The End of April!

I have had a long worrisome week. My sister was diagnosed with cancer last week, and had surgery yesterday. It is a little more complicated than was hoped, but she is strong, and has a strong spirit. She will be fine, once she recovers from this invasive operation. I am trying to stay strong for her...

Our weather is cold, sunny today, but cold. Not very spring like at all.

I bought some new brushed sterling bead frame a couple of weeks ago, and have been playing around with them. In the spirit of spring, I made this pair today, aptly named Silver Birch Buds. I hope our birches will soon start to have leaf buds!

Brushed sterling bead frames, sterling silver earwires with ricolite tubes and tiny butter jade. The colour of spring and new life!

Istrian Gnocchi with Moose Sausage and Pepper Sauce

I tell you, the May issue of Gourmet has some delicious recipes. This one caught my eye as soon as I looked through it. I will just give you the recipe for the gnocchi, and not the truffle cream it is suggested to serve them with. I cannot get truffle butter where I live, and it would take too long to order it. I will give you the recipe for sauce I devised while making the gnocchi.

I will say, at 5 o'clock in the afternoon, I had no idea what we would eat for dinner, and then had dinner on the table by 7 o'clock, not bad. Maybe to some that would seem like a long time, but if you are one who cooks, it really was not.

Istrian Gnocchi ( I doubled this recipe, for 3 people for a main course)                  ( yes we were little piggies)

1 1/2 cups flour

1 large egg

1 1/2 tsp. salt

1 tbsp. olive oil

1/4 to 1/3 cup water

Sift flour in a mound on a wooden board, work surface, or a large bowl, and make a well in the center. Add egg, salt, oil and 1/4 cup of water to well, and mix with a fork, gathering flour into egg mixture to form a dough. If it seems dry, add water (up to 2 tbsp.). Knead on a lightly floured surface, incorporating just enough flour to keep dough from sticking, until smooth and elastic, 8 to 10 minutes.

Quarter dough. Working with 1 piece at a time (keep remainder under an overturned bowl), roll dough between your palms into a 6" log, then cut crosswise into about 26(1/8" thick) pieces. Roll each piece into a 3" log, that is 1/4" thick in the center, and 1/8" thick on the ends. Remember back to playing with play dough and making worms, it is similar to that! Transfer to a flour dusted surface..tea towel. 

Do this with each quarter of the dough.

Cook gnocchi in a large pot of boiling salted water(2 tbsp. salt for 6 quarts water) until cooked through, 15 to 18 minutes.

Drain pasta, and serve immediately with your favourite sauce.

Serves 4 to 6 as a starter!

Sausage Pepper Pasta Sauce

1 pkg. sausage, any kind you wish to use, I used moose sausage.

1 tbsp. olive oil

1/2 bulb garlic, sliced

1/2 to 1 tsp. hot pepper flakes

3 1/2 red and yellow sweet peppers, cubed

1/2 bag spinach

1 jar mild salsa, I used Mrs. Renfro's

1/4 to 1/2 cup of 1/2 & 1/2

Heat oil in a large pan or pot. Squeeze sausage meat from the casings into rough little meatballs. Saute with the garlic until cooked through. Add hot pepper flakes and the peppers, cook stirring from time to time for about 5 minutes.  Add  spinach, and stir until it is cooked down. Add whole jar of salsa, cook stirring until the sauce is heated through and starting to bubble, turn heat down to a low simmer. Once the sauce is simmering, add the 1/2 & 1/2 a little at a time stirring to mix through. Add enough cream to make a slightly creamy sauce.

Serve with the gnocchi!! Yum!

 

April Snow

Much to my dismay we have snow again. Our world is white! Luckily it is the end of April and the sun will shine and this dump of snow will melt!

Mark has a soft spot for our feathered friends, and crushed some sunflower seeds for them this morning. Amazing to see so many birds out there, fascinating to watch them all.

Close up zoom from through the backdoor window, they were too skittish to open the door.

Stone Wood

I had made this necklace two nights ago, and was not happy with it, so I took it apart after breakfast this morning and reworked it. I listed it on Etsy before lunch.

It is a unique necklace in that the wood jasper rectangular beads very much look like wood, I paired them with sandalwood and rainbow obsidian. I think it is an earthy, elegant necklace.

To my surprise, my newly listed necklace made it's way into a treasury today, and onto the front page in a gorgeous treasury. What an exciting thrill it was!!

Georgian Cheese Bread and Canada Geese!

I have been trying for days to get some photos of the geese overhead, on their migration north to their breeding grounds. There were hundreds of geese flying today. I am obviously not good at photographing them, but here some are, in their glorious V. I do love them and their honking, excited to be back home in the northland.

I got my new issue of Gourmet magazine the other day. This recipe caught my eye, Georgian Cheese Bread, from the Republic of Georgia. I made it for dinner tonight, well I made two. I served it with a delicious spinach salad. It was delicious, yes rich and cheesy, but once in awhile we just need a good hit of rich and gooey cheese!

Georgian Cheese Bread

2 1/4 tsp. active dry yeast

7 tbsp. warm water

1 2/3 cups unbleached flour, divided

3/4 tsp. salt

1 large egg, lightly beaten

1/4 lb. Havarti cheese, coarsely grated

1/4 lb. mozzerella, coarsely grated

1 tsp. butter, melted

Sprinkle yeast over warm water and stir in 1 tbsp. flour. Let stand until creamy, about 5 minutes. Stir together salt and remaining flour in a large bowl, then stir in egg and yeast mixture to form a dough.

Turn dough onto a well-floured surface and turn to coat with flour, then knead until smooth and elastic, a bout 5 minutes. Form into a ball and dust with flour. Let dough rest in a bowl covered with plastic wrap, (I put the dough on a lightly floured surface and cover with an overturned bowl) punching down with a wet fist every hour, at least 2 hours and up to 3.

Preheat oven to 500°F with rack in the middle.

Turn the dough out onto floured pizza pan, turning to coat, then flatten with your fingers into a 7" disk.

Toss together cheese, and press into a compact 3" ball with your hands. Place ball in middle of dough, then gather dough up around the cheese, squeezing excess dough into a topknot. Press down on topknot with damp fist to press cheese out from center, until dough is an 11" disk.

Cut a 6" cross (X) through the top to expose cheese. Bake until pale golden, 10 to 12 minutes. Brush surface with butter and bake until golden and cooked through, 3 to 5 minutes more. Cut into wedges to serve.

Serves 8.

Enjoy, we sure did!

Oven "fried" Fish

I have left my taxes to the last minute, and am not very organized. I got myself a little cranky yesterday, and was seeking comfort food. I am trying to watch, somewhat, what I am putting in my mouth. I do need to lose some weight. I bought salmon at the grocery store, and found this recipe for oven fried fish. I served it with oven fries, and steamed swiss chard. It was actually very good. The recipe calls for white fleshed fish, but the salmon worked out well. I cut the fillets into long strips, sort of like fish fingers. Okay it was not the lowest calorie dinner I could have prepared, but I was seeking comfort food, and this came very close, well it hit it on the head.

I hope you will enjoy this recipe.

Oven "fried" Fish

4 (6 oz.) salmon fillets ( or white fleshed fish, such as tilapia)

1 egg white

1/2 cup buttermilk

1/2 cup unbleached flour

1/2 cup dried breadcrumbs

2 tsp. paprika

1/2 tsp. cayenne pepper

1/2 tsp. garlic powder

1 tsp. salt

1 tbsp. olive oil

1. Position the rack on the top shelf of the oven.

2. Preheat the oven to 500° F.

3. Line a rimmed baking sheet with foil, and lightly grease the foil.

4. Pat fish dry with clean tea towel, or paper towels.

5. Slice fillets in half lengthwise to form long pieces.

6. In a shallow dish whisk egg white with the buttermilk.

7. In another dish stir the flour with bread crumbs, paprika, cayenne, garlic powder and salt.

8. Working with one piece of fish at a time, light coat with the flour mixture.

9. Shake off excess flour, then dip into the buttermilk mixture.

10. Turn to coat evenly.

11. Shake off excess liquid.

12. Coat the fish in the flour mixture again.

13. Shake off excess coating and place on the baking tray.

14. Repeat with remaining fish, one piece at a time.

15. Discard any remaining buttermilk and flour mixture.

16. Lightly spray fish with  the olive oil or using a brush lightly dab about 1 tbsp. as evenly as possible over coating.

17. Do not skip this step as it is essential for the crispy fish.

18. Bake on the top rack of preheated oven until coating is crisp and golden, about 12 to 15 minutes. I turned the tray around, halfway through the cooking time.

20. Do not turn the fillets over.

Serves 4.

I found this recipe on recipezaar.com

Water Grass

My newest creation using one of Gillian's beads!

I have combined stones and colour in this piece, I am very pleased with the outcome. It is a combination of lemon jade, olive jade turquoise and cobalt blue Czech seed beads. There stones and colours work very well with the lampwork bead.