Banana Bread

Banana Bread? Yes, please! 

Happy Monday!! 

I have tried many banana bread recipes...too many to count...

I never had success... 

I mean the banana breads would get too dark, too fast and have a soggy middle. Other banana bread recipes I tried would get hard and dry. FRUSTRATING!!  Banana bread has been a baking nemesis for me. It truly sounds silly but I have wanted to master baking banana bread for a long time! 

And then....FINALLY!!! 

For years now this has been my go to recipe. Simple, easy to make, and has a nice balance. I use a fork or spoon to mix this recipe I don't recall where I got the original recipe but I made some minor modifications anyways. 

I bought some bananas and have been waiting for them to ripen so I may share this recipe with you.

Ingredients List

2 or 3 ripe bananas, mashed

1/3 cup salted butter, melted

3/4 cup sugar

1 egg 

1 teaspoon vanilla

1/2 teaspoon baking soda

1 1/2 cups all purpose flour

Directions

Preheat oven to 350 degrees. 

In a small or medium sized bowl, smash the bananas and mix in the melted butter. Then add in the sugar, egg, and vanilla. Lastly, mix in the baking soda and then the flour.

**Pour mixture into a greased 4x8 inch loaf pan. Bake 45 minutes to 1 hour. I use the toothpick test to double check if the loaf is ready.

TIPS:

**If you want a wider loaf use a 6x8 pan. This is great for small bars vs slices. 

I nearly wrote this is a fool proof recipe, and it can be if you double check your ingredients! Though there are not many; don't forget to add the baking soda. I made this mistake once and it does not turn out well. Do not add the baking soda once the batter is already in the pan and just swirl it in. The baking soda does not mix in evenly. Once baked like this, I saw brown swirls and swirl patches taste of straight baking soda! If you noticed you've forgotten the baking soda, I'd suggest remove the batter from the pan and place back into your bowl to remix. Re-wash your pan, grease, and re-pour your batter for baking.

Cooking From The Heart /Pierogi Sauce

"real home cooking is like a fine art: it is hard to define, but we know it when we see it... it is the most personal and satisfying style of cooking we know.  home cooking stresses finesse over fancy techniques.  it calls for ingredients close at hand... simplicity is a hallmark of home cooking, and so is adaptability: if a dish calls for six loves of garlic and you only have one, if the recipe requires a tablespoon of tomato paste and you're all out, if you're supposed to use lemon juice but you've got only oranges, you cook anyway, and you end up making something good."

~ Nancy Harmon Jenkins, SAVEUR January/February 2009 #117

A 5-star gourmet chef lives in the apartment above me.  He is my brother-in-law and he frequently passes along secrets from various prestigious kitchens he's worked in.  This creation below was one of them...sort of.  I used what I had on hand for the Pierogi that he got for us from his Russian cook friend).  Of course, my upstair chef neighbor usually uses fresh ingredients and has obvious more-skilled techniques, but there's always a place in this world for the home cook.

Tangy, earthly, salty, not his exact recipe, because he never remembers what it is. I could easily mistake this for Cream of Wild Mushroom Soup. MMM!

PIEROGI SAUCE

• 2 cloves garlic, minced (mine were frozen)
• 2 Tbsp unsalted butter
• 1 tsp extra vigrin olive oil (mine was cheap)
• 1 tsp dry parsley
• 1/2 tsp dry thyme
• two handfuls dried wild mushrooms, roughly chopped (he would've used fresh herbs & mushrooms)
• 2 Tbsp dark balsamic vinegar
• 1.5 cups chicken broth (he would've made his own slow-simmered homemade chicken stock from scratch)
• 3 Tbsp cup heavy cream
• salt

1. slowly brown garlic, herbs, and mushrooms in butter & oil over low/simmer flame for 5 minutes
2. add vinegar and stir for a minute
3. add chicken broth/stock and simmer for 3 hours (or, in chef language: Reduce)
4. add cream and purée
5. salt to taste
6. Find some Russian pierogis that are freshly baked and pour the sauce over (or bake refrigerated ones in the sauce at 350ºF, 20-30 minutes, like I'm going to tonight).

Italian Meatball Soup

This soup is a little labor-intensive, but your tastebuds won't regret it!

THE SOUP BASE:

2 Tbsp extra virgin olive oil
1 large Vidalia onion, chopped
2 large carrots, chopped
4-6 cloves garlic, finely chopped
1 tsp dry oregano
2 tsp dry basil
1 Tbsp dry parsley
*Heat oil in large saucepan over med to med-high flame. Sauté above ingredients in oil until soft/onion turns translucent.

2 cups vegetable stock (or chicken, if you don't have any veg stock on hand).

*Add liquid slowly, stirring.  Scrape bottom of pan until brown bits are combined.

2 cups favorite hearty salad greens, roughly chopped (I used: broccoli, Brussels sprouts, red & green cabbage, kale, & chicory)

1 can (15 oz?) butter beans/lima beans

1 quart (or 24 oz?) jar/can stewed tomatoes WITH their juice

1 cup/8 oz. beef broth/stock

at least 1 tsp. garlic powder

salt to taste (1-3 Tbsp???)

*Add above ingredients, stir to break of tomatoes.  Simmer on low flame while you make the meatballs. Stir occasionally if needed.

THE MEATBALLS:

1 lb. ground beef

1 egg

2 cloves garlic, minced

1/4 cup bread crumbs

1/4 cup grated parmesan

(although, i think i might double this next time. i found myself wanting more meatballs).

*Mix together above ingredients.  Form meatballs, 1 heaping Tbsp each, size of golf ball.  Bake in 350ºF oven for 30 minutes, then add to soup.

Voilà!

Chef's Hint: the longer you simmer this soup (with meatballs), the better it tastes.  About 3-4 hours seems right about perfect, if you ask me.

Baked Crab Wontons

Tonight's appetizer...

Baked Crab Wontons

Ingredient list:

4 oz cream cheese

1 generous tsp minced garlic

1/4 tsp soy sauce

1/4 tsp worcestershire sauce

1/4 tsp onion powder

2 sprigs of green onion thinly sliced

3-4 imitation crab sticks sliced/chopped

Wonton wrappers

Directions:

Preheat oven to 350 degrees. 

Soften the cream cheese for about 20 seconds in the microwave or leave out until room temperature.

Slice green onions. Dice the crab sticks and set aside.

Add the following ingredients to the cream cheese and mix together: minced garlic, soy sauce, worcestershire sauce, onion powder, green onions, and then crab.

Spray the mini cupcake pan (or pan of your choice) with cooking spray.

Place a generous teaspoon of the mixture on the wonton wrapper. Fold corner to corner, corner to corner again, and a slight pinch or twist to the top. Place in mini cupcake pan. Once completed, lightly spray the wontons with cooking spray. This will help them crisp up. 

Makes about 15. 

Bake at 350 degrees for 13-15 minutes until lightly browned. 

We eat these alone and sometimes serve with sweet chili sauce. 

TIPS:

If you don't like crab, there is another option that I like as well. Leave out the crab, soy sauce, and Worcestershire sauce. Most times I do half with crab and half without (using then the full block of cream cheese).

These are a great item to prepare ahead of time and freeze in an air tight container. Take out the desired about you want to bake. Be sure to spray the pan and the wontons before placing in the oven. 

Some pictures of my prep...

Vietnamese Pork Lettuce Wraps

This is a beloved family recipe.  My husband would be at a loss without it.  It is his comfort food; something he grew up on.  My mother-in-law acquired it by trading English lessons with Nguyet Tran for her recipes when my husband was just a toddler.  In the family cookbook, my mother-in-law writes, 

"Nguyet & Dr. Tran escaped from Viet Nam just before the fall of Saigon.  They left with only Dr. Tran's eyeglasses and his medical diploma."  

I am beside myself with this rich piece of history that touches my own little family.

These Lettuce Wraps are completely at the mercy of the Fish Sauce.  It is THE flavor of the entire dish.  My husband probably drinks it when no one is looking. But that bottle of "fish sauce" you see at the grocery store isn't "prepared".  You need to add some other ingredients...

FISH SAUCE

Fish Sauce *make this the day before to let the flavors combine

• The juice and pulp from one lemon
• 5 Tbsp sugar
• 1/3 cup fish sauce
• 1/3 cup water
• one jalapeńo, sliced horizontally into circles

Vietnamese Pork

• thinly sliced pork, skewered and grilled
• green onions
• cucumbers
• Asian glass noodles, cooked
• carrot sticks, thinly sliced
• bean sprouts
• red or green romaine lettuce

*Wrap pork and vegetables in lettuce. Dip in fish sauce.

A Happy Husband

Chicken Thighs Slow Roasted w/ Sage-Rosemary Butter

You know how there's Chicken-Fried Steak?  Yeah, well, I call this Turkey-Roasted Chicken.  It pays homage to Tyler Florence's Thanksgiving Turkey Special that I saw years and years ago.

Ingredient List:

• 1 stick (1/2 cup) unsalted butter
• 1 tsp ground sage
• 1/4 tsp ground rosemary
• 1/2 tsp salt
• 4 chicken thighs
• 2 Tbsp maple syrup
• 1/2 cup water

Directions:

• Preheat oven to 300ºF
• thoroughly blend the sage, rosemary, salt and butter
• evenly spread the butter underneath the skins of the chicken thighs
• place the chicken on a rack over a baking sheet
• mix the maple syrup and water and drizzle a small amount (1-2 Tbsp) over each skin (I use a baster).
• Continue to baste the chicken with the liquid & its own juices (from the bottom of the pan) every 30 minutes or so
• Roast for 2 - 2.5 hours

Serve with your favorite sides like potatoes, green beans, salad, etc.  Tastes like Thanksgiving!