Baking Zen, When We All Need It Most…

I have always found happiness in baking. I’ve also found comfort, solace, and a sort of zen in the familiar movements (measuring, kneading, rolling) of baking. It’s something primarily done alone, just with your thoughts or perhaps with your favorite music in the background. And then, of course, there is that moment when you take the cake (muffin, cookie, whatever) out of the oven and taste it. It could be an entirely new taste from something you’ve never made before. Or it could be a memory taste, from your childhood, or from a trip you took. Either way, it’s wonderful. And I always find joy in sharing my baked goods (I subscribe to the Dorie Greenspan theory of “bake and release.”).

This past week I felt the need to bake after hearing about the second mass shooting in our country in less than a week. I know you come to this blog for food-related stories, so I will not stray too far from that focus today. But I must say that when it is legal for an eighteen year old to buy a gun but not to buy cigarettes or alcohol, there is something seriously wrong with our country’s morals. So if you care about your children being able to sit in a classroom without fear, or for anyone to go grocery shopping, or go to a house of worship without fear of being gunned down, write/call/visit your elected representatives and beg them to vote for sensible, meaningful gun control. Thank you.

Have some very ripe bananas hanging around your fruit bowl? Make these muffins! They are deliciously moist and tender with a terrific cinnamon-crumb topping. I made them just as the recipe outlines, but next time I might add some chopped walnuts to the crumb topping for a little more texture. But they are absolutely wonderful as is. You may want to bake some this weekend to share with friends or family in need of a little baking love. We can all use it right about now.

Banana Crumb Muffins (King Arthur Flour)

Topping:

1/2 C AP flour

1/4 C sugar

1 t cinnamon

4 TB (1/2 stick) unsalted butter, room temp*

Muffins:

1-1/2 C AP flour

1 t baking soda

1 t baking powder

1/2 t salt

3 large, ripe bananas, mashed

3/4 C sugar

1 egg, slightly beaten

1/3 C butter, melted*

Directions:

1. Preheat oven to 375°F
2. For the topping, in a medium bowl, mix flour, sugar, and cinnamon. Add butter and mix with a fork or pastry cutter until crumbly. Put aside while preparing muffin batter.
3. For muffins, in large bowl, combine dry ingredients. Set aside.
4. In another bowl, combine mashed bananas, sugar, slightly beaten egg, and melted butter. Mix well. Stir into dry ingredients just until moistened.
5. Fill greased muffin cups 2/3 full (do not use paper muffin cups). Using hands, arrange coarse, pea-sized crumbs over muffin batter.
6. Bake for 18-20 minutes or until muffins test done with a cake tester. Cool in pan 10 minutes before removing to wire rack.

*The original recipe calls for butter or margarine, so feel free to use margarine if you prefer.

Cinnamon Crunch Banana Bread

 

Just the name alone of this bread makes me happy.  Cinnamon. Crunch. Banana. Hmmmm. Happiness.

The other day I discovered a container of mashed bananas in the freezer and while there are probably thousands of banana bread recipes on the "Google machine," I felt the need for something a little more interesting. This recipe from the ever-reliable NYT Cooking site fit the bill; the only thing I changed was to add chopped walnuts to the batter and the topping (I felt it needed more crunch). 

I'm sure you have your own library of ready-to-go banana bread recipes, but I must enthusiastically recommend this one. The ratio of bananas/cinnamon/crunch is perfect. The bread is super-moist and packed with deliciousness. It is a little on the sweet side due to the double sugars in the topping (I don't mind that, but you can probably reduce the sugar a bit if it's a concern for you). A bonus is that you don't need an electric mixer - just two mixing bowls, a whisk, a couple of spatulas, and a 9x5 loaf pan. My cake sank a bit on the top after baking, but other than that, it is fabulous.

So go forth and bake this bread! Or, as they say on the Great British Baking Show: Ready, Set, BAKE!

Cinnamon Crunch Banana Bread (NYT)

Ingredients for the batter:

Unsalted butter, for greasing

1-1/2 C all-purpose flour

1 C granulated sugar

1 t ground cinnamon

1 t baking soda

1/2 t kosher salt

1/2 C vegetable oil

2 large eggs

1/4 C honey

1 C mashed ripe bananas (2-3 medium bananas)

1/2 C chopped walnuts (my addition)

1/4 C warm water

Ingredients for the topping:

1/4 C brown sugar, preferably light brown or Demerara (I used light brown)

2 TB granulated sugar

1 t ground cinnamon

1/4 C chopped walnuts

Preparation:

1. Heat oven to 350 degrees. Butter a 9x5" loaf pan and line it with parchment or wax paper, leaving enough paper hanging over the sides to lift the cake out after baking. (This will prevent the topping from breaking when removing the bread from the pan.)

2. Prepare batter: in a medium bowl, combine flour, granulated sugar, cinnamon, baking soda, and salt. In a large bowl, using a sturdy whisk, beat together oil, eggs, and honey until smooth. Stir in bananas and warm water. Add dry ingredients to egg-oil mixture and stir to blend; stir in nuts. Pour batter into prepared pan.

3. Make topping: in small bowl, mix brown sugar, granulated sugar, cinnamon, and nuts, using your fingers to break up any lumps. Sprinkle evenly over batter.

4. Bake until a tester inserted in center comes out clean, about 1 hour, checking after 50 minutes. If topping shows signs of burning, reduce heat to 325 degrees.

5. Remove to a rack and let cool in pan for 30 minutes. Use edges of paper to lift cake up and out. Place on a rack (leave the paper on) and let cool before slicing and serving.

RECIPEinaFLASH: Gluten-free Banana Bread

Have a few over-ripe bananas in your fruit bowl? Are you (or a friend or loved one) on a gluten-free diet? I've got your perfect Sunday afternoon recipe right here! Courtesy of The Kittchen, I whipped this up in no time last weekend.

Bursting with (to borrow a wine term) "fruit-forward" banana flavor, I loved the texture it gets from almond meal and chopped walnuts.

I made a couple of tweaks to the original recipe. Rather than traditional brown sugar, I used Whey-Low's Gold Brown Sugar Replacement, and when serving it, I dusted the top with their powdered sugar replacement to make this an "almost" totally guilt-free dessert. Scatter a few sweet berries on the plate for good measure, and voila!

Have a great Sunday!

Print original recipe here.

Food 52 "Bestest" Banana Bread

Happy Weekend, Cooks Tour readers! Hope all is well in your part of the world. Here in New Jersey, we have been in a malaise of continuous cold and rain and gray for about two weeks. But the local weather people tell me that we are about to turn the corner - sun and warmer temps on the way tomorrow!

In honor of a good day to stay in and bake something warm and cozy, I chose something from the terrific Baking book from the wonderful writers and bloggers over at Food 52. 

I’ve baked (and written about) banana breads before here and here. And I was a little late in purchasing this book but I finally got around to it and spent a recent lazy afternoon paging through one great recipe after another. So today when I realized that two bananas were past their prime, I immediately went to this book for a recipe. I threw in a handful of toasted, chopped walnuts to add some crunch (good move!), and slathered some butter on it this morning to enjoy with my coffee. I think cream cheese would also be a delicious option! And maybe a sprinkle of cinnamon and sea salt...just sayin'

Are you looking for an easy (I mean, really, this could not be any easier) and delicious banana bread recipe? This is for you, my friends. 

Happy #SaturdayBaking!

Print recipe here.

Recipe in a Flash: Facebook Snack Bars

This recipe comes from a photo posted on Facebook with no recipe name (hence, the title of this post).  But, man, are they good!  And pretty good for you.  They couldn't be easier -- mash up some bananas in a bowl, add the rest of the ingredients, and toss into a baking dish.  Twenty minutes later, Facebook Snack Bars!

3 mashed ripe bananas

1/3 C apple sauce
2 C oats (not instant)
1/4 C almond milk
1/2 C raisins
1 tsp vanilla
1 tsp cinnamon
1/2 C chopped walnuts

Preheat oven to 350. Grease an 8" square baking dish. Combine all ingredients in bowl, mix thoroughly. Add mixture to baking dish. Bake 20 minutes.

Print recipe

Enjoy!

Late to the Party

The cupcake party, that is.  I know cupcakes have been all the rage in the food world for the last couple of years but I never really got on that bandwagon.  I like cupcakes as much as the next person, but I've never considered myself the kind of person who has to follow along blindly behind the leader of the foodie trend train.  


A few weeks ago, I needed a small amount of buttermilk for a recipe. And, of course, you cannot buy, say a half-pint, or pint, of buttermilk. Noooooo, it's only sold in your regulation quart size. But I figured I would use up the rest of it somehow.  Which brings me to Martha Stewart. Something else I was never caught up in. But I got this great deal for a subscription to Martha Stewart Living with a freebie subscription to her cute little Everyday Food magazine.  How could I pass this up?  In my first issue (March 2010) there was a full page ad for "Cupcakes Galore," a web gallery overflowing with delicious-sounding, and luscious-looking cupcakes.  But I didn't want to make giant cupcakes.  I wanted just a delightful, bite-sized, pop-the-whole-thing-into-your-mouth, cupcake.  And there they were: Mini-Carrot Cake Cupcakes!  They looked fabulous and they had that all-important ingredient - buttermilk. Luckily, a friend was having a belated Valentine's Day brunch and asked me to bring a dessert - hello, cupcake!  For such a small item, they were a huge hit!  That's them in the photo at the top. They are chock full of raisins, cinnamon, and carrots (natch), but I think what really set them apart from the rest of the cupcake crowd, was the maple cream cheese frosting.  With a generous tablespoon of pure maple syrup and a sprinkling of shredded coconut, the flavor melding with the carrot cake was deluxe!  I was hooked.


Well, now I was on this cupcake high and needed more.  I scoured the web for mini cupcake recipes, but nothing spoke to me.  Back to Martha I went and she saved the day.  Banana Buttermilk Cupcakes with Caramel Buttercream was the answer to my cupcake habit because I still had buttermilk in the refrigerator and perfectly ripe bananas on my counter. It was like the perfect storm.  I altered the recipe a bit, though. Since I had leftover maple cream cheese frosting from the first batch, I utilized that.  And this recipe was for full-size cupcakes, so I simply altered the baking time to accommodate mini-cupcakes.  These were even better than the carrot cupcakes, I think, because they were made with sifted cake flour (instead of all-purpose flour), which made them lighter than air.  Here they are in the photo below, all dressed up and ready to go!

Yeah, I was late to the party but I'm on board now!  How about you?  What's your favorite cupcake?


Print Carrot Cake Recipe Here!


Print Banana Buttermilk Recipe Here!


Print Basic Cupcake How-To Here!


Print Maple Cream Cheese Frosting Here!


Carrot Cupcakes

A Very Culinary Weekend

Whew! I am exhausted. What a busy weekend it was, culinarily-speaking. I've got two restaurants for you AND two recipes! What more could you ask for? And how about that photo above of the gorgeous maple tree that lives down the street from me? Every year when it starts to turn that deep, beautiful orange, and the ground around it is blanketed with the fallen leaves, I think, "I should really snap a photo of that tree." Of course I never do. Until today. And I'm so glad I did because it epitomizes the fall season for me, and now I've captured it for posterity.

On to the food! The weekend began with dinner at LuNello in Cedar Grove, NJ. Some of you may recognize this restaurant from an episode of Real Housewives of New Jersey. Those of you who don't, count yourselves lucky to have missed it (the show, that is). But don't let LuNello's association with this show deter you from enjoying a fine meal.

LuNello's is more formal in nature, in both decor and food. Waiters in tuxedos are very gracious, and service was very good. They recite a list of about 30 specials and all except one of our meals came from the regular menu. I loved my meal - Short Ribs over Fresh Pappardelle, in a delicious brown sauce that reminded me so much of my husband's outstanding brisket. The minute I spotted Pappardelle with Porcini and Oyster Mushrooms, I knew it would be Barry's choice. Ever since we were in Italy October 2006, Barry has been craving fresh porcini and pasta, which you don't find on many menus in the US. It did not disappoint - tender porcini mushrooms scattered among the fresh pasta.

If there is any area that LuNello's falls short, it's dessert. We ordered the Ricotta Cheesecake and Tiramisu. Both very average. But a nice touch presented during dessert, was the offering of house-made miniature ice cream cones. If you go, skip the dessert menu, wait for the cones.

Saturday night brought me to Fiorino's in Summit. This was the polar opposite of LuNello's in atmosphere, decor, and clientele. A warm, inviting space in downtown Summit, Fiorino's offers outstanding cuisine. My meal began with a Baby Arugula Salad with Toasted Pine Nuts and Goat Cheese - sublime. Everything on the menu sounded wonderful but for my main course I went with the recommendation of my friend and dining companion. Every time she visits Fiorino's she must have the Rigatoni Bolognese (it's not even on the regular menu). Now this may sound plebian to you, but a well made Bolognese sauce is not to be missed. This version lived up to my expectations. Husky chunks of a veal, pork, beef ragu strewn over fat rigatoni, accompanied by a quartino of a deep, delicious Rosso di Montalcino. We shared a dessert that perfectly suited my fall state of mind:

Warm Apple Strudel with Caramel Wild Berry Compote and Butter Pecan Gelato - crisp, firm apples swirled with a very delicate caramel sauce and outstanding gelato. Meals don't get much better than this, my friends.

So after all that dining about on Friday and Saturday, Sunday was definitely a stay at home kind of day. It was rainy and cold in NJ - perfect baking weather. But since I totally indulged at the aforementioned meals, I felt the need to slim down my baked goods. But these certainly didn't taste like "slimmed-down" foods! Cho-nana Bread (from the Chobani Yogurt web site) and Pumpkin Crunch (from Canyon Ranch) were flavorful and easy. The Pumpkin Crunch is a very versatile little treat with only 125 calories in 1/4 cup - it folds very nicely into yogurt, as a crunchy topping to your morning cereal, or just as a mid-afternoon snack. And the banana bread is super moist, thanks to the yogurt and applesauce base; only 210 calories per serving.

You won't go wrong with these two recipes - plenty of taste, no guilt!

Printable Recipe

Pumpkin Crunch

1 C pumpkin seeds

1-1/2 t canola oil

1/2 t cinnamon

1/2 t nutmeg

1/4 t allspice

1/2 t sea salt

2 TB maple syrup

1-1/4 C dried cranberries

Preheat oven to 300 degrees. Lightly spray a baking sheet with canola oil. In a small bowl, toss pumpkin seeds with canola oil and evenly spread coated seeds on baking sheet. Roast for 20 minutes or until almost dry.

Place pumpkin seeds in a medium bowl and mix in maple syrup until coated. Combine spices in a large bowl and add pumpkin seeds. Place back on baking sheet and return to oven. Roast for 15 minutes or until dry. Be sure not to burn. Set seeds aside until completely cool, for about 30 minutes. In a large bowl, combine seeds with dried cranberries.

Printable Recipe

Cho-nana Bread

3/4 C all-purpose flour

3/4 C whole-wheat flour

1 t baking soda

1/2 t salt

2 TB butter

1/2 C natural applesauce (no sugar added)

3/4 C sugar

2 large eggs

1 t vanilla extract

3 large overripe bananas

1/2 C Chobani plain 0% Greek Yogurt

1/2 C walnuts, toasted and chopped (optional)

1/2 C semi-sweet chocolate chips (optional)

Grease large loaf pan. Preheat oven to 350F. In a small bowl, stir together flours, baking soda, and salt.

Peel bananas. Cut each in half lengthwise and then cut each half into halves. Chop quartered bananas into 2-inch pieces. Set aside.

In a large bowl, cream butter and sugar into a smooth paste. Add applesauce and vanilla, and mix until combined. Add eggs one at a time, and beat until incorporated.

Add flour mixture to wet ingredients, and mix well. Add chopped bananas, nuts and/or chocolate chips and yogurt.

Fold ingredients in, being careful not to bread up banana chunks. Bake at 350F for 1 hour or until inserted knife comes out clean when removed from loaf.

"Credit Munch"

n. - Recession-induced comfort eating.

From the U.K. Daily Express (May 11, 2009): "Stressed-out Britons have piled on 20 million stone in a year trying to "comfort eat" their way through the recession, according to [a] report out today. The condition - dubbed the credit munch - has seen three in five Britons put on weight in the past 12 months."

I don't know about you, but I don't really need the current economic crisis to force me into eating my favorite comfort foods. But, then again, I'm not a stress eater. I'm a stress baker. And I find I'm doing ALOT of baking lately (thank you, bankers and mortgage brokers of America). So to try and offset the frequency of baking, I am baking low-fat items (notice I didn't say low-taste items - I can't deal with that). Last week, if you recall, I made that delicious low-fat Banana Oatmeal Bread. Today, I baked some very tasty, low-fat, Carrot-Raisin Muffins. These are from the WebMD Magazine. They are only 130 calories and have less than 4 grams of fat, and with the carrots, raisins, and yogurt, you get a nice helping of vitamin A and iron. The recipe is below - try them when you need a credit-munch!

Carrot-Raisin Muffins

2 C all-purpose flour

1/2 C sugar

2 t baking soda

1 t ground cinnamon

1/8 t ground nutmeg

1/4 t salt

1/2 C fat-free yogurt

1/4 C canola oil

1/4 C 1% low-fat milk

1 t vanilla extract

2 large eggs

2 C shredded carrots

1/2 C raisins

Preheat oven to 350 degrees. Place the muffin cup liners in muffin cups. Set aside.

Combine flour, sugar, baking soda, spices, and salt in large below; stir to mix. In a separate bowl, combine yogurt, oil, milk, vanilla, and eggs, and whisk to combine. Add liquid ingredients to flour mixture, and gently stir just until combined (do not over-mix). Lightly stir in carrots and raisins.

Spoon batter into muffin cups and bake for 20-25 minutes. Test doneness by inserting a toothpick that comes out clean. Remove from oven and cool on wire rack. Makes 18 servings (serving size: 1 muffin).

BTW: this recipe makes regular size muffins, not the giant style that you might find in retail shops.

A Virtual Dine-Around

Greetings, Culinary Friends.

I've got so much to write about today I just don't know where to begin! This will sort of be like those old-fashioned "dine-arounds," but rather than restaurants, we'll do quick stops at a few different topics. How does that sound?

First up: Friday night, we went "down neck" with some friends. Now, for those of you not from north Jersey (and not familiar with local slang), "down neck" refers to the Ironbound section of Newark. This section was once populated mostly by Italian immigrants (including some of my ancestors), but in the early 70s, a large influx of Portuguese arrived. With their arrival, came small restaurants focusing on fresh seafood and traditional Portuguese food. I haven't been to this section of Newark (let alone almost any part of Newark other than the airport) in about 25 years. So it was good to see the Ironbound alive with restaurants and activity on a pleasant spring evening.

We ate at Seabra's Marisqueira. I felt like I left the US and was indeed in Portugal. From the beautiful sea-blue tiles that cover the walls, to the wonderful Portuguese bread, to the waiters serving us, it was an authentic experience. It was recommended that we try their house specialty, Pork with Clams (photo above). I've never had clams as sweet. All around, a delicious evening. BTW: I have no idea what "down neck" means. If anyone knows, please write in!

Next stop on our dine-around: Low-Fat Oatmeal Banana Bread. Tooling around the various blogs that I read, I happened upon this terrific recipe from Joy the Baker. I actually wasn't planning to bake anything Sunday night, but when I read this recipe (see below) I quickly remembered that I had three very ripe bananas sitting on my counter. And, it looked easy (remember my rule?). De-lish!

Next: so much for low-fat. Today, my friend Melissa brought me a surprise bag from her excellent Mother's day brunch adventure to Brooklyn. Melissa took her mother and grandmother to Sweet Melissa Patisserie. Melissa (the bakery one) is the award-winning author and baker. Melissa (my friend) shares my love of sweets and brought me an incredible, to-die-for, little bag of Chocolate-Orange Macaroons. If you live anywhere near Brooklyn, and have a penchant for fine baked goods, you must visit Sweet Melissa.

Rounding out our trip are two stories from the May 18th issue of Time Magazine. The first is a terrific article by the always amusing Joel Stein as he reviews a new book about eating locally and America's culinary heritage - a virtual Americana dine-around.

The second article has nothing to do with food, but you should read it anyway. It's titled "Do-It-Yourself Heroes," written by Nancy Gibbs, probably one of the most gifted writers out there. In this piece, Gibbs eloquently tells us that in "tough times, the virtues that inspire us are old-fashioned, unglamorous and hiding in plain sight." Among others, she calls out Captain Richard Phillips, Susan Boyle (she of Britain's Got Talent recent fame), and Barack Obama. Ordinary heroes doing the extraordinary.

I hope you enjoyed our little tour. Come back next week to see where our travels take us.

Low Fat Oatmeal Banana Bread (Joy the Baker)

adapted from the Weight Watchers site

makes 1 loaf of 10 slices, 4 points per slice

- 1 1/4 cup all-purpose flour
-

- 1/2 cup packed brown sugar
-

- 1/2 tsp salt
-

- 1/2 tsp baking soda
-

- 1/4 tsp baking powder
-

- 1/2 tsp cinnamon
-

- 3 tsp canola or walnut oil
-

- 1 large egg, beaten
-

- 2 medium egg whites, beaten
-

- 3 large bananas, ripe
-

- 1 cup uncooked old fashioned oats

Preheat oven to 350°F. Grease and flour a loaf pan and set aside. In a large bowl, stir together dry ingredients including the oats and cinnamon.

In a smaller bowl, mash bananas with a potato masher or fork. Add oil and whole egg and mix thoroughly.

Add the wet ingredients to the dry and mix well. Batter will be fairly thick.

In a medium sized bowl, with an electric hand mixer, beat the egg whites until medium stiff peaks form. Fold the egg whites into the batter in three additions.

Pour batter into pan and bake until top of loaf is firm to touch, 45 to 50 minutes. Remove from oven and allow to cool in pan for 5 minutes. Flip out and cool on a wire rack for another 10 minutes. Slice loaf into 10 equally sized slices.

A Variety of Topics

It's been awhile, but I've been busy gathering all sorts of food and restaurant data for you, my dear readers. Let's see, over the past two weeks I've visited 2 restaurants (one really good, one pretty good); cooked up a Lentil soup, and just today, baked a Banana Bread (photo above, hot out of the oven still in it's parchment paper wrapping). So it will be a jam-packed posting with varied topics, hopefully of interest to you.

I think I'll begin with the restaurants (in all honesty, there were a few more restaurants within that two week period, but I believe we should focus on the really good ones). Let's start with Saturday night's venture to Arturo's in Maplewood, NJ. Arturo's is located on a prime corner in adorable Maplewood. It is primarily a pizza shop but on Saturday nights, diners can opt for the tasting menu and embark upon Chef Dan Richter's flights of whimsy. This week's tasting consisted of eight courses for $50 per person (not unreasonable, we thought, when initially making the reservation). I had some hesitation about a tasting menu due to their usually small portions, but I figured eight courses should satisfy even Barry. Unfortunately, I had no idea how small these would be...let me clearly state that the food was delicious and there were plenty of "yummy" sounds emanating from our table. But when I tell you that one of the courses (scallops crudo in a Sicilian olive oil with watercress garnish) was exactly one scallop sliced micro-thin into four slices for the two of us to share, you get an idea of the size of these plates. Another course, foie gras ravioli, was served two on a plate, about 1 inch each. The server actually said to us when she laid the plate in front of us "that's for you to share." Other courses consisted of house-cured, paper thin pork shoulder, excellent beef carpaccio, and a delicious version of Tuscan ribolitto soup. The main course was a braised chicken leg served with one strand (I'm not kidding you) of broccoli rabe and two small, very creamy, Fingerling potatoes. A cheese course was served next with their homemade Farmer's cheese. The dessert course was a Panna Cotta with a very nice chocolate sauce. Now you may be thinking "hmmm...that sounds like alot of food," but trust me, I managed to eat every morsel of every course. My husband wanted to order a pizza to go as he was starving when we left. Of course, by that time we had been there three hours (!) having sat through what must be the slowest service in history. There's leisurely and then there's ridiculous. As I mentioned earlier, the food was delicious, but for $50/pp, I expect cloth napkins and flatware that wasn't borrowed from Folsom Prison. Oh, I also expect adequate portions - tasting or no tasting. I'm just sayin'...

But on Sunday night, all cylinders were firing (but not the pizza oven) at La Pizza Fresca in NYC. My friend, Noreen, found this listing of authentic Neapolitan pizzerias in the US and as NYC is only about 20 minutes away, we thought a trip was in order. We love pizza and if there is a chance to have real Neapolitan pizza close to home, we're on it. As it was a Sunday, we decided to have an early dinner so we arrived (after sailing through the Lincoln Tunnel and finding a parking spot on the street) about 5:30 (they opened at 5pm). We were so disappointed when the lovely hostess/ bartender told us that the pizza chef was delayed so there would be no pizza until 7:30! We were crushed - our hopes of authentic Neapolitan pizza dashed. We considered going elsewhere for dinner (we were in Manhattan, after all, in the Flatiron district), but after perusing the menu over a glass of Sangiovese, we opted to stay. And were we glad we did.

First of all, to appease us for the lack of pizza, the hostess brought us a plate of absolutely delicious and creamy mozzarella with ripe tomatoes and fresh basil. It just got better from there. Noreen and I both ordered the Grilled Calamari Salad, which was fabulous - large, fat, perfectly grilled squid nestled in mixed greens with Gaeta olives. Another primi thoroughly enjoyed was Barbabietole e Gorgonzola (beet salad, Gorgonzola cheese, pine nuts).

For mains, I had the hostess' recommendation of Rigatoni with Veal Polpetti (little meatballs) with San Marzano tomato (the meatballs were so delicate), Noreen had possibly the world's lightest gnocchi, my husband had the soup special (creamy, light, butternut squash), and Doug enjoyed Rigatoni alla Siciliana (eggplant, fresh mozzarella, San Marzano tomato). Dessert was also a cut above - authentic tira mi su and a mini chocolate souffle. The service was (as it should be) unnoticeable.

On the way out, we spoke to a woman who is a regular - she vouched for the pizza, saying it is outstanding. She also told us that on Sunday nights, the regular chef is off. A valuable tip for our next trip - this time definitely for the pizza.

I should also mention one of the other restaurants visited in the last couple of weeks was Gianna's in Carlstadt, NJ. No time to review here but it is an excellent "red sauce" Italian restaurant (the Bolognese sauce is wonderful).

Are you still with me? We'll wrap up quickly now with a recipe for Banana Bread with Cinnamon Crumble Topping (I'm skipping the lentil soup recipe as it wasn't all I had hoped for). This is from one of my favorite food writers, Molly Wizenberg, who writes the wonderful blog, Orangette. This is so different from other banana breads because it has this fabulous crunchy topping of cinnamon and brown sugar, that kind of crystallizes on the top of the bread. If you've got some past-their-prime bananas, put them to good use with this recipe.

I was inspired because of a food writing course I am taking. Our assignment was to write about a food (the feel, touch, smell, taste of it) - my choice was the everyday fruit, the ubiquitous banana. Ah, but when you really see the banana for the first time, it's not so everyday. Do me a favor: the next time you have a banana, really look at it - it's small, compact, it travels well, it's good both raw and cooked - pretty near perfect, wouldn't you agree?

Banana Bread with Cinnamon Crumble Topping

1-1/2 C all-purpose flour

1 C sugar

1 tsp ground cinnamon

1 tsp baking soda

1/2 t salt

1 cup mashed ripe banana (about 3 medium)

2 large eggs

1/2 C vegetable oil

1/4 C honey

1/4 C water

Topping:

2 TB sugar

1 t ground cinnamon

2-1/2 TB packed dark brown sugar

Preheat oven to 350 F. Butter and flour a 9x5 inch metal loaf pan (alternatively, you can spray the pan lightly with cooking spray, then line it with parchment paper, letting the excess hang over the sides - this makes it very easy to remove the bread from the pan after baking).

In a medium bowl, whisk together the flour, sugar, cinnamon, baking soda, and salt. In a large bowl, whisk together the bananas, eggs, oil, honey, and water. Add the dry ingredients to the wet ingredients, and stir well. Scrape the batter into the prepared pan.

In a small bowl, mix together the topping ingredients. Sprinkle evenly over the batter.

Bake the bread until a tester inserted into its center comes out clean, about 1 hour, give or take a little. Cool the bread in the pan on a wire rack for 30 minutes. Then carefully remove the bread from the pan, taking care not to dislodge the topping. Cool completely before slicing. Makes 1 loaf.

Granola Bars for Adults

Breaking news...finally, someone has developed granola bars for adults. Through the generosity of the folks at FoodBuzz, I received some samples of Quaker Oats new granola bars - OMG - let me tell you, these are wonderful. They are called True Delights (and what a perfect name that is); there are three flavors - Toasted Coconut Banana Macadamia Nut, Honey Roasted Cashew Mixed Berry, and Dark Chocolate Raspberry Almond. Do those sound heavenly, or what?  I restrained myself and only sampled the Toasted Coconut flavor tonight. It was fabulous. I just had to write immediately so you could get in on this, too.

Do yourself a favor - follow the link above to the True Delights site and sign up for a free sample. You'll be glad you did.

Pork Fat Rules!

Happy New Year!  I hope you had a delicious New Year's Eve and Day.

Astute readers will recall that my traditional New Year's Day menu calls for Hoppin' John (the recipe was posted in my December 26 blog). And true to my word, I did whip up a batch today.  I was going to make this yesterday (New Year's Eve) just in case I wasn't "up to the challenge" today, but our New Year's Eve plans got re-routed due to the weather and I didn't get to it yesterday.  So after a lazy start this morning I set about to get this on the stove. 

Non-meat eating readers should skip the next paragraph and jump to the salad...although the title of this post was probably a pretty good indication of what was to come.

Yesterday during the snow storm, we ran around gathering up the remaining ingredients - some of which you see pictured above. There are a couple of wonderful butchers in the area (Haledon Pork Store and Stefan and Son Butcher in Clifton) and that's where we headed to get the andouille and smoked ham.  In addition, we bought a small piece of smoked, cooked bacon on the bone to saute the onions and celery in. These meats were incredible and really gave the Hoppin' John a wonderful, smoky flavor.  The house smelled di-vine!  There really is nothing like the aroma of sizzling pork fat cooking on the stove.

All we needed to go along with the Hoppin' John was a nice green salad.  I had some lovely Bosc pears that were just perfect for a pear, pecan salad-type thing. I found a great recipe (see below) on the web. I didn't have the goat or blue cheese called for and I wasn't running out for it in 17 degree weather. It also called for endive - wasn't going out for that either. The salad was great without either of these items.

We served a hearty Zinfandel with dinner (7 Deadly Zins), some delicious Polish rye bread from Stefan and Sons, and for dessert an Almond Banana Bread (thanks to Joy the Baker (www.joythebaker.com). When I was rooting around yesterday for a recipe, I really wasn't thinking of needing a dessert for New Year's Day. I just wanted to use up the four very ripe bananas on my counter (rather than freezing them, which is what I usually do with our over-ripe bananas). Love this recipe - a) no mixer required, b) it uses melted butter so you don't need to wait for the butter to come to room temp, c) it calls for bourbon. Need I say more?  Recipe below.

May 2009 bring you health, happiness, and fabulous food!

Pear, Endive, and Caramelized Pecan Salad

2 endives

a nice handful of green salad medley, such as mesclun or mache (I used Bibb)

2 red Anjou pears

3.5 oz fresh goat cheese or blue cheese

1/3 C pecan halves

2 TB butter

dash of cinnamon

1 TB honey

Vinaigrette

1.5 TB balsamic vinegar

3 TB walnut oil

salt, pepper

Preheat oven to 385F.  Take a non-stick frying pan and melt 1 TB butter. Coat the nuts in it and add 1 TB honey. Continue to coat for 1-2 minutes. Place pecans on a baking sheet and cook for about 10 minutes in oven, checking to be sure they don't turn too dark. Place on a cooling rack.

Wash, peel, core the pears. Cut in quarters and then cut once more in half. Coat them gently in cinnamon. Heat 1 TB butter in non-stick frying pan and cook the pears over high heat for 1-2 minutes each side. Remove and keep on the side.

Wash the endive and salad greens. Dice the cheese. Remove the cone base of the endive and their yellow leafy parts. Cut them in long sticks. Place the endive sticks and salad in a bowl and season with the vinaigrette. Toss well. 

Take individual plates and assemble your salad. Lay the salad greens on the plate, then add a few slices of pear, the pecans, and cheese. Serve immediately.

Almond Banana Bread

3-4 ripe bananas, smashed

1/3 C melted butter (or in a 1/3 measuring cup measure out half almond oil and half melted butter)

3/4 C brown sugar

1 egg, beaten

1 t vanilla

1 TB bourbon

1 t baking soda

pinch of salt

1 t cinnamon

1/2 t nutmeg

pinch of ground cloves

1-1/2 C flour

3/4 C coarsely chopped almonds

No mixer required. Preheat oven to 350F. With a wooden spoon, mix butter (and almond oil if using it) into the smashed bananas in a large mixing bowl. Mix in the sugar, egg, vanilla, and bourbon, then the spices. Sprinkle the baking soda and salt over the mixture and mix in. Add the flour, mix. Add the almonds and stir until just incorporated. Pour mixture into a buttered 4x8 inch loaf pan. Bake for 1 hour. Cool on a rack. Remove from pan and slice to serve.