Category: Food & Wine

Adventures with Mushy Bananas – Part 5

Law school starts full-time on Monday, so I think I’ll draw the mushy banana chronicles to a close with a recipe for a banana smoothie. We can all throw some fruit together in a blender without much thought, but it’s a sign of true genius when someone comes up with a Frozen Banana Latte.

This requires a little planning. The day before you want to enjoy one of these, you have to put some cut up banana in the freezer. Other than that these are easy-peasy and really, really yummy.

Frozen Banana Latte
Serves 1

¼ c frozen yogurt or low-fat ice cream
¼ c milk
1 generous spoonful silken tofu
¾ tsp instant coffee granules, add more to taste
½ ripe banana, sliced and frozen.

Place ingredients in a blender; process until smooth. Sprinkle with cinnamon, if desired.

Adventures with Mushy Bananas – Part 4

Lest you think all of my banana experiments are unqualified successes, I thought I’d write about a recipe for banana-nut biscotti that turned out only just okay.

I should qualify my disappointment with my vision for perfect biscotti: The cookies should be so crisp and crunchy that they break apart into a thousand tiny crumbs if you dare bite into one without first dipping it into a mug of steaming coffee. Anything less will not do.

The results of the experiment were certainly tasty – sort of like banana bread, but in a more travel-friendly form. The texture on the other hand was too soft. No dipping was necessary to prevent a chipped tooth.

If you like biscotti and want a change from the typical flavors, I suggest giving them a try. Just don’t expect your typical dipping cookie.

Banana-Nut Biscotti
Yields 2 dozen cookies

Note: While I didn’t try this, drizzling these with dark chocolate would probably be very good.

1 ¾ c flour
½ c sugar
1 tsp baking powder
¼ tsp salt
1/3 c mashed very ripe banana (about 1 banana)
1 tbs vegetable oil
1 tsp vanilla extract
1 large egg
1/3 c chopped pecans or almonds, toasted
Cooking spray

Preheat oven to 350°.

Combine the flour, sugar, baking powder, and salt. Combine banana, oil, vanilla, and egg in another bowl; stir in flour mixture and nuts (dough will be sticky).

Turn dough out onto a lightly floured surface; shape dough into 2 (8-inch-long). Place rolls on a baking sheet coated with cooking spray; flatten to 1/2-inch thickness.

Bake 23 minutes. Remove rolls from baking sheet; cool 10 minutes on a wire rack. Cut each roll diagonally into 12 (1/2-inch) slices. Place slices, cut sides down, on baking sheet. Reduce oven temperature to 250°; bake 15 minutes. Turn cookies over; bake an additional 15 minutes. Remove from baking sheet; cool completely on wire racks.

Before + After

before

Blackberries are just about the sweetest thing you can think of (and eat) in August. Nick and I spent the evening at the local berry patch suffering thorns for our reward. Since I don’t have Ethan’s talent for crumble, I made a custard tart instead.

after

It won’t cool in time to eat tonight, so I guess we’ll have to have it for breakfast. Under normal circumstances this might be shocking, but I’m going out for a few days of cross-country travel with my friend Mike, so it will keep me well-fueled. Nick...well...he’ll just have to go for a bike ride or something.

Adventures with Mushy Bananas – Part 3

Keeping with the dessert theme from last week, I decided to experiment with a new recipe from Cooking Light - Banana Bread Pudding. This recipe wins on account of how easy it is and the fact that it can be made in advance to serve to guests.

We had some leftover chocolate bread in the freezer, which turned out to be an excellent modification of the original recipe. If you don’t have chocolate bread, try sprinkling in a couple chocolate chips or drizzling fudge sauce over the puddings when they come out of the oven.

Banana Bread Pudding
Serves 2

1/3 c milk
1 tbs dark brown sugar
1/8 tsp ground cinnamon
1 large egg
2 c cubed French bread
cooking spray
1/2 c mashed ripe banana
1 tablespoon granulated sugar

Combine the first 4 ingredients in a small bowl, and stir with a whisk. Place 1/2 cup bread cubes into each of 2 (8-ounce) ramekins coated with cooking spray. Spoon 2 tablespoons milk mixture over each serving, and top with 1/4 cup banana. Sprinkle each serving with 1 1/2 teaspoons granulated sugar. Repeat procedure with remaining bread and milk mixture. Chill 30 minutes.

Preheat oven to 350°.

Bake for 50 minutes or until done. Enjoy as is or spoon a little custard sauce, caramel syrup, or fudge sauce over each serving.

Adventures with Mushy Bananas – Part 2

I’m off today for a nine-day trek in the Olympic Mountains, but that doesn’t mean I can shirk my banana duties, right? In addition to this entry, I’ve written and scheduled another one to go live next Saturday while I’m still gone. Even though I won’t be posting anything else, don’t forget to check back for your banana fix.

In my last post about mushy bananas I mentioned the Joy of Cooking. I don’t turn to this cookbook very often, but when I do, the dishes usually turn out very tasty. A couple years ago, Nick and I found a recipe in there for bananas foster. We’d seen chefs at fancy restaurants setting guests on fire while making this table-side on more than one occasion, so we thought we’d give it a try. The thought of open flames in the kitchen was a little daunting, but who needs eyebrows anyway?

Turns out, this is another excellent way to eat bananas that would otherwise be on their way to a slow death in the freezer. It’s silly easy to make. The results are impressively delicious. And company will be seriously impressed with your culinary skillz.

Bananas Foster
Serves 4

4 ripe bananas
2 tbs butter
3 tbs brown sugar
¼ tsp cinnamon
1/8 tsp nutmeg
½ c dark rum
1 tbs brandy (optional)
vanilla ice cream

Peel the bananas and cut them in half lengthwise. Then cut each piece into four pieces.

Melt the butter in a heavy skillet over low heat and add the banana pieces, cut sides down. Cook for 5 minutes, then turn and cook for another 5 minutes, just until fork-tender.

Sprinkle with brown sugar and spices and transfer to a shallow bowl. Add the rum and brandy (if using) to the skillet. Over medium heat use a spatula to loosen caramelized bits while the spirits heat. When they are hot, ignite with a long match, then pour over bananas. Spoon this delicious concoction over vanilla ice cream.