Entries tagged with “Banana” from Sketchy's Kitchen
My two remaining reviews of Dining in NYC will have to wait a few days. I wanted to talk about yesterday -- First, I made a banana bread with my son. It has a hint of orange and vanilla, and partially crushed sweet cacao nibs. Turned out wonderfully. Slice it, toast it, pat-o-butter.
The sweet cacao nibs add the extra boost it needed from the previous recipe. and the hint of orange is a nice flavor note on the tongue -- it's not too powerful, but it is recognizable between the nibs and banana.
The main event for Saturday was the Lebanese Food Festival. We all had a good time. There were about 10 booths selling food. All the food was homemade, and much of it was cooked on site. they spend months preparing the food for the weekend festival. some of the dishes can be made months in advance and frozen, some are made on site. When you sell cookies for three days, you have to have a ton of them already prepared.
We got a large sampling from the booths and sat down in the grass for dinner. Our son ate just about everything we gave him. My favorite dishes were the tabouli and the spinach and feta cheese pie. After the hearty portions, I braved the lines to get us a sampling of the desserts. They were frying doughnuts on site, so I grabbed an order of them, then I got an assortment from the cookie table.
The doughnuts were nice and warm. The cookies were good, but they all had a similar flavor and texture.
When eaten by themselves, cacao nibs have a crunchy, cool, chocolaty taste. They are a little grainy, but get smooth as you chew them. Many fine candy retailers will have a variety of nibs available for purchase. Once baked, the cacao nibs take on the texture of walnuts. The flavor is very mellow, and when baked in the bread, most people think the bread contains nuts, instead of cacao nibs. If you think chocolate, you can taste it, otherwise, I'm not sure the flavor is strong enough. Also - if you think chocolate - you'll want sweetened chocolate. Yes, sweetened chocolate would make this much better, but would turn it into more of a dessert. Sweetened nibs, or chocolate-coated nibs, might make this better, without overpowering the bread.
I think I will pick up some of the chocolate-coated cacao nibs and try this recipe again. Anyway - here is the recipe:Cacao Nibbed Banana Bread
3 Overripe Bananas
1 Cup Sugar
1 Stick Melted Butter (cooled)
2 Large Eggs
1 tsp Rum
2 Cups Unbleached AP Flour
1 tsp Baking Soda
1 tsp Salt
1/2 cup cacao nibs
Preheat oven to 350 degrees (non convection)
Spray a loaf pan with nonstick spray, and make a parchment sling for the pan.
Mash the bananas with the sugar until liquefied, then mix in the butter, eggs, and rum.
Whisk the flour, baking soda, and salt together. Fold that into the bananas and mix until combined. Fold in the cacao nibs and pour into a prepared loaf pan.
Bake for 50 minutes to 70 minutes. You want the internal temp to be 210 degrees, and an inserted toothpick needs to come out clean. Mine took about 65 minutes. Remove from the oven and cool for 15 minutes in the pan. Remove from pan, peel off sling, and rest on wire rack until the bread is near room temperature.
I made three small loaves of "Rich Man's" Brioche. The dough was SO tough on the stand mixer, but OHHH the smell of butter. This was my first time attempting brioche, and it came out perfectly - all three loaves. One loaf was sacrificed to French toast and toddler munching, the rest was saved for bread pudding.The pudding recipe was pretty easy, it even used store bought caramel sauce to save time. I made a few small changes to the recipe -- I used vanilla bean pods, the brioche, less caramel, and a little extra sea salt. But everything else was straight from the magazine
Caramel-Banana Bread Pudding
- 1 cup purchased caramel sauce
1/8 teaspoon fine sea salt- 1/4 teaspoon coarse sea salt (I used gray)
- 1/8 tsp fine sea salt (yes 2, it's not duplicated)
- 3 1/2 bananas
- 4 large eggs
- 1 1/2 cups half and half
- 1/3 cup whole milk
- 2 1/2 tablespoons sugar
- 1 teaspoon vanilla paste
- 2 tablespoons melted butter
- 11 slices of brioche (2.5x3-inch slices 1/4 inches thick
8 ramekins
Lay out all the brioche and lightly toast in the oven - you are not looking to add color, just to stiffen up the surface. Mix the caramel with the coarse and fine sea salts. Once toasted, spoon 1 tbsp of the caramel sauce in each ramekin. When the bread is cool, spread the remaining caramel sauce evenly over the rest of the bread. Broil the bread for one minute and rotate the pan. broil for 30 to 60 more seconds. you want the caramel to bubble little, and the bread to begin to darken - do not burn the bread or caramel. Cool
While the bread cools, rub the inside of each ramekin with cold butter. Cut each piece of bread into four pieces and place a banana slice on each piece. If you cut it diagonally, you might be able to cover each piece with a single slice. standing the bread on it's edge, place 5 or 6 slices in each ramekin - you may have to push the last piece in place. Once they are all done, prepare the filling.Whisk the eggs, half and half, milk, vanilla paste, 1 1/2 tbsp sugar, and 1/8 tsp fine sea salt together. Pour the mixture into each ramekin (I filled each 1/2 up, then balanced the rest of the custard across the ramekins so they were all filled to the same level). Let the custard sit for 30 minutes - most of the mixture will be absorbed in the bread. They can be refrigerated (covered) for up to 8 hours at this point.
Preheat the oven to 400 degrees, and set a pot of water boiling. If you have any extra custard, pour it into the ramekins. Brush the exposed bread with the melted butter and sprinkle the remaining 1 tablespoon of sugar over the ramekins. When the oven is preheated, place the ramekins in a large roasting pan, put the roasting pan in the oven, then pour in the water to come halfway up the sides of the ramekins. bake for 45 minutes - checking the last 10 minutes for burning. A knife should come out cleanly.
Serve warm or at room temperature. Vanilla ice cream or fresh whipped cream would go well with these.
They came out beautifully, but next time I would either add chopped up salt caramels with the bananas, or place a whole salt caramel in the center of the empty ramekin - the gooey center concept. The addition of the larger salt crystals gets you a few 'crunchy salt' moments when eating. If you have had salt caramel, you know probably what I am talking about.
Bananas are a staple in many households with children. We get the seedless variety in the US. Common uses for bananas are eating raw, in cereal, pudding, pies, bread, and other desserts. There are uses for bananas in savory dishes, but typical everyday uses will lean towards the sweet side of the pallet.
More then likely, you are eating a Cavendish variety. These have been selectively bread (a form of genetic engineering) for their size and ability to withstand the rigors of travel. The majority of imported bananas are artificially ripened in an ethylene room. This 'doesn't' effect the flavor of the banana, and allows the banana to ripen faster. It is similar to the effect of placing peaches in a paper bag and crimping it closed. The fruit releases the gas that speeds the ripening of anything in the bag. Fruit will ripen naturally if left in the open air (and are more flavorful), but most people want the fruit to ripen early, thus having a longer life in the house, and a fresher appearance at the grosser store.
Many cultures use the banana leaf to wrap food for steaming, boiling, and grilling. The leaf itself in inedible, but it is a good conductor of heat, waterproof, inexpensive, and readily available in most cities (you may have to look for them in ethnic markets).
Banana Chips, I remember these from growing up, and I still find them in trail mix and at some supermarkets. Well -- I did some research on these.. wow.. the majority of chips are deep fried, then covered with honey, sugar, and preservatives. One ounce of banana chips has a staggering 147 calories and 8.2 grams of saturated fat (41% daily recommendation). To put that into perspective - a snickers bar is 2 ounces, and has fewer calories and fat then 2 oz of banana chips. I only bring this up because I had always considered them to be a healthy snack alternative. shrug..
Banana's Foster
Well -- almost Banana's Foster. This recipe traditionally uses spiced rum, but I prefer brandy. The brandy adds a sharpness that I find lacking from the dish. And I don't use vanilla ice cream either. This is a showy dish, turn out the light when you flambe the sauce. If you have a gas stove, you can probably light it from the burner, otherwise, you will need a long match or grill starter.
- 2 Tbsp butter
- 2 bananas
- 1/4 cup brown sugar
- 1/4 tsp ground cinnamon
- dash ground nutmeg
- 1/4 cup applejack brandy
- dulche de leche gelato
Chop the banana, and prep the other ingredients.
Melt the butter in a pan, add the brown sugar and cinnamon. When the brown sugar is dissolved, add the bananas, toss to coat, cook for 2 minutes, turning the banana slices halfway through, Remove the bananas to two serving bowls. While the pan is away from the heat, add the brandy to the pan, .
When the liquid mixture is simmering, light the pan with a long match. Shake the pan to keep the flame going. You may need to pull the pan away from the cooktop if the flames are going into your exhaust fan, When the alcohol has burnt off, and the sauce has reached its desired consistency, split the contents between the two bowls. Add two or three scoops of gelato over the bananas and eat.
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Not a recipe -- but some tips.
When making banana pancakes or banana bread -- mash the bananas with the sugar.
Bake with bananas that are overripe (brown spots on the peel). Do not bake with green bananas.
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