix ingredients, roll out on floured board and cut with mini butterfly cookie cutters. Bake in preheated 425 degree oven for 5-7 minutes.

Wintery Lake Cuyamaca

Mountain Cookies

MOUNTAIN COOKIES
Commercial gingerbread and ice cream with walnuts were used to try out the new mountain cookie cutters found online, with hopefully a recipe including local ingredients to follow.

SUNSHINE golden beets

SUNSHINE
Here is the photo for the golden beet SUNSHINE, mentioned as a garnish for MEADOWLAND.
After cooking the golden beets, peeling and cutting out the small suns, they can be used cold as a salad ingredient or hot, mixed with other vegetables.

First Mountain Dinner-Compliments

Small bowls with spoons can be filled and used to sprinkle chia seed, elderberry berries and flowers, edible flowers, finely chopped walnuts, almonds and pine nuts as well as other herbs and seeds, on completed dishes. Many of these additions, which can serve as a welcome change from salt and pepper, can be found in local natural food stores or organic markets www.obpeoplesfood.coop.

First Mountain Dinner - Dessert

WALNUT CHOCOLATE, MIXED RAISIN AND BERRY DESSERT

Surprisingly enough, this dessert starts out with acorn base which is just a mixture of acorn flour and water that is boiled until gelatinous. It has a very mild, somewhat nutty flavor and as such takes well to flavorful additions.

Acorn base
Mix 3 T of acorn flour (available at some Korean markets) with 1/4 c water. Drop into 3 cups of boiling water. Mix thoroughly and continue stirring for about 8 to 10 minutes. When a little bit is dropped into cold water and it floats, it is finished. Mixture will turn dark.

Presentation
Pour mixture into 8 small bowls or ramekins, about 1/2 inch thick. To see which mixture you or your guests prefer, Mix 1/2 of bowls with shredded dark chocolate and walnuts, the other 1/2 with raisins and dried or fresh berries. Refrigerate. Serve with whipped cream, ice cream, soy ice cream or rice ice cream and a sprig of mint(not pictured).

First Mountain Dinner- Bread

PINE CONES, RASPBERRY LEAVES AND BARK

Corn meal/acorn bread
1/3 c oil
1/3c sugar (or raw sugar-vegan)
l beaten egg (or egg replacer-vegan)
1 1/4 milk (or soy or rice milk-vegan)
1/3 c acorn flour
2/3 c flour
1 c cornmeal
1/2 T salt
3 t baking powder
Stir and spread on a cookie sheet, about 1/4 in thick. Bake at 35 for about 12 minutes. Cool.

Presentation
With knife, cut out pine cone shapes and add pine nuts. Cut strips for bark and spread with hazelnut butter and dust with chopped walnuts. For raspberry leaves, after cutting out leaf shapes, dust them with dried raspberry leaves. Serve with wild berry spread.

First Mountain Dinner

SQUASH AND PUMPKIN MOUNTAINS with ROCKY RAVINE

Squash/Pumpkin Mountains
Cook enough squash and/or pumpkin in the microwave to result in 8 cups of squash that have had the seeds and skin removed. Place on the edge of a large plate in mountain-like mounds. Garnish with fresh herb sprigs (trees!)

Rocky Ravine
Rinse 6 cups of dried beans and put them in a large pot with 12 cups of hot water. Bring to a rapid boil and boil two minutes: remove from heat. Cover and let stand for one hour. Drain and rinse beans. Add 12 cups of water, a 14 oz can of chopped tomatoes, 3 bay leaves, 2 T chili powder and 1 t epazote. Simmer over medium low heat until beans are tender. Season to taste with salt/pepper/herbs.

Presentation
The squash pumpkin mountains surround the rocky ravine beans in the center.

MEADOWLAND with SUNSHINE BEETS

Meadowland
Spread guacamole made of 2 avocados with lemon juice on center of plate. Cover with finely chopped salad of 1/3 watercress, 1/3 lettuce, 1/3 dandelion greens.

Sunshine Beets
Boil 2 small beets until almost soft. Cool. Peel. Slice horizontally and then cut sun rays with knife. Serve separately or on salad.

Dressing
Oil and vinegar with herbs and 1 clove pressed garlic.

Presentation
Arrange small sticks of carrots or other vegetables around Meadowland on serving platter. Garnish with edible flowers and or/Sunshine Golden Beets.

Beginning

After making a series of mountain drawing in San Diego County, I decided to investigate which native plants were edible and which could be incorporated in recipes, using ingredients commercially available to the urban cook. I also hoped to come up with some themed presentations using more traditional ingredients. The result was a beginning for the Wild Mountain Cook Book. After putting together one dinner, with other menus to follow, I decided to expand and also have a Wild Coast Cook Book and a Wild Desert Cook Book, thus covering the very beautiful San Diego area. Many of these plants and recipes are also representative of other parts of Southern California. Enjoy!

Although efforts have been made to use moderate amounts of native and wild commercial ingredients (foraging requires positive identification of species and is not recommended without expert advice), some ingredients may be unfamiliar. Therefore, the following disclaimer is presented.

DISCLAIMER: All blog posts are temporary and subject to change. No health, medicinal or nutritional claims are made. Not responsible for indigestion, allergic reactions or any health problems which may result from the use of these trial recipes or suggestions.