Blueberry Scones

There's something wonderful about the simplicity of a scone. These are about as simple as it gets: a barely-sweetened pastry studded with fresh, ripe blueberries. I forgot to take pictures of the process, but since I used a food processor with a dough blade there wasn't much to see, anyway.

Blueberry Scones

Prep time: 15 minutes
Cook time: 15 minutes
Total time: 30 minutes

Yield: 8 large or 16 small scones

Ingredients

• 2 cups white whole-wheat flour
• 3 tbsp sugar
• 2 tsp baking powder
• 4 tbsp butter
• 2/3 cup milk
• 1 cup fresh blueberries

Directions

1. Preheat oven to 400F.
2. Place the flour, sugar, and baking power into a food processor fitted with a dough blade and give it a whirl to combine. (Alternatively, whisk together by hand)
3. Cut the butter into small pieces, add to the food processor, and run until worked in, scraping down dry flour from the sides if necessary. (Alternatively, cut the butter into the flour with a pastry cutter or two knives.
4. Add the milk and pulse until the dough comes together.
5. Turn the dough onto a baking sheet lined with parchment paper and knead briefly if necessary to help the dough form. (My food processor had trouble getting the last of the flour incorporated, so I did that by hand). 
6. Shape the dough into one or two flat disks and stud the disks -- both sides -- with the fresh blueberries. 
7. Cut the disk(s) into eight wedges.
8. Bake until the scones are golden brown and fragrant, about 15 minutes.
9. Remove from oven to cool, then break the scones apart and enjoy!

If you want, these could be topped with a glaze of milk and powdered sugar. You also could add lemon zest or cinnamon to the flour for additional flavor. 

Skilly 'n' Duff

Skilly 'n' Duff is actually something sailors would truly make long ago. Traditionally, it was a steamed dumpling that would take four to five hours to cook. I don't have that much patience, so I made a simplified recipe. It still takes about an hour and a half to make, but that's more reasonable and it's worth it. I used blackberries and plums, which were mentioned in the book Marlfox, but feel free to use your favorite fruits. You also could replace the mashed berries with jam of any flavor.

Skilly 'n' Duff

Prep time: 15 minutes
Cook time: 1 hour, 15 minutes
Total time: 1 hour, 30 minutes

Yield: 8 servings

Ingredients

• 2 cups white whole wheat flour
• 1/4 cup sugar
• 2 tsp baking soda
• 1/3 cup blackberries
• 1 cup milk
• 1/2 cup water
• 2 plums

Directions

1. Sift together the flour, sugar, and baking soda.
   
2. Mash the blackberries until smooth.
   
3. Pour the milk and water into the blackberries and mix well.
   
4. Add the liquid ingredients to the dry ingredients and stir until combined. (I realize that at this point the batter has turned an unfortunate grey color. I promise it improves).
   
5. Chop or finely dice the plums (based on your personal chunkyness preference) and mix into the batter.
   
6. Place eight four-ounce ramekins into a saucepan with a lid and add water to the saucepan until it reaches halfway up the ramekins. (I couldn't fit all eight, so I split them among two saucepans)
   
7. Pour the batter evenly into the eight ramekins and heat the saucepans on the stove over low heat. 
   
8. Once the water begins to simmer, cover the saucepans and allow the batter to steam for about an hour, or until a toothpick comes out of the center mostly clean.
   
9. These can be served warm or cold. If serving cold, remove the ramekins from the hot water and allow them to come to room temperature before covering and refrigerating, otherwise condensation will cause them to become soggy.
10. If desired, top with meadowcream.  
    

Meadowcream

Meadowcream is, of course, mentioned in every single Redwall book. It was one of many things which had me constantly licking my lips and wishing I had a snack. A sweet snack, covered in meadowcream. The description of meadowcream, however, was practically non-existent. After much reading, I eventually decided that meadowcream should be a sweet, thick, creamy sauce that has the potential to be whipped into a whipped-cream like state, though it doesn't necessarily need to be. This is what came to mind.

Meadowcream

Cook time: 10 minutes
Cool time: 20 minutes
Total time: 30 minutes

Yield: One pint

Ingredients

• 2 tbsp cornstarch
• ¼ cup sugar
• 2 cups milk (my meadowcream is off-white because I used soymilk, but the recipe should work with any milk or milk alternative)
• 1 tsp vanilla extract
• ½ tsp almond extract

Directions

1. Whisk together cornstarch and milk in a small saucepan until dissolved and free of clumps.
2. Add sugar, stirring until dissolved.
   
3. Cook over medium heat, stirring constantly, for 6-10 minutes or until thickened.
   
4. Pour into a jar, cover, and refrigerate until chilled. 
5. If you want to whip your meadowcream, pour it into a chilled metal bowl and whip with a stand or hand mixer until stiff peaks form. The peaks will not hold forever, so whip immediately before using. 

Grayling a la Redwall

Grayling a la Redwall is the first food item we're really introduced to in the Redwall series as Friar Hugo stalks off to the kitchen, shouting instructions and ingredients. I was a little nervous about attempting it, since it's the first real non-baked-good thing I've tried, but it came out marvelously. According to Wikipedia, grayling is a type of salmon, so I've used fresh salmon from my local grocery store. I also was unable to find beechnuts, which I was hoping to use as a garnish. Other than that, this recipe is as true to Friar Hugo's instructions as I could make it.

A quick note: I live alone and don't eat very much, so I made the sauce the first night and thawed individual fillets to bake in my toaster oven each night. If you have enough people to cook a pound or more of salmon at once in the oven, I certainly recommend that route. However, if you are in my position and don't want a bunch of fish leftovers to go bad, this method works quite well. You can even bake the fillets straight from the freezer; just increase cooking time to about 40 minutes and check that it flakes properly before pouring over the sauce.

Grayling a la Redwall

Cook time (fish): 20 minutes
Cook time (sauce): 15 minutes
Total time: 20 minutes if you are a good multitasker.

Yield: 6 servings

Ingredients

• 1.5 pounds salmon (cut into 6 fillets)
• 1/4 cup fresh rosemary
• 1/4 cup fresh thyme
• 2 tbsp butter (divided)
• 2 tbsp olive oil
• 4 cloves garlic, minced
• 1/2 cup dry white wine
• 1/2 cup vegetable stock
• 2 tbsp chopped fresh mint
• 1 tsp honey
• 1 1/2 cups half-and-half 

Directions

1. Preheat oven to 375F.
2. Lay out a large piece of parchment paper. Cover with rosemary and thyme and lay fish over herbs.
   

   
3. Cut 1 tablespoon butter into small pieces and distribute over the fish. Gather paper into a packet and bake for 25 minutes or until salmon flakes easily.
   

    
4. Meanwhile, melt remaining tablespoon of butter in a saucepan. Add oil and garlic and cook until fragrant.
   

   
5. Add wine and stock, bring to a boil then reduce heat and simmer for about 5 minutes.
   

   
6. Add mint, honey, and half-and-half, and simmer for about 10 minutes.
   

   
7. Pour sauce over fish and serve. Garnish with nuts if using. 

Blackberry Jam

I promise this will be the last berry jam/sauce recipe for the season. However, there's this lovely, short space of the year when blackberries and raspberries are in season together and I had to take advantage. This is a fast, no-sugar-added jam, but if it's not sweet enough for you feel free to add some sugar at the end, before you refrigerate.

Blackberry Jam

Cook time: 10 minutes
Total time: 10 minutes

Yield: 1 cup of jam

Ingredients

• 3/4 cup blackberries
• 3/4 cup raspberries
• 1 tablespoon cornstarch

Directions

1. Place berries in a small saucepan over medium heat and stir slowly but constantly.
   
2. When the raspberries have broken down into liquid, sprinkle in the cornstarch. Stir quickly to prevent clumping. This works best if you sift the cornstarch into the pot. (Sorry for the terrible photo; my camera was struggling with the steam.)
   
3. Continue stirring until the blackberries have broken down and the liquid has begun to thicken. (Taste it here. If you want to add sugar, do it now and continue to heat and stir until dissolved.)
   
4. Pour jam into a jar and refrigerate. It will continue to thicken as it cools.