Banana Bread

Home from a weirdly grueling morning and early afternoon at the Museum of Nature & Science with the Davises... this seemed like the perfect comfort food snack going into the weekend. It’s also the best use of sad looking, overripe bananas.

I love this recipe for its simplicity--all you need are 2 eggs, 3 bananas, 2 cups flour, ¾ cup sugar, 1 teaspoon salt, 1 teaspoon baking soda. Done. If you have walnuts, lovely. If not, lovely. Sophia and I make this once or twice a month (we alternate with Fannie Farmer’s Pumpkin Bread). It’s so simple that she can do nearly every step by herself.

I love The Fannie Farmer Cookbook for old-fashioned basics like this. My mom originally bought the book for me for the French toast recipe, and I’ve used it so much that the pages are falling out. In fact, the book automatically opens to the banana bread page and has to be held together by a rubber band!

As a side note, I read a fascinating book in January 2002 about the birth of the home economics movement and how it “ruined” home cooking for decades. Fanny Farmer herself is complicit in this modernization of American cooking. Interested? Check out Perfection Salad: Women and Cooking at the Turn of the Century by Laura Shapiro. A fascinating book for anyone interested in American food culture.

As I sit typing this and listening to Joseph snore, the house is filled with the most wonderful homey smell. Yum!

Bacon, Broccoli & Gruyère Crustless Quiche

This is a perennial favorite in our household. I probably make this once a month, usually as a vehicle for leftover bacon. (How we manage to have leftover bacon is a mystery!). 

I’ve adapted this over time from the original recipe in the 1997 Joy of Cooking, my favorite resource cookbook (a controversial rewrite of the original Joy). I make the bacon Alison’s way (15-20 minutes at 400 degrees on a foil-lined baking sheet) and steam the broccoli for three minutes some time mid-afternoon so that the dish can come together quickly for an easy dinner.

Authentic Gruyère is essential. I’ve finally learned that it’s always worth the money to spring for “real” cheeses... they impart so much more flavor and you subsequently need less of it. 

This dish is tasty comfort food and never fails to satisfy. It's also at least somewhat healthier than quiche with the (yummy) crust. 

Rotini with Spinach Sauce

This is a quick, simple recipe by Food Network’s Giada De Laurentiis. I’ve made this once before but forget to make notes on it, so made it again tonight to use leftover baby spinach. 

I appreciate how quickly this dish comes together, and the sauce is a beautiful bright green... very appetizing looking. I doubled the sauce ingredients and skipped the addition of pasta water. My only complaint is that the raw garlic (which I halved) is too strong--it gives the dish a “hot” feeling on the tongue (and gives the diner horrible breath!). If I make this again, I'll use roasted garlic or skip it all together and add pine nuts or some other flavorful ingredient.

Otherwise, this is simple and lovely.

Oh, and the dish called for penne, but I can’t stand the texture of hollow pasta, so I used organic whole wheat rotini instead.

Fresh Berries with Vanilla Mint Yogurt Sauce

Yummo! I made this sauce from epicurious to serve with fresh strawberries and blueberries for Bill’s birthday brunch. It took about two minutes to make and was absolutely delicious. I considered skipping the mint, thinking it was a) costly and b) superfluous, but it was a fabulous addition and absolutely necessary.

Jenn added GF coffeecake to to the meal and Lorraine made egg casserole with Boulder sausage, red bell peppers, zucchini and hash browns. Oh, and Eryc made mimosas with pineapple orange juice. A lovely breakfast!

Cheese-gilded Linguine with Smoky Tomatoes & Spinach Sautéed with Garlic

This is the first recipe I’ve made from The Splendid Table’s How to Eat Supper: Recipes, Stories, and Opinions from Public Radio’s Award Winning Food Show (thank you Lorraine). I served it with baby spinach and slivered garlic sautéed in olive oil.

I used several of the authors’ tricks while making this recipe. First, I heavily salted the pasta water... the authors explain that pasta doesn’t absorb salt once it’s cooked. Your pasta water should actually taste like the sea (and then you need less salt in your sauce).

I also sprang for organic Muir Glen whole tomatoes, which they recommend earlier in the book, and which gave the sauce a more dynamic flavor. And, of course, we used real Parmigiano-Reggiano—crucial to the dish’s success.

The pasta bordered on phenomenal and is definitely company-worthy—very flavorful without being heavy and a refreshing change of pace from “regular-old” marinara (of which I’m not a huge fan, unless it accompanies Lorraine’s manicotti).

Overall assessment: easy, unique and doesn’t require a lot of (expensive) ingredients. Definitely make again, next time with Ben’s homemade pasta! Sophia wanted me to be sure and note that she really liked it (and she ate all of it!).