Ancient Church, Meeting Tommy & Waffles for Breakfast

Our last stop on our first day of sightseeing was in the town of Kilfanora where we learned a lot about the Burren botany and geology in the Burren Centre museum, followed by a visit nearby to an ancient church, St. Fachnan's.

Notice how narrow the street is? That's the church in the background. The blue bit at the back is a covering they have placed over the deteriorating high crosses and older sections of the church. It is very old...eleven hundreds.

That is one of the awesome thing about travel...getting to experience really old places.

It has some 12th century crosses with beautiful, although very worn, knot work designs, plus tombs of bishops.

During the time of the potato famine, Kilfnora was the smallest and poorest diocese in Ireland. Because they were barely able to hold it together Pope Pius IX in 1866 declared himself the bishop...a very unusual situation. There is a bishop's head over a carved window in one wall

and an ancient tomb inside the church with a very eroded tomb cover carved with a bishop.

The day had been a sunny one most of the day...rare indeed...but it started to cloud up in the late afternoon after we left the church. Sweetie tried to start the car, but found that some part wouldn't connect with he flywheel (he understood the mechanics, but I'm clueless). The museum was closing in 15 minutes and we were many miles from Ennis. He went into the museum and they helped him look up the Hertz phone # and called around the corner to Connors Garage.

This is looking back toward the pub just around the corner from Connors.

Tommy Connors came over, tried to start the car and confirmed that it was indeed a non starter. He walked back over to his shop and drove over a huge car carrier truck with a winch and pulled the car up onto the flatbed and secured it. The amazing thing was that Tommy did all of the talking to Hertz and arranged an exchange. We never even talked with them or signed anything! Next we were treated to a swift ride through country roads...an Irish roller coaster in some ways...as his son Jason drove the big truck hauling the car and took us back to Ennis where he dropped us at our B&B. He then drove to Shannon Airport, exchanged cars and dropped the new one at our B&B.

If you are ever in Kilfanora and have a moment, go say "Hi" to Tommy and Jason...two truly wonderful Irishmen and fun to talk to. We were really lucky that we broke down there instead of at one of the ruins on a back road and really, really lucky to meet Tommy.

A full Irish breakfast

was one of the pleasures of staying at B&Bs in Ireland, but I did find that I missed baking.

Once we were back at my Mom's and at the end of our stay, I offered to make breakfast. We had some fat, juicy blueberries from the market and delicious, sweet, ripe strawberries from the farmer's market. I decided to make yeasted waffles. The only waffle iron we had was for Belgian waffles, but they make some crispy, decadent waffles when paired with the fruits. I baked the blueberries in the waffles

and spooned sliced strawberries over. No butter or syrup was needed with these babies!
No sourdough starter needed for these either, just some time overnight.

The advantage of this recipe is that you start the batter the night before and only need to add the egg and melted butter in the morning.

Now, it's true, there is still some cleaning up to do and waffles do take a while to bake in the waffle iron, but the amazing ease of putting the batter together, plus the fact that they taste great, makes it worthwhile. An added bonus is that the house smells like freshly baked bread...hard to beat on a lazy morning.

The ingredients for this are so simple that most people will have them handy in the pantry. That makes it so easy to whisk the first part together one evening, cover it, let the little yeasties do their thing overnight, then finish it off and enjoy the next morning. We had a couple of cooked waffles left over (I know, hard to believe, but we did try our best to demolish them all...and failed) and they went into the freezer and then a couple of days later the toaster oven...and were still delish.

Sending this recipe over to Susan at Wild Yeast. Happy first anniversary for Yeastspotting Susan! This is one of the best place to see yummy yeasted recipes every week...check it out at http://www.wildyeastblog.com/category/yeastspotting/.

Amazing Overnight Waffles
from Mollie Katzen's Sunlight Cafe' Cookbook

2 cups unbleached all-purpose flour
1 teaspoon yeast
1 tablespoon sugar
½ teaspoon salt
2 cups milk
6 tablespoons unsalted butter, melted
1 large egg (I used ¼ cup egg substitute)
Nonstick spray
Butter for the waffle iron
Sliced strawberries – optional, but nice
Pure maple syrup – hard to resist on waffles

Combine the flour, yeast, sugar, and salt in a medium bowl Add the milk and whisk until blended. Cover the bowl tightly with plastic wrap and let stand overnight at room temperature (or put in the fridge if room temp. is over 70 degrees F.)

The next morning, preheat the waffle iron. Melt the 6 tablespoons butter and let cool a bit. Beat the egg is a small bowl (unnecessary if using egg substitute) then beat it into the batter along with the melted butter. The batter may be a bit thin.

Lightly spray the hot waffle iron with non stick spray, top and bottom plates, and then butter a piece of bread and use that to rub some butter on top and bottom plates.

Add just enough batter to cover the cooking surface…this varies by waffle iron…about 2/3 cup. Lower the top and cook until golden brown…it’s OK to check now and then. It takes about 2-3 minutes. You want it golden brown, but not dark brown.
Serve hot, right away, with strawberries and maple syrup, or toppings of your choice.

Note; If you have too many waffles for the number of people you are feeding, bake the leftover batter a little less than the ones you are eating, let cool on a baking rack, then freeze and store in the freezer tightly wrapped. Re-heat in the toaster.

Cliffs and Rocks and Smoked Salmon

Driving in another country is always exciting as you navigate unfamiliar territory in an unfamiliar vehicle. Doing so in a country where you are also driving in the lane that usually contains oncoming traffic is unsettling.

Being passed, a high speed, on your right hand side by traffic coming in the other direction (when usually all that is at your right is the passenger who is giving you grief for missing the turn) is unnerving. Most harrowing is doing all this on very narrow roads that are lined with rock walls covered with hedges. Sometimes those rock walls are all that is between you and a drop down into the sea. This is a vacation?

Fortunately, I never had to drive while we were in Ireland. Sweetie quickly figured out how to tell if we were too close to the rock walls without actually having to run into them, and learned to ignore those folks swooping by on his right. Occasionally I had to remind him that he was in the wrong lane and might want to move into the left lane, but overall he was stellar! My job was to navigate and figure out which road on the roundabout would take us where we were going. Honestly, the signs were mostly really good, so it wasn't that difficult. Overall it was fun to explore on our own instead of taking tours and it was really exhausting. That meant more time on foot exploring towns and early nights.


On our first full day in Ireland we traveled northwest to the Cliffs of Moher and the Burren, standard fare on most tours of this part of the country. Since we were still new at this driving on the left thing, it didn't take much encouragement for us to stop where ever something looked interesting. All of these stone crosses caught my eye.

Fairly soon we were pulling over at a small churchyard near Ennistymon and taking photos of crosses. Modern gravestones seem to often be polished granite upright slabs, but the older graves often had these beautiful Irish crosses with beautiful designs carved on them.

This is one of hundreds and hundreds of ruins, many from the time of Elizabeth I or, more often, from the time of Cromwell. The 'Roundheads' laid waste to so many churches, monasteries and friaries.



Then I fell in love with some stone....

We continued west to Lisconnor where I fell in love with a local stone. Lisconnor stone has circular patterns in it which were formed by mollusk trails eons ago when it was still mud. Over time it became stone and it is often used as flooring stone since it tends to be easily formed into even thicknesses and is long lasting. Everywhere we went after learning about it in Lisconnor I noticed the use of Lisconnor stone, often where plain slate would usually be used as paving stone.

After Lisconnor we headed up the coast to and past the Cliffs of Moher. On approaching the turnoff for the car park at the Cliffs Visitor Centre we noticed lots of people streaming across the road toward the Heritage Center, plus two tour buses turning in.






Not being in the mood for so many people, we kept driving and were able to get some views of the cliffs at a distance, from Doolin Point. The first photo in this post shows what we saw.






Some of the photos were taken by the Hand Sister a year ago when she and my Mom and Health Sister visited Ireland. They did the full Cliffs of Moher experience, including walking along the edge...brave women!

Before reaching Doolin point we took a side road to get a better view of an interesting tower (probably a private residence) and a nearby elegant newer home sporting an old fashioned thatch roof. Experienced roof thatchers are rare and can command steep fees so these kinds of roofs are for the wealthy. Kind of ironic since they used to be a Iron Age roofing form for poor people. I think this castle was near Kilconnel.

The road curved around so from the town of Doolin, another popular place for tours to stop for shopping, we were able to see back across to the castle. Doolin also has traditional music in the evening.

Doolin Point is where you can catch a boat to the Aran Islands, home of those gorgeous sweaters. It also is the beginning of where you can see the worn stone of the Burren, with almost a moonscape look to it most of the year. In the spring the wildflowers growing up in the spaces between the rocks soften it.

From Doolin Point we traveled on the the Burren Smokehouse at Lisdoonvarna for some smoked salmon...delicious and salty. They also had some nice Irish music CDs - that's where I found the one for my former office mate who has a collection of music from around the world, so it seemed right that she have some Irish dance music, too.

From there we headed inland to Kilfanora and the Burren Heritage Center. That's where we had car trouble and experienced the true spirit of the Irish...next post.

Now we'll just have a cup of tea...a favorite end of the afternoon past time in Ireland.

Proper Tea

Lots of water, heated to a rolling boil
A teapot which has been preheated with hot water
1 rounded teaspoon loose tea - I love Earl Gray tea myself - for each cup, plus one 'for the pot'
sugar, milk (never cream), lemon slices
a tea strainer

Bring the water to a rolling boil. Once water is boiling, empty the hot water out of the tea pot, then add the loose tea. Pour in the boiling water, usually to about 3/4 of the capacity of the tea pot. Stir briefly. Cover with tea pot lid and let steep a few minutes. The longer it steeps, the stronger the brew.

Place a tea strainer over the cup you are pouring the tea in and pour your tea. Continue with each cup you are serving. Set tea pot aside, covered. Cover the pot with a tea cosy if it's chilly and you want to keep it warm for a second cup.

Serve at once with sugar, milk and/or lemon slices. Enjoy the aroma with each sip. Repeat as needed.

Ireland Journey

There is always a bit of apprehension when one finally gets the opportunity to have a long held dream come true. Will it meet any of the expectations that have built up over the years? Will the people, places, food, flowers, music, culture be anything like what you think they will be? Will you be able to enjoy the travel and not get cranky from lack of sleep or from poor directions or unfamiliar B&B beds and shower controls or sharing breakfast with strangers?

Despite my nervousness, Sweetie and I decided to fulfill a dream I've had since childhood and to visit the lovely island of Ireland in May. We decided to concentrate on the southwest corner and made it a priority to visit some cousins my mother had met a year earlier.

On coming home you can really appreciate what you have and then, somehow, appreciate even more what you have just enjoyed while exploring all of those new things. I unpacked this morning, started up the washing machine, had a nice long walk with our black lab and Sweetie, then tackled grocery shopping and a long column of e-mails that had come in while I was gone.

I know that some like to keep in touch, check their e-mails, surf the Internet, etc while traveling. I actually enjoy being out of touch for a while and enjoying the moment free from any attention to the life I normally lead and all that goes with it.

Now that I'm back home I hope to share some of the journey and photos, too. There will be some food blogging here and there, and recipes, too. Hope that you have been enjoying yourself over the past weeks and won't get too bored with my travel tales.

One of the first challenges after negotiating customs after a long night and morning of travel was to get to the first B&B in Ennis, Gray Gables, while driving on the left hand side of the road. We were fortunate to have good advice, so had rented an automatic transmission auto and Sweetie decided to upgrade to an SUV, so we headed from Shannon airport on the airport access road in a nice KIA vehicle. The first traffic round-about was uncrowded, so it was easy. At the next one I had to remind himself to look to the right, not left, for oncoming traffic and to exit into the left lane despite years of practice going into the right lane. It got easier as time went by, but was still a bit harrowing on some of the narrow roads and byways later in the trip.

There are so many piles of gray rock ruins everywhere. At first you think - I'd better stop at that one! - thinking that it must be rare and important as such ruins are here in California...we are such a relatively YOUNG place! As it turns out, ruins and piles of gray rock are everywhere in the southwest and probably in much of the rest of the country. One of our favorite church ruins was a simple place on the side of a country road and not on any map or guidebook that we are aware of. It was just outside of Reens in County Limerick. The graveyard was still in use, with lots of contemporary headstones, but the church was abandoned. See the shrub gr owning out of the window in the photo. It also had no roof.

That is part of the charm of driving around on your own instead of as part of a tour. You can find your own ways to appreciate how ancient a country it is and enjoy discovering unusual churches, towers, graveyards, and even shops and cafes that rarely see tourists. That may not appeal to you, but if it does, give yourself permission to explore. We did.

Our first stop was Ennis, the main town in County Clare, and a good place to start since it is a short drive north of Shannon Airport and a great place to leave from to explore the Cliffs of Moher, the Burren, and the area on the way to Galway. Mary Keane, the proprietor of Gray Gables, is a wonderful, gracious innkeeper. When we showed up at the dining room for breakfast the day we arrived (obviously suffering from jet lag) but found that it was 8:30 in the evening and not 8:30 in the morning as we had thought, she was amused, but understanding. It stays light for a long time in late May and we had fallen asleep. The late day light looked a lot like early morning light to me. When we discovered our mistake we just went back to bed and slept through until morning! This was our favorite B&B.

Contact information: Grey Gables B&B in Ennis, a block from downtown, included off-street parking and full breakfast. Cormfortable rooms, tea anytime, a beautiful parlor to sit in, gracious host Mary Keane, all rooms en suite, helpful directions given to local attractions upon request. Double: 75 euros, tel: 065 682 4487, www.bed-n-breakfast-ireland.com, e-mail: marykeane.ennis@ircom.net.
We had heard great things about the "Full Irish Breakfast" and were obviously anxious to try it. Looking through photos from the trip I found that I never did take a photo of an Irish breakfast!

The thing to know is that it is a lot of food! You start with a choice of cereals, juice, and often a choice of fruit. After that you get a plate full of eggs (usually poached or fried), some Irish bacon, which is closer to what we think of as Canadian bacon or even ham, a round of black pudding - which I loved - which includes blood in the mixture, a round of a sausage that seems a bit like scrapple, plus sausage links and, often, a broiled tomato. On the side there is toast and brown bread, plus yummy Irish butter. Coffee and tea are offered, and are usually quite good. Some B&Bs also either provide a tea set up for you to enjoy on your own schedule, or some tea when you arrive. As you can see, a full Irish breakfast can fill you up for most of the day. We often skipped lunch, or just had some tea and soup or tea and scones in the late afternoon.

Sweetie and I discovered that we enjoyed the muesli cereal that was always a choice at the B&Bs we stayed in, so today I bought a bag of Bobs Red Mill Muesli cereal to enjoy at home.

The brown bread served was brown soda bread. I enjoyed it a lot, but Sweetie wasn't a fan. When we got back to my Mom's I decided to make some brown soda bread since she had also enjoyed it on her trip to Ireland the year before. As a memento of the trip I had purchased The Ballymaloe Bread Book by Tim Allen. It had a great recipe for brown soda bread. Since my Mom likes hers with caraway seeds and I like mine with raisins, I added those. Turns out that Sweetie likes brown bread that way! So did all of the family visiting over the weekend. This recipe makes a good sized loaf, but it was polished off pretty quickly. It tastes great with some good butter spread over it, even better with a little blackcurrant jam over that, and delicious with some cheddar cheese instead of the butter and jam.

The nice thing about soda bread is that it goes together quickly. I was surprised at the high oven temperature and had never heard of turning the bread over for the last 10 minutes, but it worked like a charm. As with most quick breads, minimal handling is best for a tender loaf. Tim Allen suggested a plastic washing up basin for mixing the dough in. You really need some room to mix it with your hand the way he suggests, so be sure to use a wide bowl. There is one word for this bread - YUM!

Irish Brown Soda Bread – Seedy and Spotted
Based on a recipe from the Ballymaloe Bread Book by Tim Allen

Makes one loaf

2 ½ cups brown wholemeal flour (I used King Arthur Flour’s version)
2 ½ cups all-purpose unbleached white flour (plus a little extra for the pan and shaping)
1 rounded teaspoons salt
1 rounded teaspoon baking soda, finely sieved
2 teaspoons caraway seeds
½ cup raisins
About 1 pint buttermilk (I used a little less)

Preheat the oven to 450 degrees F (230 degrees C)

Mix the flours, salt, baking soda (do sieve it – it really helps it evenly dissolve in the bread dough), caraway seeds and raisins in a large, wide bowl. Set aside.

Prepare a cookie sheet by sprinkling with flour.

Prepare a clean, flat surface by sprinkling with flour.

Pour most of the buttermilk into the middle of the flour mixture. Using your hand with the fingers open and stiff, mix the ingredients in a full circle, drawing in the flour from the sides of the bowl, adding more milk if necessary, until the dough holds together as a soft dough, but not too wet.

Turn the dough out onto the floured work surface. Then wash and dry your hands.

Tidy up the dough by lightly rolling it around with lightly floured hands. Minimal handling of the dough is best. Pat the dough gently into a round about 2 -3 inches high.

Place the dough ball onto the prepared baking sheet. Cut a cross on the top with a sharp knife. Prick it here and there over the top with the point of a knife to release extra steam.

Bake in the preheated over for 15 minutes. Reduce the temperature to 400 degrees F (200 degrees C) and bake for a further 20 -25 minutes. Turn the bread upside down on the baking sheet for the last 10 minutes of baking, then remove from the oven and cool upright on a wire rack. When the bread is cooked, it will sound hallow when tapped.

Wonderful when served with good butter and current jelly.

Starting Toward the End

Back in the "States" and enjoying the company of family in Virginia. Celebrated the birthday of the 'queen mother' last night, complete with a seasonal favorite, strawberry shortcake. Baker Boy helped with spreading the whipped cream, then placed and lit the candles for the grand presentation and song. There are few things as enjoyable as local strawberries at the peak of their season. These came from the Saturday farmers market and they were sweet and juicy and bursting with flavor...we really didn't need the cake or whipped cream, but 'ya gotta have cake for birthdays, right? Whipped cream is a delight anytime and anywhere.

No photos at the moment, so will do a true post once home, but also made traditional Irish brown bread of the soda bread type and a loaf of yeasted brown bread. Both recipes came from an Irish cooking school book. Will probably post about them, and more, on the Bread Baker's Dog blog in a few days. The traditional soda type brown bread was quickly scarfed down, assisted by a lavish smear of Kerry butter from a nearby grocery store...U.S. customs won't let you bring it into the country yourself. We are working on the yeasted loaf today.

More on the trip to Ireland soon, too. It may even be so much as to become boring after a while, but I took something like 700 photos! Such a gorgeous country.

Whole Lotta Green

No photos at this stage, although there will be plenty once we get home. Just imagine a gorgeous land with really green fields, and the fields are irregular in shape and broken up with lines of shrubs or trees or stone walls or all three.

Although it is a beautiful place and there are tons of ruins and ancient churches and even more ancient tombs made from rock, the most beautiful part of Ireland has been the people. Friendly, so helpful, so willing the chat and easy to be with, full of good cheer much of the time, they are also intrepid drivers on their narrow roads, made all the more interesting with stone walls at the verge on both sides in many places. In a small town in the Burren area our rented auto refused to start one afternoon. The owner of the local garage was amazing...he did all the talking to the rental company and arranged for us to ride with the car back to our B&B many miles away, then for the car to be exchanged at Shannon airport and the new car to be delivered to our B&B. Tommy and his son Jason could not have been nicer or more helpful.

The brown bread, sort of a soda bread made with whole meal flour, is very good, but the scones have been excellent!

Each B&B we have stayed in filled us up each morning with a huge breakfast which included cereal, fruit, juice, coffee, toast, brown bread, and a plate full of eggs, blood sausage, pork link sausage, bacon (closer to what we call Canadian bacon than American bacon, but quite delicious), and another type of sausage that was similar to scrapple. Nice presse coffee, too, and lots of milk. Often we've not needed any lunch, just a scone and some tea or coffee in the early afternoon.

Enjoyed some good pub grub in Ennis. Had dinner in a town called Tarbart on the river Shannon, near where the ferry that goes back and forth between Co. Clare and Co. Kerry comes in. The restaurant is called Enrights and they were extremely lacking for customers, but served some of the best salmon I've ever had, prepared very simply with a coat of flour and pan cooked in butter until golden. At the same restaurant Sweetie had a plate of delicious lamb chops. Except for the brown bread, white soda bread, and scones, artisan bread doesn't seem to have come to this area, although there are many bakeries we have not visited :)

Did meet up with some cousins in the town where my grandfather was born and had a wonderful time with them the last few days. Our older cousin is charming, with the sweetest smile, and serves a fine glass of port. We chatted with her a while on the first day we were in Glin and again the next afternoon. A younger cousin (closer to our age, but a bit younger) tells wonderful stories and has a lovely family and sweet Russian wolfhound dog. We are hoping that they (except for the dog because he is too old to travel) come to visit in America one day.

We drove today to the Dingle Peninsula on the west coast...a strongly Gaelic speaking area...so more news later of our adventures there.

In A While Crocodile

Off to the land of a thousand shades of green...so there will be few if any posts for a while. A little walking, a little putting up the feet and reading.

Happy end of Spring!

Welcome the Daring Cooks!

The Daring Bakers have been a roaring success, growing like kudzu, throught the efforts of the lovely and talented Lis ans Ivonne, and plenty of enthusiasm and help from their supporters and all the Daring Bakers.

Now a long held dream of our founders has come to pass in the time of new beginings, spring. The barn swallows are building their nests, the zucchini plants are putting out hopeful yellow male flower to entice the endangered bees to put them on the bee list of places to visit, lots of new beginnings come at this season of the year. Lis and Ivonne have wanted to have a companion group of Daring Cooks for many months. With the inauguration of the Daring Kitchen website, they announced the sign up for this merry group.

Daring Cooks will follow the successful Daring Bakers format, all using the same recipe and posting on the same day, with allowances for dietary and health restrictions, plus lots of room for creativity. The challenges give us an opportunity to explore new techniques, try out foods that we ordinarily wouldn't try, and to build community with the other Daring Cooks. Come join us! Just click HERE to go the the Daring Kitchen site when it is all explained.

When I was just a little too young for kindergarten, my older sister and brother were at school all day and my younger sister wasn't old enough to play with. Always content with my own company, I would spend hours in the sandbox in the back yard creating sand patties which I presented on the large maple leaves from the tree that grew over the sandbox. The patties were decorated with forsythia and azalea flower in the spring and dandelions later in the year.

This month's challenge took me back to those days. The May Daring Cooks recipe is for Ricotta Gnocchi from the Zuni Cafe. Once you have mixed together the drained ricotta, egg, melted butter and Parmesan cheese, you get to play with your food! Spoonsful of the dough are dropped on a bed of flour and then you use your floured hands to shape them into delicate ovals.

I found when I did my test simmer that if I froze the gnocchi first that they held together better for cooking, so a sheet of formed gnocchi, resting on some flour, went into the freezer until dinner time.

I chose Mother's Day to make these little puffballs of deliciousness.

It couldn't have been a better day: an extra hour of sleep was followed by Sweetie's best-in-the-world scrambled eggs. Then I got to play in the garden, take the Baker's Dog for a walk, buy paperback books for our trip, come home and play in the kitchen making the gnocchi to freeze, enjoy phone calls with my darling daughter, my lovely mother, my youngest brother and my closest sister, then more fun in the kitchen boiling the gnocchi and making the chard to go with. It would be hard for me to plan a more perfect Mother's Day (except if all the folks I talked with on the phone were here in person helping me eat the gnocchi!) and sharing this food with Sweetie and the Sharpshooter was just the best!

To go with the morsels of delight I chose to use fresh from the garden, first harvest of the season rainbow chard (if you look at the stems, you will see that they range from pale yellow to pink, yellow, orange,and red). I lightly sauteed some yellow onion in butter, washed and chopped the chard, then steamed it atop the onions. A little more butter finished it off. Being young and fresh, the chard was tender and almost sweet. It went really well with the Parmesan flavored gnocchi.

Glad that you visited this first post for me for the Daring Cooks! Hope you will visit the Daring Kitchen to sign up for next time and to check out the efforts of the other Daring Cooks. This blogroll is for the Daring Bakers, but some of them are also Daring Cooks like I am.

Zuni Ricotta Gnocchi

Source: From The Zuni Café Cookbook.
Yield: Makes 40 to 48 gnocchi (serves 4 to 6)

Prep time: Step 1 will take 24 hours. Steps 2 through 4 will take approximately 1 hour.

Tips:
- If you can find it, use fresh ricotta. As Judy Rodgers advises in her recipe, there is no substitute for fresh ricotta. It may be a bit more expensive, but it's worth it.
- Do not skip the draining step. Even if the fresh ricotta doesn't look very wet, it is. Draining the ricotta will help your gnocchi tremendously.
- When shaping your gnocchi, resist the urge to over handle them. It's okay if they look a bit wrinkled or if they're not perfectly smooth.
- If you're not freezing the gnocchi for later, cook them as soon as you can. If you let them sit around too long they may become a bit sticky.
- For the variations to the challenge recipe, please see the end of the recipe.

Equipment required:
- Sieve
- Cheesecloth or paper towels
- Large mixing bowl
- Rubber spatula
- Tablespoon
- Baking dish or baking sheet
- Wax or parchment paper
- Small pot
- Large skillet
- Large pan or pot (very wide in diameter and at least 2 inches deep)

For the gnocchi:
1 pound (454 grams/16 ounces) fresh ricotta (2 cups)
2 large cold eggs, lightly beaten
1 tablespoon (1/2 ounce) unsalted butter
2 or 3 fresh sage leaves, or a few pinches of freshly grated nutmeg, or a few pinches of chopped lemon zest (all optional)
½ ounce Parmigiano-Reggiano, grated (about ¼ cup very lightly packed)
about ¼ teaspoon salt (a little more if using kosher salt)
all-purpose flour for forming the gnocchi

For the rainbow chard sauce:
2 tablespoons butter
½ medium onion, chopped
15 – 20 leaves fresh rainbow chard (or similar), rinsed and chopped (leave the water on the leaves after rinsing
salt to taste

Step 1 (the day before you make the gnocchi): Preparing the ricotta.

If the ricotta is too wet, your gnocchi will not form properly. In her cookbook, Judy Rodgers recommends checking the ricotta’s wetness.

To test the ricotta, take a teaspoon or so and place it on a paper towel. If you notice a very large ring of dampness forming around the ricotta after a minute or so, then the ricotta is too wet. To remove some of the moisture, line a sieve with cheesecloth or paper towels and place the ricotta in the sieve. Cover it and let it drain for at least 8 hours and up to 24 hours in the refrigerator.

Alternatively, you can wrap the ricotta carefully in cheesecloth (2 layers) and suspend it in your refrigerator for 8 to 24 hours with a bowl underneath to catch the water that’s released. Either way, it’s recommended that you do this step the day before you plan on making the gnocchi.

Step 2 (the day you plan on eating the gnocchi): Making the gnocchi dough.

To make great gnocchi, the ricotta has to be fairly smooth. Place the drained ricotta in a large bowl and mash it as best as you can with a rubber spatula or a large spoon (it’s best to use a utensil with some flexibility here). As you mash the ricotta, if you noticed that you can still see curds, then press the ricotta through a strainer to smooth it out as much as possible.

Add the lightly beaten eggs to the mashed ricotta.

Melt the tablespoon of butter. As it melts, add in the sage if you’re using it. If not, just melt the butter and add it to the ricotta mixture. (I didn't use any flavorings other than the butter, egg and Parmesan cheese.)

Add in any flavouring that you’re using (i.e., nutmeg, lemon zest, etc.). If you’re not using any particular flavouring, that’s fine.

Add the Parmigiano-Reggiano and the salt.

Beat all the ingredients together very well. You should end up with a soft and fluffy batter with no streaks (everything should be mixed in very well).

Step 3: Forming the gnocchi.

Fill a small pot with water and bring to a boil. When it boils, salt the water generously and keep it at a simmer. You will use this water to test the first gnocchi that you make to ensure that it holds together and that your gnocchi batter isn’t too damp.

In a large, shallow baking dish or on a sheet pan, make a bed of all-purpose flour that’s ½ an inch deep.

With a spatula, scrape the ricotta mixture away from the sides of the bowl and form a large mass in the centre of your bowl.

Using a tablespoon, scoop up about 2 to 3 teaspoons of batter and then holding the spoon at an angle, use your finger tip to gently push the ball of dough from the spoon into the bed of flour.

At this point you can either shake the dish or pan gently to ensure that the flour covers the gnocchi or use your fingers to very gently dust the gnocchi with flour. Gently pick up the gnocchi and cradle it in your hand rolling it to form it in an oval as best as you can, at no point should you squeeze it. What you’re looking for is an oval lump of sorts that’s dusted in flour and plump.

Gently place your gnocchi in the simmering water. It will sink and then bob to the top. From the time that it bobs to the surface, you want to cook the gnocchi until it’s just firm. This could take 3 to 5 minutes.

If your gnocchi begins to fall apart, this means that the ricotta cheese was probably still too wet. You can remedy this by beating a teaspoon of egg white into your gnocchi batter. If your gnocchi batter was fluffy but the sample comes out heavy, add a teaspoon of beaten egg to the batter and beat that in. Test a second gnocchi to ensure success.

Form the rest of your gnocchi. You can put 4 to 6 gnocchi in the bed of flour at a time. But don’t overcrowd your bed of flour or you may damage your gnocchi as you coat them.

Have a sheet pan ready to rest the formed gnocchi on. Line the sheet pan with wax or parchment paper and dust it with flour.

You can cook the gnocchi right away, however, Judy Rodgers recommends storing them in the refrigerator for an hour prior to cooking to allow them to firm up.

Step 4: Cooking the gnocchi.

Have a large skillet ready to go. Place the butter and water for the sauce in the skillet and set aside.

In the largest pan or pot that you have (make sure it’s wide), bring at least 2 quarts of water to a boil (you can use as much as 3 quarts of water if your pot permits). You need a wide pot or pan so that your gnocchi won’t bump into each other and damage each other.

Once the water is boiling, salt it generously.

Drop the gnocchi into the water one by one. Once they float to the top, cook them for 3 to 5 minutes (as in the case with the test gnocchi).

When the gnocchi float to the top, you can start your sauce while you wait for them to finish cooking.

Place the skillet over medium heat and melt the butter. Swirl it gently a few times as it melts. As soon as it melts and is incorporated with the water, turn off the heat. Your gnocchi should be cooked by now.

With a slotted spoon, remove the gnocchi from the boiling water and gently drop into the butter sauce. Carefully roll in the sauce until coated. Serve immediately.

Variations: For the gnocchi, you can flavour them however you wish. If you want to experiment by adding something to your gnocchi (i.e., caramelized onion, sundried tomato), feel free to do so. However, be forewarned, ricotta gnocchi are delicate and may not take well to elaborate additions. For the sauce, this is your chance to go nuts. Enjoy yourselves. Surprise us!!!

Freezing the gnocchi: If you don’t want to cook your gnocchi right away or if you don’t want to cook all of them, you can make them and freeze them. Once they are formed and resting on the flour-dusted, lined tray, place them uncovered in the freezer. Leave them for several hours to freeze. Once frozen, place them in a plastic bag. Remove the air and seal the bag. Return to the freezer. To cook frozen gnocchi, remove them from the bag and place individually on a plate or on a tray. Place in the refrigerator to thaw completely. (I cooked mine without thawing) Cook as directed for fresh gnocchi.

Signs of Late Spring

One of the signs of spring would be Mothers Day gifts. My lovely and talented daughter is quite creative with pottery painting. I enjoy the tea set she painted for me for Mothers Day last year so much! She has a way with color and pattern.

This year she surprised me with two delightful plates one yellow with purple polka dots and one purple with yellow polka dots! They will be a great way to display some of my Daring Baker and Daring Cook creations and other delights. Sometimes it's difficult for talented people to realize that one of the best gifts they can give is something they made themselves. I know that I will treasure these plates for a long time.

Another sign of late spring is a roomful of seedlings ready to plant. Our sunspace, part of the passive solar design of our home, is a great place to grow seedlings. Year before last I grew six kinds of heirloom tomatoes. This year I stuck to three heirloom varieties, but I'm also growing three kinds of summer squash, eggplant, cucumber, chard, and green beans.

Spring is when a young at heart man's fancy turns to poetry. An unexpected gift was the following poem, dedicated to the lovely tomato. Since Poss was the recipient of some of those sunspace grown tomato seedlings, it should be fun to match up the poem with the fruits of his labors later in the season.

To May 'Toes

A gift that grows
in leafy bower,
With daily hose,
Voila! A tower.

Steadfast weeding
of the plot,
Constant heeding
Yields a lot.

Spaded soil,
A sunny sky.
Upwards toil
'Til late July.



Then gently pick,
rinse, cut, chill.
Serve up quick
Dash'd with dill

Dress up spicey,
Vinegars, oregano.
Sweet orbs slicey,
BLT, extra mayo!

Of perfect veggies
Most wishful
Home-grown 'Maters
are most blissful!

Poss Pragoff, May 09

Happy late spring to you! Hope you are finding your own signs of the season!!

Happy Mother's Day from the Land of St. Honore'

Once upon a time in the Land of St. Honore’, a young girl wanted to make a special cake to welcome her mother home from her travels. She had been gone over a week and now it was Mother's Day. Liza knew her mother would enjoy something baked with love.

Liza started by preparing a Bundt pan, buttering it well and scattering dry bread crumbs over the butter. Excess bread crumbs were shaken out in the door yard and the chickens appreciated that.

Next she chopped deep dark unsweetened chocolate into small shards, then melted them in a bowl over hot water on the stove. The melted chocolate would cool a bit while she worked on the rest of the ingredients.

Strong coffee was measured into a cup and some spirits were added to make it more festive. Bourbon was her mother’s favorite, but she knew that Irish whiskey or rum would be tasty, too.

She sifted flour into a large bowl, then added salt and baking soda and stirred it well.

In another large bowl she creamed soft butter with sugar, then added some vanilla and beat it in. She added an egg, beat it in, added another egg, beat it in, and added a final egg and beat it in well. Now was the time to add that melted chocolate. Oh, the batter smelled wonderful!

The oven was hot enough, so she worked quickly, first adding some dry ingredients, then some wet, repeated that,then finished with the last of the dry ingredients.

Into her Bundt pan went the fragrant batter. A quick twist of the pan in either direction popped bubbled, and then the pan went into the oven.

While the cake cooked, she washed up the many bowls, then sat and had a cup of tea.

At last the cake was done! It seemed like forever, but had only taken a little over an hour. She let it cool in the pan, then turned it onto a fancy plate.

When her mother arrived home for dinner, she noticed how sweet the house smelled, but she was still surprised when Liza brought out the cake for dessert. Thick slices showed how moist and rich and chocolaty it was. Her smile after she took her first bite assured her daughter that the day had been well spent.

Wishing each of you the tender love of your mother. Even mother's who have died leave their love in us and even more so if your mother enjoyed baking and you do too.


I've been blesed with the best mother in the world...and she loves to cook and bake just as much as I do. I'll be seeing her soon on my way to Ireland. Sweetie and I will be driving on the other side of the road, sipping Irish whiskey and Guiness, eating salmon, hearty Irish breakfasts and brown bread and exploring the western part of Ireland. While we are there I'll see if I can figure out how to post an update now and again. Might even get to meet distant relatives who live there. Sharing upon return, at least of photos and any good stories.

Probably will do another post or two before I leave, but then it will be sparse. Won't be doing the Daring Bakers this month, but I assure you that you will want to check out our favorite Daring Bakers sites toward the end of the month!

This cake is almost the same as the 86 Proof Chocolate Cake from Maida Heatter's Book of Great Chocolate Desserts, but I removed 1 cup of the batter once it had been mixed. Into that cup of batter I folded 1/2 cup of chopped walnuts that had been mixed with 2 tablespoons of flour and 2 tablespoons of unsweetened cocoa powder. Then I put half the remaining batter into the prepared pan, plopped spoonfuls of the walnut enriched batter all around the Bundt pan and spread it out with the back of the spoon, then poured the remaining batter on top and smoothed it out. The rest is exactly like the recipe which can be found HERE.

The original version is silky and very chocolate flavored. The version with the walnuts seems even better to me because the walnuts add crunch and also seem to heighten the chocolate experience. You could try each version and let me know what you think :) Use the best chocolate you can find..it makes all the difference in this cake. Use a different liquor if you like for a different taste.

Somthing New for Arcadia

It’s easy to get into a rut.

Many Fridays I eat lunch with my friend Arcadia at a place that has wonderful stir frys over brown rice.

Last Friday was rainy and cool and the kind of day where it’s nice to stay home and have soup. In an effort to break out of our rut, and so she could see how my garden was shaping up, Arcadia came over for lunch. I made chicken soup and a nice green salad. It seemed like we needed one more thing, so I mixed together some cheese biscuits. Arcadia was quite taken with them and said that they were unlike any biscuits she had ever tasted…perhaps something new under the sun.

That morning I had opened my shipment from King Arthur Flour. I’d received a gift certificate and was like a kid in a candy shop when I went through the catalog and then online. So many wonderful things! One of the items that I had to have was their Harvest Grains Blend, an interesting mix of whole oat berries, millet, rye flakes and wheat flakes, plus flax, poppy, sesame and sunflower seeds. I added a quarter of a cup to the biscuits and it made such a difference!

The grains added depth of flavor and the seeds contributed more flavors and crunch. If you don’t have the blend, you could substitute two tablespoons of rolled oats, and some seeds you might have on hand, such as poppy, sesame, sunflower and/or pumpkin…about another 2 tablespoons if you have that.

The ‘surprise’ here isn’t the savory and delightful cheese, nor the seeds and flakes because you can see those in the finished biscuits. The ingredient that pulls it all together and gives it snap is cayenne pepper…just enough to lend a nice warmth. Without it the biscuits might seem too sweet.

Do try these with soup or green salad or even chili or chicken salad. I used packaged biscuit mix, but if you don’t want to do that, use your favorite biscuit recipe and then add the cheese, cayenne and seeds/grain flakes.

These were so popular that only one was left for the photo!

Spicy Seedy Cheesy Biscuits – or Something New Under the Sun Biscuits
Makes about 8 biscuits

1 ½ cups Bisquick Heart Smart mix or similar biscuit mix
1 cup finely shredded cheddar cheese
¼ cup King Arthur Harvest Grains Blend or substitution as suggested above
½ teaspoon cayenne pepper
½ cup plus 1 tablespoon fat-free milk ( I used reconstituted fat free condensed milk)

Preheat oven to 450 degrees F. In a bowl, stir all the dry ingredients together. Make a well in the center and add the milk. Stir just until combined and soft dough forms. Turn out onto lightly floured surface and knead 10 times.

Roll dough ½ inch thick. Cut with a 2 inch cutter dipped in flour. Place on ungreased cookie sheet or silicon mat.

Bake 7 – 9 minutes or until golden brown. Watch carefully the last minute so that they don’t burn.

Serve hot.

Spring Coffee Cake with Cherries

Spring is fully here. The birds are everywhere singing their sweet songs. Most of the spring bulbs have finished blooming and are being followed by the first flush of roses in pink, red, white, yellow and coral. The wild flower seed I sprinkled on bare earth in January actually germinated in a few places. I’m not actually sure of their names, but they are pretty with blue, yellow, white and pale lavender blossoms showing their cheery faces.


The veggies are being planted in the garden, the grass has been mown yet again, and all of the fruit trees have finished their bloom. The blackberries along the road are in bloom now and soon the grapes will break bud as well.


Although the cherry blossoms have come and gone, it’s still a bit early for fresh cherries. Fortunately good sour cherries can be found at the store put up in glass jars in a light syrup. When you drain them, reserve the syrup for other uses…like making a cherry sauce for ice cream.

This recipe is a variation of one that my mom gave me. It used a pre-mixed biscuit mix along with yeast. You get the ease of using a quick mix along with the wonderful down home fragrance and taste of yeast. Takes a little longer than a coffee cake made just with the biscuit mix, but the flavor and tenderness are worth it. It doesn't rise very much, but the crumb is light and tender.

This is my entry in Meeta’s Monthly Mingle. It’s a cake and used a spring fruit and is delicious. Do stop by Meeta’s blog in the next little while to wish her bon voyage for a few months. Better yet, join in the Mingle!

It's also this week's entry in the Yeastspotting event, Susan of Wild Yeast's excellent collection of recipes using yeast or yeasted ingredients.





Sour Cherry Coffee Cake

1 pkg (1/4 oz.) active dry yeast
¾ cup warm water (105-115 degrees F.)
½ cup sugar
1 egg
3 tablespoons olive oil (I used Meyer lemon flavored)
½ teaspoon almond extract
4 ¼ cups biscuit mix (like Bisquick)
24 oz jar sour cherries, drained
Streusel Topping (see below)

Dissolve yeast in the warm water and proof (let sit 10 minutes to make sure yeast is active).

Combine sugar, egg, olive oil, and almond extract. Beat until thick and lemon colored, about 5 minutes. Stir in dissolved yeast and 3 ¾ cups of the biscuit mix. Knead until smooth, kneading in the rest of the biscuit mix as you go, about 25 times of kneading. Cover and let rest in a warm place for 15 minutes.

Roll out and place in a buttered 10” X 13” rimed jelly roll pan, pulling an pressing the corners to form a rim of dough.

Arrange the drained cherries on the dough in a pleasing pattern.

Sprinkle with the streusel. Let rise in a warm place 35 minutes. Bake in a preheated 350 degree F. oven for 40-50 minutes. Cut in squares to serve. Serve warm or cooled.

Streusel Topping
Mix ½ cup brown sugar, ½ cup flour, ¼ cup graham cracker crumbs, ½ cup chopped almonds, ¼ teaspoon cardamom, ¼ teaspoon ground nutmeg. Cut in ½ cup cold butter with pastry blender or two knives until crumbly.

Note: I used canned sour cherries, but if you have fresh ones that would be even better. Just make sure to remove the pit, then cut them in halves and arrange on the dough, leaving some space between the cherry halves.