Banana cake

Having guests this week end? Serve this moist and fresh banana cake from one of my favorite cookbooks The Silver Palate (Julee Rosso, Sheila Lukins). Their recipes never fail. My kids couldn't get enough of this tasty treat.

Banana Cake

1/2 cup (1 stick) unsalted butter, plus extra for greasing the pans

2 cups unbleached all-purpose flour, plus extra for flouring the pans

1 cup granulated sugar

3 eggs, separated

1 cup mashed ripe bananas (about 3)

1 t baking powder

1 t baking soda

1/2 t salt

 1/2 cup buttermilk

1 t vanilla extract

Cream cheese frosting (below)

1 1/2 to 2 medium-size, firm but ripe bananas, sliced

1 1/2 cups shelled chopped walnuts
Confectioner's sugar, for dusting the top

Preheat the oven to 350 degrees. Grease and flour two 9-inch layer cake pans.
Cream the butter and granulated sugar together in a mixing bowl. Add the egg yolks and beat well. Add the mashed bananas. Sift the flour, baking powder, baking soda, and salt together and add them to the butter mixture. Stir until just combined. Add the buttermilk and vanilla. Beat the egg whites to soft peaks. Fold gently into the batter.
Pour the batter into the prepared pans. Set on the center rack of the oven and bake until a cake tester inserted into the center comes out clean, 25-30 minutes.
Cool in the pans on a rack for 10 minutes. Unmold and cool on a rack for 2 hours.
When cooled, place one layer on a serving plate and frost with the cream cheese frosting. Arrange slices of banana over the frosting; cover with the second layer and frost the top and sides of the cake.
Cover the sides of the cake with the chopped nuts, holding the nuts in your palm and pressing them firmly to the sides of the cake. Dust the top of the cake with confectioner's sugar.

8 or more portions

Cream cheese frosting:
(This is great on carrot cake as well.)
8 oz. cream cheese, at room temperature
6 T (3/4 stick) unsalted butter, at room temperature
3 cups confectioner's sugar
1 t vanilla extract
juice of 1/2  lemon (optional)

Cream together the cream cheese and butter in a mixing bowl.
Slowly stir in the confectioner's sugar and continue beating until fully incorporated. The mixture should be free of lumps. Stir in the vanilla, and lemon juice if desired.
Makes enough for a 2 layer cake.

Quick tip: Put pieces of parchment paper around and under the edge of the cake to catch spills from frosting. Pull out when you are done and Voila! Clean serving plate.

Savory Sausage Penne supper

Not every single meal I make appears on this blog. When we had lamb Gyros from a package recently there wasn't much to write about. Just thaw and follow package directions. When I made Chicken Tetrazzini not too long ago, I wasn't enthused. It was OK, but not worth blogging about.  This evening's meal however, was great!

Flautas

I  saw  this recipe on one of the many cooking blogs out there, fortheloveofcooking-recipes.blogspot.com. This girl has a huge following. She makes beautiful meals and takes great pictures. Something to aspire to for sure. I had never heard of flautas before (Spanish word for flutes). Mexican  in origin, these are meaty tortilla roll-ups usually deep fried. These however, are baked.   They sounded so good I just had to try them. And they are terrific! I recommend you all make these for a delicious family dinner. Thanks Pam for sharing with all of us!

I Changed the recipe slightly to accommodate my family. This makes for a mildly flavored  version.

Pork tenderloin, caramelized onion, and Monterey Jack baked flautas

2 T olive oil (divided)

1 sweet yellow onion, sliced

1 pork tenderloin (1 1/2 lbs), diced

1/4 t Chili powder, or to taste

1/4 t coriander, or to taste

1/2 t paprika, or to taste

1/2 t garlic powder, or to taste

1/4 t ground cumin , or to taste

1 t dried oregano, or to taste

sea salt and freshly cracked pepper, to taste

2 1/2 cups Monterey Jack cheese, shredded

10 flour tortillas

Preheat the oven to 375 degrees

Cover a baking sheet with aluminum foil and cover with cooking spray.

Heat 1 tablespoon of olive oil in a large skillet over medium heat. Add the onion and cook stirring often, about 10-15 minutes until caramelized and tender. Remove from the pan and set aside.

Heat the remaining 1 tablespoon of olive oil in the skillet over medium High heat. Once the pan is hot add the diced pork tenderloin then season, to taste, with all of the spices. Cook for 8-10 minutes, until golden brown, but not yet cooked through (it will finish cooking in the oven). Remove from the stove.

Wrap flour tortillas in wet paper towels and microwave them for 1 minute or until soft.

Place a bit of Monterey Jack cheese in the center of the tortilla then add caramelized onion and the diced pork:; roll. Place seam side down on prepared  baking sheet. Finish rolling the rest of the flautas, then spray each with cooking spray. Place in the oven and bake for 8-10 minutes then turn over and cook for an additional 5-6 minutes or until crispy and golden brown.

Serve with guacamole, sour cream and salsa.

Makes 10 flautas

Ratatouille

Since my last posting (yesterday) we have received over 12 inches of snow. It was tough going on the roads around town this morning. Many people in the ditches along the freeway. I was wondering, who do you call when you are really stuck like that? 911? A tow truck? I was just very happy to be back home safe and sound from our adventure to the dentist. I am happy to report zero cavities for the whole family. Good job! Now, on to this evening's dinner. I have never made ratatouille before, but I had a sample at work one recent evening and I decided to put it on the menu immediately. This is a large recipe, fit for a crowd. Cut it in half if you prefer or make the whole batch and freeze some, that's what I am doing. There is quite a bit of chopping involved here. I did most of the work a day ahead, so putting it together today is a charm. There are wonderful smells coming from my kitchen as I am writing this. Enjoy!

Ratatouille
2 cups high quality olive oil

4 small eggplants (about 4 pounds in all), cut into 1 1/2 inch cubes
2 t salt
1 1/2 pounds white onions (about 2 large), peeled and coarsely chopped
7 medium-size zucchini, washed, trimmed quartered length wise and cut into 2 inch strips
2 medium-sized red bell peppers, stemmed, seeded, and cut into 1/2-inch strips
2 medium-size green bell peppers, stemmed, seeded, and cut into 1/2-inch strips
2 T minced garlic
3 cans (16 ounces each) Italian plum tomatoes, drained
1 can (6 ounces) tomato paste
1/4 cup chopped fresh Italian (flat-leaf) parsley
1/4 cup chopped fresh dill
2 T dried basil
2 T dried oregano
Freshly ground black pepper, to taste

Preheat the oven to 400 degrees.
Line a large roasting pan with aluminum foil and pour in 1 cup of the olive oil. Add the eggplant, sprinkle it with the salt, and toss well. Cover the pan tightly with foil and bake until the eggplant is done but not mushy, 35 minutes. Uncover and set aside.
In a large skillet or in 2 smaller skillets, heat the remaining oil. Saute the onions, zucchini, red and green peppers, and garlic over medium heat until wilted and lightly colored, about 20 minutes. Add the tomatoes, tomato paste, parsley, dill, basil, oregano, and black pepper. Simmer for 10 minutes, stirring occasionally.Add the eggplant and simmer for another 10 minutes. Taste and correct the seasoning. Serve hot or at room temperature.

(Recipe from The Silver palate Cookbook, Julee Rosso and Sheila Lukins)

Vegetable Mac and cheese

Today we are having a great old Minnesota blizzard blanketing the Twin Cities with snow yet again.

Tasty Tilapia

I am not a seafood lover, but I do like most fish if it is prepared nicely. I often order fish when we go to a nice restaurant.

Once a week Vegetarian.

Growing up in Norway, most of the food I was raised on was very bland and often very white (think white fish balls with white gravy over white potatoes!).  I always loved eating foods from other parts of the world, and coming to America, a whole new experience of cuisines from across the globe was at my fingertips. Thai and Indian foods are two of my favorites. Since we don't eat out a lot I am always trying to find recipes that allow me to have different ethnic foods in my own home. In addition, I have suggested that our family go vegetarian  one day a week. This received a very tepid response from the gang. But I intend to prove to them that you can have a flavorful and satisfying dinner that does not include meat. This curry is full of color and flavor. It exceeded my expectations greatly. It tastes very authentic and wonderful. With the adults this was a great hit (I include my almost 16 year old son here!). For the little ones it was too spicy, so they ended up eating rice and turkey sandwiches. Oh well, it's like I say: "it isn't what you eat but how you eat it" - together!

Vegetable curry

Adjust the heat in this dish by adding more or less red pepper to the curry powder.

1 1/2 t olive oil

2 cups diced peeled sweet potatoes

2 cups small cauliflower florets

1/2 cup thinly sliced yellow onion

3 t curry powder (with about 1/2 t red pepper mixed in)

1 cup organic vegetable broth

1/2 t salt

1 can chickpeas (garbanzo beans), rinsed and drained

2 cans no-salt added diced tomatoes, undrained

3 T chopped fresh cilantro (Coriander)
3 cups Rice of your choice
1 cup plain reduced-fat Greek yogurt

Warm Naan bread

Heat olive oil in a large skillet over medium-high heat. Add sweet potatoes to pan; saute 3 minutes. decrease heat to medium. Add cauliflower, onion, and curry powder, cook 1 minute, stirring constantly. Add broth and next 3 ingredients (through tomatoes); bring to a boil. Cover, reduce heat and simmer 10 minutes or until vegetables are tender, stirring occasionally. Sprinkle with cilantro (Coriander); serve over rice with yogurt and Naan bread.

Serves 6, well.


(Recipe adapted from Cooking light magazine, October 2010)