The same story, random photos and small announcement

We've been in the same situation for more than one time. I mean me not having time to write over here. And this all happened when I decided to be a good blogger. I really did, I even work on a brand new website and I'm almost, almost finished, I just need one more free weekend, or make it two.
But.... I don't know when I get them. I know excuses like work and everyday life are not real excuses, but maybe at least you will forgive me when I will tell you that I'm busy planning a trip to Tuscany. I'm reading a book about Tuskany, have a guide to flick through and I need to find accommodation, and I really can't wait.

In meantime when I don't have a time to put together recipe for potato pancakes have a look at lovely freesias I got from H2G market.
And a view below is from a hike in Wicklow we finally managed to do.

Freckled cake

I still can't understand the phenomena of this cake. For me it's a life-saver cake that uses leftover egg whites that always have too many. I needed to make this cake, as otherwise Tomek would ask me to move out, because we had like a ton of egg whites in the freezer. Other than that the cake is easy and simple. I would say an everyday cake. You just need a cup to measure ingredients, not even a standard size cup, just a cup.
But I brought it to work and everybody loved it. I even got "It's one of the best cakes I've ever eaten in my life". A few people mentioned they liked it for a poppyseed crunch in it. So if this cake looks tempting to you just try it, you won't regret.

Freckled cake

Notes: I used half and half of black and white poppy seeds, just because I didn't have enough black one. 

Recipe from Moje wypieki

30cm-long loaf pan

• 1 cup plain flour
• 1 cup poppy seeds
• 1 cup egg whites (around 7-10 depending on eggs size)
• 1 cup sugar
• 1/2 cup melted butter, cooled
• 1 tsp baking powder
• mix of walnuts, peanuts, almonds, candied orange zest (it's really up to you how much you want to add)
• orange zest from 1 orange

In a big bowl start whisk egg whites until they are almost stiff. Gradually add the sugar. Continue beating.
Add flour, poppy seeds, baking powder, walnuts, almonds, candied zest and melted butter and mix until combined.
Line in a baking pan with baking paper.
Pour the mixture into the pan, it should fill it up to 2/3 of the pan.
Bake at 220ºC/200ºC fan for about 40 minutes or until a wooden stick comes out clean.
When the cake gets golden cover it with a kitchen foil.

Sweet yeast rhubarb cake

The time runs so fast. I baked this cake a day after the trip to Honest2Goodness Market.
I have tons ideas for posts I think I just need to find a machine that can type while I think...
In meantime I finished reading "To Kill a Mockingbird" and started "The Paris Wife" recommended by Adrienne.
This cake is a lovely, simple recipe. A sweet yeast cake would be a staple Sunday recipe in many homes in Poland. It's probably because it is such a good base for different variations. It goes well with most fruits, you can add chocolate if you fancy it and when your pantry is empty crumble is still enough. It can make nice breakfast with some butter. It's great for making French toasts.

Sweet yeast rhubarb cake

Recipe from White Plate blog

For cake

• 4 egg yolks
• 150 g sugar
• 20 g fresh yeast (or 10 g instant) 
• 1 cup milk, lukewarm
• 470 g plain flour
• lemon zest from 1 lemon
• 65 g butter, melted
• 500 g rhubarb or other fruits

For crumble

• 180 g plain flour
• 100 g sugar 
• 125 g butter, melted

Line a 30x30 cm pan with parchment paper.
In a big bowl mix egg yolks and sugar until light.
In a 1/2-liter bowl or jug mix yeast and sugar. After a while they will become liquid. Add milk and leave it until it become frothy.
Add the yeast mixture to the egg mixture and mix it.
Add flour, lemon zest, melted butter and mix until combine.
The recipe doesn't call for proper kneading, but I kneaded the dough briefly with a mixer. You can use a wooden spoon as well.
Leave the dough to rise for one hour or until it doubles in size.
Flatten it, transfer it into the pan and leave to rise for another hour*.
After 30 minutes or so arrange the fruits at the top of the dough and sprinkle with the crumble. Allow to  rise for another 30 minutes.
Prepare crumble - mix all the ingredients until you get crumbles.
Preheat the oven to 180°C/160°C fan.
Bake for 25-35 minutes, or until golden. Remove from the oven and leave it to cool.

Notes:
*If you in a hurry you can skip this step. Instead after preparing the dough transfer it straight into the pan, leave it to rise and arrange fruits after 30 minutes, let the dough double in size and follow the rest of the recipe.)

A version without fruits

Mazurek - Easter tart with chocolate and prunes

There is still an Easter recipe waiting for you, even though Easter seem to be so far away. 

This year like the year before I won't tell you too much about Polish Easter traditions, although I feel I should, as there are so many and they are so different. Maybe next year I will be a better girl, so for now let's focus on mazurek (plural mazurki). 

The origin of the cake is believed to be in Turkey. Mazurek can have many different variations, you will find some on a thin sweet yeast cake base, on a shortcrust pastry or on a wafer, but the most important it should be thin and sweet. 

I never used to like mazurek as it was dry shortcrust pastry with jam and some raisins. My opinion has changed when a friend introduced me to a mazurek with dulce de leche filling, since then I have been always using this recipe, only this year I decided to go with something else. 

I was looking for a recipe for a while, I really wanted to something really classic, but usually old recipes were with some kind of walnut meringue and that didn't convinced me, so I went for prunes with rum in chocolate, it couldn't go wrong. 

The recipe is combination of two recipes. I couldn't find smoked prunes so I used standard dried ones. And I soaked them in rum. Rum, chocolate and prunes is really good combination. Yum...

Mazurek - Easter tart with chocolate and prunes 

Recipe based on mix of recipes of Polka and Basia 
Use 25-cm tart tin

Shortcrust pastry:

• 150g plain flour
• 40g grounded almonds
• pinch of salt
• 25g caster sugar
• 90g butter, cubed cold
• 1 egg
• 2 drops of almond extract

Filling:

• 150g dried prunes
• 150g smoked dried prunes (you can replace them with dried prunes)
• 3 Tbsp rum
• 100g milk chocolate, broken into chunks
• 100g dark chocolate, broken into chunks
• 100g double cream

Decoration:

• 50g white chocolate

Sift the flour, grounded almonds and a pinch of salt. Add sugar and butter.
With your hands, rub together the flour mixture with the butter cubes until the mixture forms small breadcrumbs. Alternatively, you can use a food processor for 10-12 second.
Add the egg and almond extract and knead it quickly. Don't overwork the dough. Wrap it into cling film and refrigerate for at least 30 minutes (you can even prepare it 2-3 days before, or you can freeze it and store it for few months).
Grease a tart case with butter. Dust it with flour. Set aside.
Roll out the dough on a lightly floured work surface until it covers the tart base and its sides. Transfer it gently into the pan. Press the dough evenly into the bottom and sides of the pan. Prick the dough with a fork. Refrigerate for another 20-30 minutes.
Preheat the oven to 200°C/180°C fan.
Line the crust with parchment and fill with baking beans, and bake blind in the oven for 15 minutes.
Remove the beans and bake it for another 3-4 minutes or until golden.
Remove from the oven and let it cool off.

Filling:

Cut prunes into strips and soak them in the rum.
Mix the milk and dark chocolates in a medium bowl.
In a small pot boil the double cream and pour it over the chocolates. Stir to dissolve it.
Add prunes and stir to distribute them.

Pour the filling into pastry shell.

Decoration:

Melt the white chocolate over a hot-water bath. Pour it over the tart.

Honest2Goodness Market - the best food market in Dublin

This Saturday Kirstin with Brid invited us over for lunch and trip to Honest2Goodness market (H2G).

Bloggers sharing delicious pizza

Irish Food Bloggers Association (IFBA) is such a great invention. Kirstin and Caroline did such a great job setting it up. I mentioned you a few events I attended before - Irish Bloggers' Meeting in Drogheda was one. I have been only a few months in Ireland and I was doing my best to remember as many names and blog nicknames as possible, I didn't have a clue who was who. Very soon after it, I had great fun at the Irish food photography workshop, but there was even more Irish food bloggers, it was also when I decided to start an English blog. IFBA makes so easy to keep in touch with other food bloggers and events we may be interested in. It was nice to talk face to face with people you usually see on Twitter :)

I visited Honest2Goodness market once before, thanks to Clare's post, but visiting with a bunch of other food bloggers and being able to chat to all the producers gives you much different perspective (well, YOU can chat with producers any time you there, they are very friendly and helpful, but I'm usually very shy and I find it hard to start conversation with strangers. I laugh that I should take small talk classes, because I'm 100% sure they have them in Irish schools, everybody here is so good at it!).

In Poland I was used to having access to really good farmers markets. Nobody would even call them farmers markets, just standard markets. Even in my hometown market I would have 10 different fruits and vegetable stalls, a few bakeries, butchers, a fishmonger and a few stall just with eggs, or potatoes. So only after a few visits to Irish markets I learnt that they are usually smaller and more focused on ready to eat food. Don't get me wrong they are lovely, I really like Sunday market in Dun Laoghaire, we often go there to spend an afternoon there, but it's not really a place for your weekly shopping. Dublin is missing one, bigger, indoor space for markets, similar to St. George's Market in Belfast or Milk Market in Limerick.
So this is why Honest2Goodness Market is so different. Brid and Colm have tried to create a place for your weekly shopping, so you can buy good quality meat, fish, bread, fruits and veggies. There is a pantry where you can buy staples like flour, tinned veggies, dairy and spices. So you see they really try to make your life easier. Apparently if you ask Brid nicely you can even convince her to get to stock a product you regularly buy. Beside the products I mentioned above they also have stalls with variety cakes, jams, chutneys. Did I mention they have wine as well? It's not in a city center, but there is a lot of parking space.
A few words about stalls we visited:

Big Red Kitchen

Nicola makes delicious home-made jams and chutneys. Her pear and vanilla jam is truly full of vanilla seeds and everything started when she was made redundant.    

Arun Bakery

Peter said they don't make pretty bread. Well I don't agree, their breads are beautiful, just look at them. Yes, I know I have an obsession with bread, so I may not be objective. When I was little I was always asking my father (he worked in a bakery) to bring me a bread with a smile (not with my father's smile). A bread with a smile was one that cracked during baking. There are only a few good bakeries in Dublin I know of, but they are not always on my way, so often I bake a bread. But if Arun bakery would be around the corner, I wouldn't bake too often. They focus on sourdough bread, that are the best, most natural types of breads. The proofing process takes them around 12 hours. When high-processed bread would be done in 3 hours or maybe less hours. There are even some studies that suggest that sourdough may be decreasing the level of gluten intolerance in humans. A good bread is just good for you, it won't hurt your tummy, it won't make you fat, just pick your bread wisely.

And I'm not saying that because Peter told me he visited my blog (blushing), but they make really good bread.

Peter from Arun Bakery

They even bring the starter with them to the market

The Purple Pantry 

Adam is a food blogger who just started his adventure with H2G market this week. This was the first time he stood on the other side of stall and camera.

Vegetables and fruits stall 

Colm was telling us that they try to get as many Irish products as possible, but for some products it's just not possible, but then they just know where it comes from. This garlic came grom France, it's just much stronger, than the white, Chinese one you can get in most shops. They do have unwaxed lemons.

And there is another stall with organic products only. 

Wild Flour Bakery

Beautiful cakes and unusual flavors like a goat cheese macaron. Brownies were so delicious.

My Mexican Shop

Lily is a food blogger as well, she blogs here and sells authentic Mexican products and promotes really good Irish ones as well. 

• Sticky Fingers Bakery - gluten free cakes that taste delicious. 
• Natural Sauce Company - three delicious sauces Harissa, Muhammara and Romesco, full of flavors and they last 30 days in your fridge. 
• Taste with Gusto - delicious Italian products. I need to go back for some really delicious Balsamic Vinegar when my stock will run out. 
• The Whole Hoggs Farm - it's not only pork, but you can find venison, pigeons, quails, etc.

This is not a full list of stalls. We needed to skip a few as there was not enough time and place in our tummies. Here is a full list of producers. I hope you will visit it and like it. Just try to make there before noon. After 1pm you can find that a lot of goodies is just sold out.

Traveling around Ireland

A few weeks ago Tomek's brother and his wife visited us. As much as I like Dublin I think the real Ireland is outside of it. We managed to go for a short weekend away. This time we drove to area around the Waterford. We were lucky to have a nice weather for a day. The next day was so foggy, that we couldn't see the sea even though we drove along the costal road and next week it was snowing.
But looking at the photos you will probably agree, doesn't matter what weather there is Ireland is charming.
PS. I still wouldn't mind some warm weather.

Happy Easter

Happy Easter all of you who drop by.
No matter where you are I hope you are having nice, relaxing time.
Magda