Quilting

Hope you are enjoying the last of the sun’s rays –through the odd downpour! - and starting to think about enjoying some creative time over the next few months.

I’ve attached details of this season’s course and I really hope you can come.

This is a beginners course so no need to have any prior experience. There will be plenty to keep you inspired and don’t worry, lack of skill, equipment or even fabric will not be a bar to making a start with a new skill that might become seriously addictive.

€275 for a 6 day course over 5 months. {Discount for early bookers!} Starts Saturday 10^th September. 10 places available.

Course Content & Dates: Saturday's 10am - 4pm

10^th Sep Cutting & piecing methods

starting with an overview of the main traditional types (you have to start somewhere!)

8^th Oct Starting to subvert the traditions

Create your own block for paper-foundation piecing or use a traditional method with your own “take” on fabric & colour selection

12^thNov What to do?

decisions, decisions…carry on with what you’re doing and make a quilt… or cushions? Change tack and make a wall hanging or the cat’s pajamas? Planning and making a start on your first piece

10^th Dec Putting it together

adding borders -maybe; selecting backing & wadding; planning the quilting design; preparing piece for quilting; adding the quilting stitches; by hand or machine?

14^th & 15^th Jan Finishing & Showing off

Saturday : completing the piece; binding and finishing. Sunday: invite family and friends to enjoy your success.

Booking Details, Directions and Maps Here!

It's a Wonderful Loaf

The Best Bread in the World! a.k.a No-knead bread

Inspired by: New York Times, Sullivan Street Bakery, Gontran Charrier and many others.

It was the “no-knead” bit that attracted me here! A “sourdough” type of bread with an open holey texture, a good crust and great colour. It tastes divine and it really is very easy, it works when you don’t think it possibly could and is slightly different each time. Added bonus - the method, quantities and timings are very relaxed.
The “secret” is that it is cooked in a hot oven in a large lidded enamelled cast iron pot* I have a 28cm Le Creuset that is perfect for the job. It’s getting a bit discoloured with such hot and heavy use but that’s a small price to pay for a gorgeous loaf and I still use the pot for stews and long-cooked bolognese sauce.

475-525 gm strong white flour + a little extra
¼ teaspoon active dried yeast
1 ½ teaspoons salt
400-425 ml water, possibly a little more

Timing:

• Initial preparation: 5 minutes
• Proving: 12-18 hours
• Final rising: 30-40 minutes or so

• Combine flour, yeast & salt in a large bowl with a fork.
• Add not quite all of the water and stir through with the fork to combine. No, you don’t need to knead (sorry!)
• You are aiming for a “shaggy” sticky dough, not smooth and neat. If it’s too wet it will spread too much when cooking. So just stop at that “shaggy” stage, might even be a bit lumpy, and have faith! Scrape down the sides and cover with cling film.
• Dough is ready for the next stage when the surface looks bubbly. This will take from 12-18 hours depending on ambient temperature. If you have to leave it a bit longer, it’s not the end of the world – it will still work. Seems to me the bubblier, the better
• At this point, you can assume your bread will be ready and out of the oven in about an hour from now.
• Flour a largish 35cm/14” or so - silicone sheet (or Bake-O-Glide) and scrape out the dough mixture onto this.
• Knock it back a bit – or in other words squish it down – and lift and turn it over a few times on itself using extra flour to stop you fingers and the dough sticking to each other.
• Form into a nice round loaf shape. Put a little more flour on top.
• Leave it now for a further 20 minutes** before turning on the oven to 220⁰C/200⁰C Fan.
• Put the pot and its lid in the oven at the same time.
• When the oven has reached its operating temperature, brush away the extra flour from around the sides of the loaf. (Slide your hand underneath the silicone
• Remove the pot from the oven and slide your hand under the silicone sheet to turn the loaf over into it. It may look like a mess but it’ll be fine. Shake the pot a little if necessary to even things out a bit and centre the loaf in the pot.
• Put the lid back on and put into the oven.
• Allow 20 minutes cooking time.
• Remove the lid and cook for a further 5 -7 minutes. Or more – whatever is needed to achieve the beautiful brown crust.
• Amazingly it doesn’t stick and slides out of the pot every time. You may decide it needs to be taken out of the pot and put directly on the oven shelf for another few minutes .
• Cool on a wire rack.

*A Pyrex, cast iron or heavy ceramic pot would also work. Maybe one of those chicken bricks? Just a thought.
**Or until you can see that loaf has started to rise again. Give it a little prod and you will feel that it has softened slightly since you shaped it. It will get its extra “lift” and rise the rest of the way when you put it into the pre-heated pot.

Pork Rillettes

Or Rillettes de Porc...

I'll be giving Delia's recipe a whirl this weekend... Pictures and notes to follow.

a 2 lb 8 oz (1.15 kg) piece of lean belly pork, trimmed (trimmed weight 2 lb/900 g)

8 oz (225 g) back pork fat

1 dessertspoon chopped fresh thyme

½ teaspoon ground mace

1 heaped teaspoon salt

2 cloves garlic, crushed

10 black peppercorns

10 juniper berries

4 fl oz (120 ml) dry white wine

salt and freshly milled black pepper

Pre-heat the oven to gas mark 1, 275°F (140°C)

With your sharpest knife, cut the pork lengthwise into long strips about 1 inch (2.5 cm) wide, then cut each strip again into smaller strips so you end up with pieces that are approximately ½ x ¾ inch (1 x 2 cm), and place these in a bowl. Cut the fat into small pieces too, and mix these in (the excess fat will help to keep the pork properly moist during the cooking process).

Now add the thyme, mace, salt and garlic, along with the peppercorns and juniper berries (the last 2 both crushed in a pestle and mortar or with the back of a tablespoon), and mix everything together. Transfer the whole lot to the terrine or loaf tin and pour in the wine. Mix everything around to distribute the flavours, cover the terrine or loaf tin with foil and place it in the centre of the oven and leave it there for 4 hours.

After that, taste a piece of pork and add more salt (and pepper), if necessary. Now empty everything into a large sieve standing over a bowl and let all the fat drip through (press the meat gently to extract the fat). Leave the drained fat to cool and then transfer to the fridge for 20-30 minutes so that the jelly and fat separate.Next, take a couple of forks and pull the strips of meat into shreds (sometimes it is pounded instead, but personally, I think it’s worth persevering with the fork method). Then pack the rillettes lightly into the terrine or loaf tin (wash and dry it thoroughly first), and leave to get cold.

After that, remove the jelly from the bowl of fat, melt it gently and pour it over the rillettes. Then spread a layer of fat over the top to keep the meat moist. Keep the rillettes in the fridge (covered with foil or clingfilm) till needed; it will take about 2 hours to set. Serve with hot toast, crusty bread or crisp baked croutons

Bearnaise Sauce

Steak and Chips is not steak and chips without Bearnaise Sauce.

This is not as difficult as it sounds. Simon Hopkinson wrote a recipe that called for clarified butter (melted with the white stuff left behind) and it seems that everyone else is coming around to that way of thinking. Some much easier and less likely to make a muck of it.

Here's his version. I will track down Delia's version too.

This adaption retains all the shallot because that's the way we like it :)

*I don't suggest trying this for the first time under pressure....!

1 Tbsp tarragon or white wine vinegar
2tbsp snipped tarragon or 1/2 tsp dried tarragon
1 shallot, finely chopped
Ground black pepper
2 egg yolks
150g clarified butter (melted butter with the milk solids and water removed), cooled to tepid
Juice of 1/2 lemon
Salt and freshly ground pepper

• Combine the wine vinegar, tarragon, the shallot and pepper in a small, heavy-based saucepan and reduce by half over a low heat. Set aside to cool.
• When the vinegar reduction is cold, place in a bowl, add the egg yolks.Set bowl over a pan of just boiled water, keep pan on a low heat and whisk continuously, making sure that the whisk reaches right down into the bottom of the bowl. As you whisk the sauce should emulsify slowly.
• Turn off the heat and whisk the clarified butter into the sauce, a drop at a time to begin with then a bit more as the sauce 'takes'.
• Season with salt and pepper.
• Stir in lemon juice to taste. Check the seasoning and serve at once.
• Serve with Steak Frites and Green Beans :)

Adapted from Simon Hopkinson

Hummingbird Brownies

It takes alot to divert my attention away from the Joy of Cooking brownies but the Brownie recipe in The Hummingbird Bakery cookbook did just that.

These are rich, delicious and fudgy brownies. Perfect served warm with ice cream.


Ingredients for 12 big, or more smaller pieces:

* 200g good quality (70% +) dark chocolate, broken up into small pieces
* 175g unsalted butter
* 325g caster sugar
* 130g plain flour
* 3 eggs

1. Preheat the oven to 170c, Gas Mark 3.
2. Place the chocolate and butter in a heatproof bowl over a pan of simmering water. Stir occasionally until thoroughly melted, then remove from the heat and leave to cool slightly.
3. Add the sugar and stir until well incorporated, then add the flour and do the same.
4. Stir in the eggs until thick and smooth.
5. Pour into a baking tray (33cm x 23cm x 5cm tray) and bake for about 30-35 minutes, or until they are flaky on top but still soft in the centre.
6. Leave to cool,remove from pan and rest on a wire rack.
7. When cooled completely, cut into 12 large or many more smaller brownies.

Serve slightly warm with vanilla ice cream for a dessert or eat sneakily with a cup of coffee.

Enjoy!


Buy The Hummingbird Bakery Cookbook on Amazon click here.

Little Gem

This one is called Windflower. I finally got the photo sent off to Hilary yesterday. Efficient person that she is, she had it up on the Little Gems site within the hour. There are now more than 500 of these little A4 quilts that have been made to raise funds for the Quilters' Guild UK. http://littlegemquilts.wordpress.com/.

This is the second one of two I had planned. The first one got tea spilled all over it and is in the bin. The problem was not the tea but the border I had made (to bring the size back up to the required A4) using fine red cotton lawn bought in Liberty years and years ago. Who could have guessed that a Liberty fabric would run and that it would stain so badly?

Silks, handmade paper from Thailand and machine quilting.

Bloom 2009

Bloom was on last weekend in the Phoenix Park. The weather was fabulous, unlike this weekend, and the flowers even more so. Some beautiful roses from David Austin and allliums everwhere!