Tag: My Side of the Mountain

Almond Pancakes with Blueberry Jam

Posted August 18, 2022 by Alison's Wonderland Recipes in Book of the Month Recipes / 0 Comments

As summer shifts to autumn around us, my current menu is coming to a close. Cooking food from MY SIDE OF THE MOUNTAIN by Jean Craighead George has drawn me out of my comfort zone in the best way possible. I seared fish wrapped in leaves on an open fire, made salad with dandelion greens, and simmered stew made from venison my dad hunted himself. I really got to capture the outdoors with this menu, and I truly enjoyed it. I’m sad to see it end, but I’m also excited to dive into my autumn menu. Let’s finish off the summer with one last delicious recipe, shall we? 😀

In MY SIDE OF THE MOUNTAIN, one of the most common foods Sam makes is acorn pancakes topped with his friend Bando’s blueberry jam. “But wait,” I hear you say, “this post is a recipe for ALMOND pancakes!” And you’re right. Since I work on these menus a couple months ahead, acorns weren’t ripe yet when it came time to make this (and since I don’t have an oak tree, I’m not sure I could have scrounged enough acorns to make enough flour anyway). Almonds were an easily sourceable substitute, and I knew they’d pair beautifully with blueberry jam. And I was right! 😀

They turned out delicious, though I’ll admit the almond flavor isn’t super strong. The almond flour itself doesn’t carry a lot of flavor in this preparation, instead contributing more to the texture of the pancake, making it more moist and just a touch chewier. I added some optional almond extract to the ingredients if you want more almond flavor. You can also increase the amount of almond flour to 1/2 cup (and reduce the all-purpose flour to 1 1/2 cups). However, that will make the batter more finicky. It’s thinner and spreads a lot, so you’ll want to pour less batter per pancake (approx. 3 Tbsp). I also had to increase the burner temperature to just below medium. I found all that to be bit too tedious, but it’s an option if you want to try it.

The blueberry jam was a really fun pairing and a perfect way to take advantage of summer fruit. I’m not big into syrup on my pancakes, so I appreciated the change of pace. Add some fresh whipped cream and sliced almonds on top, and you’ve got yourself the perfect recipe to finish off a menu for MY SIDE OF THE MOUNTAIN. See you all again in September!

Venison Stew

Posted August 4, 2022 by Alison's Wonderland Recipes in Book of the Month Recipes / 0 Comments

Today we’re making another recipe from MY SIDE OF THE MOUNTAIN by Jean Craighead George! One of my favorite things about this book is that it actually includes simplified recipes for a lot of the foods the main character, Sam, eats over the course of the story. I wanted to make sure to include one of these recipes in my menu, so today we’re making Sam’s venison stew. When explaining how to make one of his meals, he says, “brown puffballs in deer fat with a little wild garlic, fill pot with water, put venison in, boil.” Granted, he doesn’t call it “stew,” but pretty much the only difference between soup and stew is how long you cook it and if/how you thicken it. Venison can be a tough, lean cut of meat, so I think it’s more likely Sam cooked it for quite a while to tenderize it, like you would for stew. Plus, we know he had acorn flour on hand, so he could have used that as a thickener later if he wanted.

I used Sam’s instructions as a jumping off point, but my recipe below has a few more ingredients, ensuring a rich, deep flavor. I used a venison hindquarter roast I got from my dad (my mom says venison steaks would work well too), white button mushrooms (since puffball mushrooms weren’t in season), carrots and potatoes (because what’s a stew without some hearty root veg?), and a whole mess of herbs and spices. It turned out tender, rich, and hearty—just what Sam would want after a long day of hunting in the Catskill Mountains.

Campfire Fish Wrapped in Grape Leaves

Posted July 21, 2022 by Alison's Wonderland Recipes in Book of the Month Recipes / 0 Comments

My Fire Roasted Foolbird recipe from last year was my first time cooking anything other than marshmallows on a fire, and it was SO fun! I knew I had to do some open fire cooking again. What better time than with a menu inspired by MY SIDE OF THE MOUNTAIN, the tale of a young boy who lives alone off the land in the Catskill Mountains?

The main character, Sam Gribley, cooks loads of meals on an open fire. It was tough to choose which one, but remembering how long it took to cook the foolbirds, I decided to go with something that would cook a lot faster: fish. I was intrigued by Sam’s method of cooking trout wrapped in grape leaves. Since I couldn’t get trout, I chose snapper, which he eats earlier in the book.

This was SO easy to make, and the flavor was amazing—salty, garlicky, and acidic in all the best ways. The only hard part was the weather! I made this in mid-June and OH MAN THE RAIN. We just couldn’t seem to get any dry weather. My husband, who’s enough of a camping wizard that he can still start a fire with damp wood, just couldn’t get it going in a way he was happy with. It took us over a week (I had to go out and buy more ingredients—the first set had to be cooked on the stove before they went bad), but It was worth it. Considering it only takes about 15 minutes, this is going on my list of go-to vegetarian recipes. Enjoy!

Wild Salad

Posted July 7, 2022 by Alison's Wonderland Recipes in Book of the Month Recipes / 0 Comments

Summer is here, and with it comes picnics, firepit cooking, and a banquet of fresh foragables. This abundance is what inspired me to choose MY SIDE OF THE MOUNTAIN for my July-August menu. In the book, 10-year-old Sam Gribley runs away from home and lives alone in the Catskill Mountains, foraging and trapping his food. He describes dozens of wild edibles, most notably a “wild salad” of dandelion greens. So that’s what we’re making today!

Sam doesn’t specifically state what’s in the salad (apart from the greens), so I included lots of other items Sam eats in the book like fresh strawberries, apples, walnuts, and bird’s eggs (I used quail eggs). I roasted the walnuts in maple syrup, since Sam makes maple syrup in the book, and I for one LOVE a good candied nut in a salad. Of course, Sam wouldn’t have had any dressing, but I whipped up a quick maple syrup vinaigrette because to me salad just screams to have something holding everything together. I’m glad I did, because I think this is my new favorite dressing! It’s sweet-tart, with just a hint of spice from stone ground mustard. If you want to drizzle something book-accurate on your salad instead, you could whisk some maple syrup with a bit of rendered animal fat.

Full disclosure: I found the dandelion greens a bit bitter, but I would DEFINITELY make this again with a mix of dandelion and other greens.