Irish Potato Pancakes

Irish Potato Pancakes

Our weekday mornings are typically crazy, looking for that first cup of coffee, and searching our souls to find that first cheery word and hint of smile. We always do of course, but some days it takes a while.  One thing that brings immediate cheer is a hearty, country-style breakfast, a rare indulgence, but when we pull out all the stops and treat ourselves, there are, afterwards, sighs of contentment and insincere promises of never eating such a big breakfast again.

A hearty breakfast that includes Irish potato pancakes and no-knead English muffin bread

I have the most amazing friends, Jackie McG, and her dear husband John, who visited me and Sweetie-Pie one March day and Jackie taught me to make Irish potato pancakes, the way her beloved mum taught her.  I still don't make them as good as that day as Jackie stood there watching me, her red haired head tilted and her blue eyes bright with a twinkle and a beatific smile as she watched me muck about in the mashed potato.

Even without her gentle coaching to add more flour, you're making a dough, don't be afraid of 'em, these turned out very well and are a satisfying addition to a meal.

IRISH POTATO PANCAKES

2 cups leftover mashed potatoes
1-2 large eggs
1/4 cup flour, more or less to make the mixture dough-like
a bit of finely diced onion (or chive or green onions/scallions)
salt
pepper

sour cream or creme fraiche or (optional but nice)
enough oil or shortening to fry the patties in

Mix the first six ingredients together.  The flour part can be kind of tricky on exactly how much to add.  You're looking to make a dough of sorts, so it's thicker than a pancake batter but probably not quite as heavy as a biscuit.  Depending on the type of potato you use will affect the amount of flour you need, so it's hard to give an exact amount.  Pat the dough out into patties.

Preheat your skillet, adding enough oil or shortening to fry the patties but not drown them because you'll be cooking on one side until golden brown and then turning and cooking the other.  If you're making a big batch, put cooked patties on an oven-proof plate and put in a 200*Fahrenheit oven.  I put them on a paper towel to soak up any additional grease.

A Slice of Sunshine - Arizona Sunshine Lemon Pie

Arizona Sunshine Lemon Pie

Heavens, I love pie, maybe even more than cake.  I like pie so much, I include it in the long list of endearments for our kitties.  Maggie-Pie, Molly-Pie, Fluffy-Pie.  And of course, Sweetie-pie, but he's of the two-legged variety of pie, grins.  

Did you know that Arizona was second only to California to lemon production?  I had absolutely no idea—I thought all citrus came from Florida.  Orange trees abound here, boughs leaning heavy over brick walls, fabulous orange globes sold at local farmers' markets; one of my co-workers brings in the hugest, juiciest grapefruit I've ever seen in my entire life.  You bite into a grapefruit section and juice squirts and pours down your chin and you have to hurl your body into a 45 degree angle and mop your face before that sweet juice hits your chest and stains your favorite shirt and becomes testimony to your grapefruit greed. No bagfuls of lemons on the sharing table, though.  How can that be?  Too commonplace?  I figured it was all novelty and whimsy and supernatural, kind of like trying to grow roses here.

But lo and behold, Arizona sunshine is to lemons as lemons are to Arizona Sunshine Lemon Pie, or something like that.  

If you like a pie that's big on lemon flavor, is super fast to make (it's made in a blender and uses the entire lemon, sans seeds, of course) and is family and company worthy, this one is good!  I'll present the recipe as originally written, and then add my own thoughts in Cook's Notes.

ARIZONA SUNSHINE LEMON PIE

1 large lemon, well washed and rinsed

4 large eggs

8 tablespoons butter (4 ounces or one stick)

1-1/2 cups sugar

2 teaspoons vanilla extract

whipped topping

single, uncooked pie crust, your own or store bought, for a 9" pie

Preheat oven to 350 degrees Fahrenheit.  Leaving rind on, cut lemon in large chunks, remove seeds.  Pour all ingredients into a blender (or food processor) and process until smooth.  Pour into pie crust and bake for about 40 minutes.  If crust becomes too brown, cover it with tin foil.  Test with a toothpick for doneness.  Let cool before serving.  Refrigerate after cooled.

COOK'S NOTES:  I made a bit of a bigger project out of this than the recipe states.  First of all, I was concerned about the pith adding too much bitterness, so I cut the lemon flesh away from the rind, removed maybe half of the pith and then tossed the lemon peel and flesh into the blender.  Because I removed the pith, I added another half lemon, peel and flesh, minus pith, to the blender.  Besides, how large is a large lemon?  It's all in the eye of the beholder.  I wanted to see the lemon texture before going ahead so I added the sugar and vanilla and blended that first. Then I added the eggs and butter and gave it a few more spins in the blender, combining all ingredients well.

Arizona Sunshine Lemon Pie

This pie was a tad on the sweet side but not cloyingly so.  Regardless, for my personal tastes, I might add more lemon or less sugar the next time I make this. 

No Knead English Muffin Batter Bread

No Knead English Muffin Batter Bread

If you're new to baking and just a little timid of working with yeast, this is a bread I highly recommend starting with.  There's no kneading, a single rise, no fussy shaping, and the results far outweigh the effort.  This bread is toothsome and yeasty and oh so delicious and makes the crunchiest toast.

NO-KNEAD, ENGLISH MUFFIN BATTER BREAD
Makes 2 loaves

5-1/2 cups all-purpose flour  (more or less) (divided)

2 tablespoons active dry yeast (yes, tablespoons, not teaspoons) 

1 tablespoon sugar

1 teaspoon salt

1/4 teaspoon baking soda

2 cups milk

1/2 cup water 

Cornmeal for sprinkling inside baking pans and on top of loaves

Start by greasing two 8" x 4" baking loaves and sprinkling enough cornmeal inside and tipping and rotating the pan to leave a light coating on the sides and bottoms of the pans. Lightly tap out any excess.

In a large bowl, combine 3 cups of flour, yeast, sugar, salt and baking soda.  Give it a good stir.  

Heat milk and water to a temperature that falls between 120 to 130 degrees Fahrenheit.

Pour liquids into the dry mixture and stir; what you should have is something that is about as thick as pancake batter.  Add additional flour as needed.  (See notes below)

Divide the dough between the two pans. Stretch the dough to fit the pan.  Sprinkle with a little corn meal and allow to rise in a warm place about 45 minutes or until the dough has risen about 1/4 inch over the edge of the pan.

Depending on how fast your dough is rising and how long it takes your oven to preheat, somewhere during this time, preheat your oven to 400 degrees Fahrenheit.

Bake at 400 degrees Fahrenheit for 25 minutes, or until when thumbed with a knuckle it sounds hollow.

Let cool in pan for about 10 minutes and then remove from pan and allow to finish cooling on rack.

COOKS NOTES:  Now you're going to have to use some judgment here.  Recipe says more or less 5 1/2 cups flour.  I can tell you depending on the brand of flour, the age, if it's spring or winter wheat, if it's summer or the winter, the alignment of the stars and if the day of the week you're making this has a "y" in it, you're going to need some judgment on how much additional flour to add.  I add a half a cup at a time and give it a stir until I end up with something that is gloopy (is that a baking term?), and stretchy.  You may not need the full amount; you may need to add a bit more.  This time I only needed 5 cups of flour and it was absolutely fine.

Recipe says to allow dough to rise for 45 minutes.  Well, it's the beginning of September, I live in Arizona, the sun is beating down on us, and my house is cooled to 75 degrees, grins, so needless to say 45 minutes of rising time is out of the question.  I checked at 35 minutes, and the dough was at the near perfect point.  It only takes a few short minutes to heat the oven, and we were good to go.

Mmm, homemade English muffin batter bread for breakfast!

 

 

Tex-Mex Style Flour Tortillas

Flour Tortilla

In my question for tortilla perfection, I am reminded of the story of the guy who was married eight times and always blamed his failed marriages on the women he married.  Grins, this is like my fifth or sixth recipe I've tried and since it's unlikely all those recipes are failures, it seems like time for a little self-reflection.  While I have yet to find the secret for great tortillas, I think I'm onto something here. My ideal includes adjectives like soft, flexible, fluffy, flavorful.  Not too much to ask for, but past efforts have yielded tortillas that were thin, brittle, and tasted like pie crust. 

First of all, tortillas take practice.  Oh. Yeah, I guess I should've known that.  When I think of my first loaf of yeast bread and how it clunked so loudly that I could hear it hit the metal trash can from my second-story apartment over city traffic, I know the ringing sound of failure.  I never thought I could learn to make beautiful loaves of yeast bread.  A little diligence and knowing the "feel" of dough paid off.  I think tortilla making is similar; you have to know the feel of the dough, and that only comes through practice and diligence.  And eating your failures, which is better than eating crow, I've found.

Tortilla too brittle?  Too much shortening, too much baking powder, or quite possibly the griddle wasn't hot enough.  The griddle has to be hot.  Also, it could be too much baking powder.  Tortilla tough?  Handled it too much.  And probably the biggest thing I've learned, they need to be kept in a tortilla warmer.  You don't need anything fancy, just a clean dishtowel maybe with tin foil loosely folded around it to help it retain the heat but still allowing the steam to escape.  I've found they soften nicely once they've allowed to rest a bit after cooking.

The other neat thing I've learned is there two schools of tortilla makers depending on the region you grew up and family preferences:  the thicker Texan style, popular in certain parts of Mexico (like the ones pictured above and my favorite) and those who favor the paper thin tortilla, almost like a wonton wrapper (perfect for burritos), which I believe is popular in the Sonoran region of Mexico and thus quite popular here since we live so close to Sonora.  Both are equally good; it's just personal choice and what you're accustomed to and probably how you intend to use the tortilla.

Tex-Mex Style Flour Tortillas (makes 8 thick tortillas)

2 cups flour
1 1/2 teaspoons baking powder
1 teaspoon salt
2 teaspoons vegetable oil
3/4 cup warm milk

In a medium sized bowl, mix together the first four ingredients.

Slowly add the warmed milk, stirring, until a sticky ball is formed.  Dump dough out onto a floured surface and knead, about two minutes, or until ball is smooth, soft, and firm.

Place the dough in a bowl and cover with a damp paper towel or dish towel or plastic wrap and allow to rest for 20 minutes.

After the dough has rested, break the dough off into eight sections, rolling each section into a ball as you break them off.  Place the balls on a plate spaced far enough apart so that the balls are not touching.  Cover again with a damp paper towel or plastic wrap, and once again allow to rest, this time for 10 minutes.

On a floured surface, pat the dough into a 4-inch disc and then roll into 8-inch circle. In your mind's eye, see the disc as 4 pieces of pie and starting from the center, roll out to the one edge and over it to keep the edges thin. Go to the next quarter, repeat.  Flip the disc, repeat.  You can also stretch the dough over your knuckles, like for pizza dough, pulling on the edges while spinning over the knuckles of  your closed fist to help attain a circular shape.

Keep the uncooked tortillas covered until ready to cook as you don't want them to dry out.

Preheat a dry (do not grease) cast iron comal or skillet over high heat and cook the tortilla about 30 seconds each side.  Tortilla will puff and bubble when it's done.

Place cooked tortilla in clean dish towel, napkin, tortilla warmer, whatever you are using, to keep them warm until serving.

Cooks Note:  So this is the basic recipe I made and I followed it exactly.  I'm pleased with the results, of course, but when I try this next, I think I'm going to tinker with it a bit, perhaps adding a tad more milk, a tablespoon or so.  It may be the brand of flour I'm using, but I found the dough to be a bit on the dry side.  It's all about the feel.

Wicked Good Blueberry Muffins

Wicked Good Blueberry Muffins

There is truth to the adage that less is more, except when it comes to bank accounts maybe.  But in the case of recipes, simple, straightforward, no added extras, can be the recipe that pleases family and friends and become the keepsake recipes we return to again and again.  This 150-year old Maine blueberry muffin recipe is just that one.  No spices, no extracts, no sour cream, no crumb topping.  Just a beautiful, big blueberry-flavor muffin that delights. 

Wicked Good Blueberry Muffins (original recipe here)
Grandmother Hinckley's Blueberry Muffins

3 tablespoons butter
2/3 cup sugar
1 egg, beaten
1/2 cup milk
1 1/2 cups flour
2 teaspoons baking powder
1/2 teaspoon salt**
1 to 1 1/2 cups blueberries, rinsed, picked over, dried with paper towel
Coarse sugar for sanding or regular table sugar (optional)

Line a standard 12-cup muffin pan with cupcake-muffin papers.
Preheat oven to 350*F

In a large bowl, cream the butter and sugar together.
Add the beaten egg and milk.
Sift together the flour, baking powder and salt.  Add to the wet mixture.
Add the blueberries and gently fold them in, stirring the batter from the bottom and bringing it over the berries.
Divide the batter evenly between the muffin wells and sprinkle a little sugar, just enough to give it a little sparkle.
Bake on the center rack in your oven for 20-25 minutes or until it tests done with a tooth pick.

**Because I typically use salted butter, I reduce the amount called for in the recipe to a slightly rounded 1/4 teaspoon.

I've used frozen blueberries for this and they're still great.  I rinse the strawberries first to take off any ice chips, dry on paper towels, and follow the rest of the recipe.  The batter may turn blue, but that's fine.  Muffins are still lovely.  It may take a couple of extra minutes baking time to allow for the berries being frozen.