Back in business and on a roll

I'm back on the internet and back in the kitchen.  I feel like Freddie Mercury dancing around, singing, "Don't stop me now!"

First of all, check out this awesome present I got from my sweet husband:

28 pieces of Pyrexy goodness

He ordered it online, and it arrived at my parents' house the same day I did.  One of the pieces shattered in delivery, but it appears it was faulty packaging.  I didn't want to take the chance of sending the whole thing back and getting another broken piece, so I opted for a partial refund.  Now I have a 27 piece set! I used nine of the pieces last night, on a whim, to make something I've been craving for weeks. I found a recipe online that looked good, but it was vegan.  I'm still not vegan.  I have no interest in going vegan ever again.  Once I started changing the vegan items for others, I started playing around more and more with the ingredients until it barely resembled where it started.  I think I must have said "Well, it's an experiment anyway!" and "Oh, I hope this turns out well!" about 50 times as I was making it!

While they're not the same as cinnamon rolls, these guys acted as my main inspiration:

And, yes, I do mean the ones that come in the plastic.

I remember eating these bad boys with my dad.  I don't think I have ever just taken a bite out of one.  I always had to peel it apart, layer by layer, until I got to the softest, most cinnamony part of the center. I don't even know if pecan swirls actually have pecans in them because that's sure not in my memory.  All I know is that, as I started to work on my dough in the kitchen last night with my father as my assistant, I couldn't wait to pull apart some pastry.

Pecan Cinnamon Rolls

Ooey Gooey

Ingredients

For the filling:
1/2 cup light brown sugar
1/4 cup white sugar
1/4 cup honey powder (if you don't have honey powder, substitute more brown sugar)
3 teaspoon ground cinnamon
1/4 cup pecans, chopped and divided
dash of salt
1 tablespoon butter, melted

For the dough:
2 1/2 cup Bob's Red Mill gluten-free all purpose flour (if you mix your own, go for brown rice, tapioca, and potato starch)
3/4 cup sorghum flour
2 teaspoon baking powder
1/2 teaspoon baking soda
1 3/4 teaspoon xantham gum
1 1/2 cups buttermilk (I used 2 teaspoon apple cider vinegar and filled the measuring cup up to 1 1/2 cups with plain milk -- I thought the lemon might be too sour in the dough -- and let it sit for about 5 minutes), divided
7 tablespoons butter, divided and melted
Spray or extra butter for pan

For the icing:
3 tablespoons cream cheese
1/4 teaspoon cinnamon
3/4 cup icing sugar
Half of the chopped pecans from the filling mix
3 tablespoons buttermilk (from the dough division)

Hardware
Large mixing bowl
Two small mixing bowls
Three small reserve bowls (milk, flour, butter)
Bowl or pan for melting butter
Pie dish or other round baking dish
Wooden spoon
Measuring cups and spoons
Oven
Microwave or stove for melting butter and heating milk
Whisk
Knife, spoon, and fork
Parchment paper, cling film, or Press 'N Seal Wrap (worked for me!)

Directions:
Depending on how fast or slow you are in the kitchen, you can go ahead and preheat the oven to 425°F/220°C. I waited to start until I was kneading the dough to preheat because I'm slow.

Go ahead and measure out your vinegar and milk, if you don't use buttermilk, and let it rest to the side.

For the filling, combine the brown sugar, white sugar, honey powder, cinnamon, half of the chopped pecans (1/8 cup or so), and salt in a small mixing bowl.  Stir together with a fork.  When you are sure it is combined, stir in 1 tablespoon melted butter.  When well-combined, it should look like wet sand.  Set aside.

Start on your dough by combining the all purpose flour and sorghum in the large bowl.  Measure out about 1/2 cup and put in a reserve bowl to the side.  Back in the big bowl, add in baking powder, baking soda, and xantham gum and stir with the wooden spoon.

Reserve 1/4 cup of the milk mixture in a bowl and set aside.  Heat the remaining milk mixture in the microwave or on the stove.  You DO NOT want it boiling or steaming hot.  You only want it warm.  Slowly mix 3 tablespoons of melted butter into the warm milk.  Because the milk is warm, the butter should not curdle the milk and the milk should not congeal the butter back into solids.  Add the milk/butter mixture into the large mixing bowl, stir a few times, and add 2 1/2 more tablespoons of melted butter into the mix.  Stir with the wooden spoon until you can feel resistance and cannot see any lumps of flour (about 45 seconds for me).

Put down a layer of whatever paper you choose for your work surface. I used Press 'N Seal wrap because it could "stick" to the surface and was thick enough that I could use it as a tool.  If you do use Press 'N Seal, just make sure that the adhering side is DOWN; the smoother side should be facing up toward you.

Sprinkle about 3/4 of the reserved flour on the surface and dump your dough on top.  Yes, it is a lot of flour.  Yes, you will need it all. Begin working the dough with your hands and kneading in all the flour.  It will be very sticky, and you will probably think you've done something wrong.  Keep going!  Once you have integrated all the flour and you're starting to notice it looking like a real dough, sprinkle the rest of the flour onto it and knead into the dough.

Once you have it all looking nice and like it might have a promising future as a pastry, spread or roll it out into a 10"x12" rectangle.  If you want a lot of swirl with thinner sides, spread it a bit further than 10 inches, but maintain the 12 inch side. Take 1 tablespoon melted butter (if you're doing the math, you should have 1/2 tablespoon left!) and spread it over the middle of the dough, all the way to the edges. Go back and get your filling mixture you made earlier and cover all but the very edges of the dough with it.  There is a lot.  I like it that way.  If you want a higher pastry to cinnamon ratio, use a bit less.  But, then, if you don't like cinnamon, why are you making cinnamon rolls?

Now for the fun part.  It's where I found the Press 'N Seal saved the day.  I literally lifted the front and used it to roll the dough over on to itself.  If you are using a different surface, it may do the same thing. If your dough wants to stick, you might need a metal spatula to pry it up.  Once you have the first roll, lightly press down -- you don't want to mash it into the other side, but you do want it to know where it belongs.  Continuing rolling until you have a log.  If the dough splits open at the end, patch it up.  If it's in the middle, it probably won't matter.  Cut the log into eight 1 1/2" slices -- I actually cut some of mine thinner and thicker to make some crispy and some smooshy.  It's up to you.  Arrange them in a circle around the pie dish, and then squish some in the middle, too.  Press down with your palm to spread them out enough to touch.  Brush with the remaining 1/2 tablespoon of melted butter.

Bake for 24-25 minutes, but, as always, check on them before the timer goes.  You don't want your hard work to burn because your oven is different than mine!

While they bake, mix up the icing. Whisk together the cream cheese, cinnamon, icing sugar, and buttermilk until it is combined.  I never remember to sift the icing sugar, so it took a little elbow grease to get the lumps out.  Stir in the chopped pecans.

When the rolls are done, let them sit for five minutes before icing them.  Use a spoon to drizzle as much or as little icing as you want. Do not, however, let your mother dunk her finger into the icing bowl. I would pour the whole bowl of icing over her cinnamon roll before I would let that happen!

Oh, and these guys are great the next day.  Store them in the fridge and pop one in the microwave for about 25 seconds to get it soft and warm again.  They are almost just as good.  Trust me, I just did it.

You can let your mother scrape up some of the cinnamon meltiness
at the bottom of the pan.  She'll probably do it whether you allow it or not.

Brava, Sligo!

When I decided -- with my husband and his family -- to go on a weeklong holiday in the west of Ireland, I honestly wasn't sure if I would end up starving to death while we were gone.  After all, "gluten" seems like such a foreign word in rural places, and let's just forget about "Celiac"!

To my extremely pleasant surprise, it turns out that Sligo, Ireland is a Mecca for Celiacs.  I was even able to do something that is a no-go in the big city of Belfast -- eat breakfast in a restaurant!  I'm so happy that my favourite little town in the world is able to cater for my particular needs so well.

It appears that the reason Sligo is so Celiac-friendly is because of the hospital in town.  In 2010, they began testing and trials based around Celiac (Coeliac) and Hemochromotosis ("iron-overload").  Apparently, the incidence of Celiac diagnosis in northwest Ireland is very high, and gluten-related investigations in Sligo's hospital sit at about 2,000 cases per year.  That number is extremely high when considering Sligo is a very small place.  Sligo now has the technology to perform Celiac testing in house, rather than sending the materials to Dublin for processing.

I was previously in Sligo in 2008.  Though I can honestly say that I wasn't looking for gluten-free options in restaurants, I do know that nothing caught my attention back then.  (Having many restrictions on my diets, I tend to pick up on available options and the fine print that says to ask your waiter if you have any allergies even if they do not relate to me.)  I can only assume that the more the community learns about Celiac, the more likely they are to provide options for their own citizens and vistors.

The following is only a guide.  Since a lot of the information I found before heading to Sligo was quite old, I thought I would offer an updated account of what I found.  It's not exhaustive -- I didn't go door-to-door, restaurant-to-restaurant (though it does sometimes feel like what I do!).  These are the places I discovered. [Note: Everything food-related in Sligo seemed to be a bit pricey.  I was tempted to say that about all the restaurants.]


Bistro Bianconi, Tobergal Lane, Sligo town
I think we ended up eating here three times over the week.  Pizza, pasta, etc.  It's a nice sit-down restaurant, but it doesn't require dressing up.  Everything we tried was great, gluten-free or not.  They have gluten-free pizza bases and pastas.  They don't charge more for them, and they don't look at you funny when you order.  The four course early-bird menu wasn't entirely Celiac-friendly (soup, Caesar salad, garlic bread for starters), but the regular menu is always available.  Their ice cream was gluten-free, and they had a lovely pavalova on for the dessert of the day once.

Osta Cafe, Garavogue Weir, Sligo town
Ok, I'll admit it.  I ate their pancakes on four different occasions.  But, in my defense, they have several different options!  While there are not a ton of gluten-free choices on their menu, a simple breakfast is well-handled.  There are scones (I had a plain one with jam and butter.) and muffins (Mine was raspberry and coconut.) baked every morning.  Gluten-free pancakes come with the following options: lemon, butter, and sugar; cinnamon-infused berry compote and greek yoghurt (seen half-eaten above); local honey, greek yoghurt, and sliced almonds; bacon and maple syrup . . . and I'm pretty sure I'm missing something.

Bella Vista, Shore Road, Strandhill
Strandhill was a beautiful little place not far from Sligo town.  It's famous for its surfing (no swimming allowed), but the view is amazing.  Of course, everything on the west coast is the Atlantic Ocean, but you really feel like you're looking out into the ocean from Strandhill.  As far as I can tell, all the businesses in Strandhill are on one road -- Shore Road.  We passed by a couple of restaurants where I could have eaten (a lot of Asian cuisine is safe if you know what to look for), but we stopped at Bella Vista because there were a lot of options.  I think the place is a bit under-staffed, but hopefully that was only a temporary problem.  They also charge €2 for changing a pasta or a pizza base to gluten-free.  I ordered tagiatelle a la pollo.  It turned out that they had actually run out of gluten-free tagiatelle, and the waitress was too busy to ask me if substituting spaghetti was okay until it was being presented to me.  Of course, I was fine with it, but why bother asking if they had already made the decision?  My husband, CB, would like to point out that you should discourage anyone non-gluten-free in your party from getting the steak sandwich.  Everything else was good.

The Yeats Tavern, Drumcliffe
The Yeats Tavern is just down the road for where W.B. Yeats (and his wife! Don't forget his wife!) is buried.  Otherwise, it seems to have nothing to do with the poet.  Regardless, I had a very decadent meal here.  It started simply enough -- their vegetable soup is gluten-free, and they have a lovely note just under it on the menu that says "Ask your server for gluten-free bread!".  And, what a lovely piece of bread it was!  My main course was a special of pan-fried chicken smothered in roasted peppers and covered in a thick slice of goats cheese, which was baked to form a crust. It was drizzled with balsamic vinegar and pesto.  It also came with a choice of potatoes -- the dinner menu does not mention that the chips are not gluten-free, but I noticed it on the early-bird menu posted at the entrance -- where I chose the buttered new potatoes and stole a few sneaky bites of CB's garlic and cheese au gratin (we checked on their Celiac status!).  For dessert, they have gluten-free ice cream, around which they formed several options, and a chocolate brownie with a "gluten-free alternative".  I didn't find out what that alternative was because I opted for an ice cream dish with bananas and toffee -- surprisingly light and refreshing!

Poppadom, O'Connell Street, Sligo town (no website)
Considering my love for Indian food, I knew I would be visiting this restaurant again after a positive experience four years ago.  It did not disappoint (except that CB wanted Peshawari naan and did not find it on the menu -- he got on just fine with his regular naan).  I always find myself customising my meal in Indian restaurants as of late, and they were more than happy to provide exactly what I wanted.  We were confused that there was a tasty chicken option on the early-bird menu (which we missed) that wasn't on the main menu, though I can't remember what exactly it was.  Best yet was that, after a warm and muggy day, they had an air conditioner!  I know, I know: I'm a spoiled American and my husband is an over-warm Irishman, but we like our cool air.


Tesco store, O'Connell Street, Sligo town
This entry is the one real oddball on my list because it is not a restaurant.  However, I can't speak on my time eating in Sligo without mentioning shopping at Tesco.  They had a great selection of gluten-free flours (even Bob's Red Mill!), mixes, sauces, breads, and other food-stuffs.  I found things I haven't been able to find anywhere up North.  In fact, we indulged a bit on some sourdough bread (well-sealed) and a box of deep-pan pizza bases to bring back home with us!  There were some mini baguettes from a gluten-free bakery in Cork (who knew?!) that made for great sandwiches for the days' adventures (believe it or not, we did more than eat!).

And, in case you were wondering why I'm so shocked at the gluten-free selection, this was the view from our bedroom window every morning!

pain perdu

Pain perdu is one of my favourite dishes because it reminds me of the French toast my mother used to make. It was a special treat that popped up on weekends, and, as I was never much of a breakfast fan, the combination of crunchy crust and soggy centers (not to mention maple syrup and powdered sugar) was enough to make me want a fully morning belly.

Ingredients:

1/2 stick butter

1 cup half and half

3 large eggs

2 tablespoons warmed honey

1/4 teaspoon kosher salt

8 slices of "real" bread (preferably a crusty loaf, like French or Italian), sliced at least 1/2 inch thick

Hardware:

bowl with cover (a plate will work fine)

oven/stove

draining rack

bread rack (or wire)

whisk

refrigerator

skillet

spatula

Day one directions:

Leave bread out overnight to dry. You can buy racks made specifically for this purpose, or you can make your own by twisting wire into a large spiral.

Whisk all ingredients, save bread and butter, together to form a custard. Cover loosely (a plate placed on top of the bowl works perfectly) and leave in refrigerator overnight.

Day two directions:

Pre-heat oven to 375°F/190°C. Place oven rack at middle or just above middle.

Drop bread slices into custard one at a time and allow each to soak for 30 seconds on each side. Allow each slice to rest for two minutes on a draining rack.

Heat skillet to medium low heat. Butter the skillet just enough to cover the bottom. Add each piece of bread to the skillet and brown on both sides. Extra butter may be used to coat pan in between slices.

Return bread to rack and place into the oven for five minutes.

Pain perdu can be enjoyed as is, or can be loaded up with syrups, fruits, sugar, whipped cream, etc.