Jordana Banana Bakes

Monday, February 10, 2014

The last place I visited my dear friend Dorit was Ecuador in 2010, where she was teaching English, German and Italian. I promised to hand-carry a jar of maple syrup for her. And of course, along with the syrup, I was to make high-altitude banana pancakes. She was so into them, that when I asked how they tasted, she only nodded and made “mm hmm” sounds in between mouthfuls. We laughed. It was a moment of pleasure for both of us, and somehow this memory surfaced when I found out she died in January. She was a delight to know, talk to and love. I guess I melded a bit of Canada and the Philippines and even Ecuador in that pancake recipe for her. Perhaps I can meld her Austrian and Italian roots into this Cherry Meringue. An Austrian/Italian alpine meringue for Dorit? Mm hmm.

Alpine Meringue

4 egg whites from large, organic eggs

¾ cup superfine sugar

1 tsp natural vanilla extract

1 ½ to 2 1/2 cups pitted and drained sour cherries in syrup (1/4 cup syrup reserved)

1 tsp cherry schnapps or kirsch, b/c I think she'll find it fun to have that in there (optional)

Things needed: 6 large ramekins

Preheat oven 300°F.

In a large bowl, beat egg whites with a mixer until soft peaks form. Slowly add the sugar and beat until stiff and glossy. Beat in vanilla.

Add liquor to cherries and gently toss (optional). Equally distribute drained cherries in ramekins (up to ¾ full). Spoon the meringue on top of the cherries.

Drizzle a little of the reserved syrup on top of each meringue (optional).

Place ramekins on a cookie sheet (there will be cherry juice drippings). Place sheet on middle rack (remove top metal rack to prevent the rising meringues from sticking to it) and bake for 20-25 minutes until slightly cream coloured. Serve with whipped cream if desired.

I love and miss you Dorit.

Monday, January 20, 2014

Yay, it’s SUMMER!!! (-30°C, Ontario, Canada, present day.)

Right? (wink, wink.)

Aww, come on- if you believe hard enough, it can happen (in your dining room).

So go on and pitch that 4-person tent. Dust off the enamelware.

Ahh...isn't it a lovely summer evening? Dinner is deliciously served by the campfire.

Slow-Cooker Summer Lentils (served two ways)

1 28 oz. can of diced tomatoes with juice (no salt added)

1 15 oz. can lentils, rinsed and drained

1 medium onion, chopped

1 large stalk celery, chopped

3 Tbsp ketchup

3 Tbsp tomato paste

2 Tbsp brown sugar

1 Tbsp balsamic vinegar

1 bay leaf

1/4 cup water
1/2 tsp cumin
1 tsp chili powder

1/2 tsp salt

freshly ground pepper to taste

Layer all ingredients in a 3.5L slow cooker. Do not stir. Cover and cook on high for 4 hours.

Carefully remove and discard bay leaf. Gently stir.

Serve with golden smashed potatoes, seasoned just the way you like: http://www.finecooking.com/recipes/crispy-smashed-roasted-potatos.aspx

Or with your favourite cornbread, southern style.

Wednesday, December 18, 2013

The next time you come home with a stockpile of candy cane from the Santa Claus parade, make sure to save most of them for this excellent recipe. With just slight alterations, this biscotti recipe (adapted from The Farmstead Chef) is great to make during the holidays. I reduced the sugar, made them miniature and omitted the crushed candy-cane topping to make them less sweet but delectable with coffee. Your friends will love you even more!

Mini Candy Cane Biscotti (about 4 dozen)

1 1/2 sticks salted butter
1/2 cup sugar
3 organic eggs
2 tsp peppermint extract
3 1/4 cup organic flour
1 tsp baking powder
1/2 cup crushed red, white and green candy canes
melted white chocolate for drizzling

In a large bowl, use mixer to cream butter and sugar together. Beat in eggs one at a time.

Add peppermint extract and mix well. In a separate bowl, mix flour and baking powder together. Mix crushed candy canes in with the flour. Slowly add flour mixture with the egg/butter mix and beat until blended (dough will be stiff).

Divide dough into four. Roll each ball into a log (about 14-inches-by-1 1/2-inches). Space 2 logs on a baking sheet topped with parchment paper and bake at 350°F for 30 minutes. Cool for 15 minutes. Place cooled logs on cutting board, and with a serrated knife, cut at an angle into 1/2-inch pieces.

Place cut side down on the baking sheets (you can use the same parchment paper) and bake for 12 minutes until golden around the edges. Let cool, then drizzle white chocolate over the cookies. Happy Holidays!

Thursday, November 28, 2013

Tapenade. Not my favourite word, Tapenade.

And it has a reputation of being a bit la-di-da.

A long time ago, I tried store-bought, black olive tapenade.

Bleh.

I like green olives much more anyway.

Then I found a recipe by Eugenia Bone from her book, Well-Preserved.

I read how simple it is to make Green Olive Tapenade in a food processor.

I adapted the recipe to what I had. My can of green olives was nothing fancy, but I had the power of fresh herbs. And sea salt. And Fresh Ontario garlic. Plus a bright yellow lemon. Yellow lemon yellow lemon...

It is time to rid the reputation!

Green Olive Puree (ok, fine, “tapenade”) is an excellent base for pizza. I recently put a dollop in Jamie Oliver’s Superb Squash Soup and it was heavenly. I used it to top large croutons with Parmesan and served them as yummy appetizers. Here are even more brilliant ideas, the first from Ms. Eugenia herself, check it out:

http://blogs.denverpost.com/preserved/2009/02/18/green-olive-tapenade-recipes/

http://www.bbc.co.uk/food/recipes/tomatoesontoastwithg_89568

So here is my easy recipe for a top-notch, green olive (insert unfavourable word here).

Top-Notch Tapenade

1 can pitted green olives, drained

2 tsp drained capers

2 large garlic cloves, peeled and crushed

3 Tbsp olive oil, or more to taste

2 Tbsp fried sage leaves (about 6)

2 Tbsp fresh rosemary leaves

2 Tbsp fresh parsley

3 Tbsp fresh lemon juice

1 Tbsp lemon zest

1 Tbsp sea salt

Freshly ground pepper, to taste

½ tsp paprika

Place all ingredients in a food processor. Grind to a paste. Place in a small clean mason jar and put just enough olive oil to cover the top. Cover and refrigerate up to 1 week. Add more olive oil if needed.

Tuesday, October 29, 2013

My blog is just a baby banana compared to the food blogs of plenty out there. Still, I am proud that Jordana Banana Bakes and Nika Tortilla Travels are one year old this month. Happy Anniversary to us!

Some facts about JBB and NTT:

-I use a Canon PowerShot SX110 IS compact digital camera.

-the blogs are named after my two girls.

-I like simple and delicious recipes that I tweak to make it my own, including the name.

Because it's our anniversary, it is imperative that our granola this month is tossed with banana (chips). And crunchy peanut butter. An Elvis version of granola if you will. Aloha Granola? Amazing Grae-nola? A Little Less Conversation and a bit more of this granola? How about Viva Granola. Yup, I like that. And you will LOVE this.

Viva Granola (Peanut Butter and Banana Chip)

4 cups quick-cooking rolled oats

1 cup unsweetened shredded coconut (optional)

1/2 cup toasted pecans, broken by hand (optional)

20 banana chips or more, broken by hand

1 tsp cinnamon

½ cup vegetable oil

½ cup maple syrup (or honey)

½ cup organic crunchy peanut butter (no sugar, salt or preservatives added)

½ cup Thompson seedless raisins

Preheat oven 325°F.

Line a large baking sheet with parchment paper. Set aside.

Combine oats, coconut, half of the banana chips and cinnamon.

In a separate bowl, combine oil, maple syrup (or honey) and crunch peanut butter and gently mix together.

Pour liquid ingredients in with the dry ingredients and gently fold together until coated. Spread evenly on baking sheet.

Bake for 45 minutes, gently stirring every 15 minutes. Turn off oven and leave the baking sheet in the closed oven for an additional 30 minutes. Remove from oven and let cool on a wire rack. Stir in remaining banana chips, raisins and pecans if using.

Store in a large mason jar with lid or airtight container at room temperature for 2 weeks. Snack on its own or with your favourite yogurt while watching this:
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ucubLr3ZLbw

Friday, September 20, 2013

Change #1: Both our girls are now in school full-time.

Change #2: I am now working part-time at a local farm market bakery.

Change #3: The leaves.

Change #3: Blueberry baking now shifts to apple.

These new yet uneasy transitions call for an easy-breezy autumn pie.

I call this Transition Pie.

It is a delicious open-faced blueberry and silken apple pie. Open-faced. Open...to change.

Blueberry and Silken Transition Pie

For the Quick Crust: (modified from Christy Jordan’s Southern Plate)

1 ½ cups all-purpose flour

1/2 tsp salt

1 ½ tsp sugar

2 Tbsp milk

½ cup vegetable oil

Mix the flour, salt and sugar in a large bowl. Add milk and drizzle oil while mixing with a whisk. Pat out to fit into pie plate. Makes 1 pie crust.

For my Transition filling:

4 cups frozen blueberries

2 Silken apples, grated with juice (or use your fave apple)

2 Tbsp lemon juice

1 tsp grated lemon rind

½ cup sugar

2 Tbsp tapioca flour/starch

1 tsp cinnamon

½ tsp allspice

Toss ingredients together in a large bowl. Fill pie crust.

Preheat oven 425°F. Bake pie on middle rack for 20 minutes. Remove pie from oven and reduce heat to 375°F. Cover the top of pie with foil (be careful not to burn yourself) and place pie on a cookie/baking sheet to catch overflow of juice. Place back in oven and continue baking for another 45 minutes, until fruit juices are thick and bubbly and the blueberries are still relatively holding their shape. Let rest on wire rack for two hours before cutting. Savour on its own or with a sprinkling of icing sugar, a dollop of ice cream or fresh whipped cream.

Thursday, August 29, 2013

If you're looking for a super-simple, end-of-summer side dish, here is what I call The Best of Summer Veggie Bake.

Before you look at what vegetables are on your counter and even before you look in your fridge, you have to close your eyes and think about three (or more) amazing things you experienced this summer. (long pause in waiting)...Well, how lucky you are! I too am blessed, for I had a summer in which the generosity of family and friends abound.

In the matter of veggies, we are blessed with this ginormous zucchini from our lovely neighbors. We in turn made them our Ultimate Banana Zucchini Chocolate Chip Muffins (another neighbor who just gave us Bartlett pears from his garden will most likely get the same). With all this zuke, I'm thinking about making a Giant Stuffed Zucchini, Zucchini Pickles...so yes, there's a whole lotta zucchini going on here, and of course this summer squash will make it in The Best of Summer.

My mom gave my daughters several plants of cherry tomatoes, which they like to pick and pop in their mouths in the same second. They are sweet and slightly tough skinned and I will miss them when they go. But first, they'll also go into The Best of Summer.

Last but not least, super-sweet Peaches & Cream corn from the Town of Tecumseh (which hosts the famous Tecumseh Corn Festival) made it into The Best of Summer also. "Sweet Corn?" the girls exclaim. Yes, of course- how could they remember that I brought home the famous sugary-sweet corn? When for them, being showered with parade candy was the sweetest.

The Best of Summer Veggie Bake (use veggies to your liking)

2 1/2 cups cooked then cooled (or leftover) white or brown rice
2 1/2 cups chopped zucchini, or if grated, drained
1/2 onion, minced
2 cloves garlic, minced
2 Tbsp oil + 1 Tbsp butter
2 tsp sea salt, divided
freshly ground pepper
juice of half a lemon + 1 Tbsp lemon rind
1-2 stalks scallions, green parts only, chopped
1/2 cup of mixed fresh garden herbs, chopped fine (optional)
1/2 cup sour cream, full or low-fat
12-15 sweet cherry tomatoes, whole or cut in half
1 cup blanched, sweet corn kernels
1 cup grated Pecorino Romano, Parmesan or White Cheddar, divided

Grease a square glass baking dish and set aside. Preheat oven at 350°F.

In a large bowl, mix together the cooled rice, sweet corn, sour cream, chopped scallions, fresh herbs if using, lemon rind, 1/2 cup of your choice of cheese, and 1 tsp. of the salt and pepper and set aside.

In a medium frying pan, heat oil and butter on medium-low heat, then add minced onion and garlic and cook until softened. Add chopped (or grated) zucchini on top of onion/garlic mixture, then squeeze juice of half a lemon on top. Sprinkle 1 tsp. salt and add pepper. Increase to medium-high heat and cook until just tender, about 4-5 minutes (if it's grated zucchini, you can then add the cooked zucchini to the rice and toss gently, or alternatively you can also toss the cooked, chopped zucchini in with the rice (here, I placed my rice in the glass dish first, spreading the rice evenly on the pan, and then I added the zucchini/onion mix on top of the rice).

With a spatula, spread the rice mixture evenly in your baking dish. Top the rice with your zucchini mixture (if you chose to not mix it in with the rice) and place the whole or halved cherry tomatoes on top. Sprinkle the remaining cheese and bake for 25 minutes.

Serve as an accompaniment to sausages, fish or chicken. Enjoy!