Hazelnut Banana Bread

It's good to be back in the swing of things. And with stellar banana bread at that. And Downton Abbey.  Oh mah gahhh, Lady Mary's wedding (and wedding dress)! Will Downton survive? Is Edith really going to marry Sir Anthony? And goodness, will Bates be set free?! So many questions.

A few things are certain. The Dowager Countess will have at least a few good one-liners each episode, Thomas will be an asshole (there's no polite word for it), the fashions will be incredible, and I will want to eat a whole loaf of banana bread. 

Banana bread is simple. Flour, ripe bananas, salted butter, an egg, vanilla extract, hazelnuts, baking soda, a bit of extra salt, cinnamon, pumpkin pie spice, and brown sugar.

Yeah, I'm still using pumpkin pie spice. Well you might as well, or it'll lose its potency by next year. Plus it's all the spices I love-- cinnamon, ginger, cardamom, cloves, etc. 

Mix the flour, spices, baking soda, and salt with the hazelnuts. I chose hazelnuts simply because I had them in the cabinet. Walnuts or pecans (or no nuts at all!) would be fine substitutions.

Ripe bananas are crazy easy to smush with a fork. 

Add the butter and brown sugar to the bananas. I used salted butter because it was in the fridge, but you can of course use unsalted and add a little more salt to the flour mixture.

Add the egg and stir it in.

Then follow it with the vanilla. 

Adding the flour is the final step. 

It's a thick batter with a gorgeous caramel color. I couldn't resist sneaking a taste.

I lined my loaf pan with parchment paper, but buttering and flouring the pan works just fine.

The crust is a deep golden brown when it's ready and has lovely cracks that let you know the baking soda worked.

The inside is somewhere in the middle between light and dense and so very tender.

It needs butter about as much as Pinterest needs another crock pot recipe. But! It's bread and bread is supposed to be buttered, right? Legit.

Hazelnut Banana Bread (makes one 8x4 loaf)

1 1/2 c all-purpose flour

1 tsp baking soda

1 tsp ground cinnamon

1/2 tsp pumpkin pie spice

Pinch of salt (Note: If using unsalted butter, use 1 tsp)

1/2 c hazelnuts, skins removed and roughly chopped

3 ripe bananas

1/2 c salted butter, melted

3/4 c brown sugar

1 large egg

1 tsp vanilla extract

• Preheat oven to 350º. Prepare an 8x4 loaf pan by either buttering and flouring it or lining it with parchment paper.
• In a medium bowl, stir together flour, baking soda, cinnamon, PP spice, and salt with a fork. Add the hazelnuts and gently mix in.
• In a larger bowl, smash the bananas with a fork until mostly smooth. Pour in butter and brown sugar and stir to combine. Add the egg and vanilla extract and stir until combined.
• Add the flour mixture to the wet ingredients and gently stir until just incorporated. Pour the batter into the prepared loaf pan. Bake 50-60 minutes or until a toothpick comes out clean.
• Let the bread cool in the pan 5-10 minutes and run a knife around the edges to loosen it. Pop the bread out of the pan and let it cool on a wire rack. If you used parchment paper, you can just lift the bread out of the pan. Serve with salted butter if desired.

Southern-Style Ribollita

I've been battling a head cold this week. You know the kind-- super congestion, fatigue, and general unpleasantness. While that might super-suck, it's also the perfect time to make a soup that's basically a bowl full of health and vitamins. Note: Whenever I say vitamins in my head, I always pronounce it vih-tuh-mins...like I'm British. That is how the Brits say it, right?

Pumpkin-Yogurt Bread

Pumpkin bread might be my favorite of the quick breads. Or maybe that's just the fall-euphoria talking. Oh who am I kidding, I've never turned down a piece of bread in my life. But! This bread is not so bad for you, seeing as it only has half a stick of butter and is mostly non-fat Greek yogurt and pumpkin. It's practically healthy. Except for maybe the powdered sugar I sprinkled on top.

Glazed Orange Pull-apart Bread

Mercy me, I'm finally over whatever pestilence was lingering around my person, and the sun is out again.  Is there a better time to introduce a recipe inspired by something I loathed as a child?

SC Shrimp Creole

This is a meal my family eats regularly.  Shrimp creole is thick and spicy and tomatoey.  I'll be honest.  I'm not even going to claim this is authentic because I have no idea if it is.  I've had shrimp creole exactly once in Louisiana, and I don't remember it that well.  BUT!  It has some of the most important elements of that style of cooking and rocks my world to boot.  So there.  Nanny-nanny boo boo.

Meyer Lemon Tea Bread

I had a dream last night that Will and I had a package of sausage biscuits.  The conversation that followed went something like this:

     Will: How many do we have?

     Me: There's seven in the package.

     Will: Six?

     Me: No, seven.

     Will: So there's six.

     Me: No, seven!

I woke up and had to laugh because it sounded like a conversation we'd actually have.  We're forever not hearing the other quite right, so we have lots of mixups in our conversations.  Plus, we both really like sausage biscuits, so this would be a legit concern.

Quite clearly, this is not a sausage biscuit.  Not even close.  It is, however, a wonderful representation of the winter citrus that is now lining the produce shelves at your grocery store.  This tea bread makes use of fragrant Meyer lemons, which are a little less tart than your usual lemon.  I've been eating it with my afternoon tea (btw afternoon tea is a totally new thing for me, I just wanted to sound like I've been doing it for years).  It's also a lovely breakfast bread.

Classic Cornbread

Things that make my life better:

• Puddin' and Daisy

• Soft blankets.  Don't underestimate the power of a nice blanket.  Will's mom gave me my favorite blanket ever for Christmas two years ago.  Now Puddin' likes it too.
• A glass of wine.  I don't think I need to explain this really.  It's a nice way to relax in the evening.
• Football.  Win or lose, it makes my heart pound and my pulse race.  Winning is better obvi.
• Cornbread from scratch.  C'mon, one of these had to be about food.

So cornbread from scratch pretty much makes my world go 'round.  I have a few rules about cornbread.  The biggest is that it should not be sweet.  Sweet cornbread really chaps my behind.  I know that Jiffy mix is tempting, and I have used it before.  But it makes something closer to spoonbread I think.  Maybe I'm talkin' out of my chapped behind, but I'm just particular about most of the cornbread I eat.  This is not to say it doesn't have sugar it.  The sugar just isn't noticeable.  A couple of months ago we got a loaf of cornbread from a higher-end grocer who shall remain nameless.  The fact that it was in a loaf probably should've been the first tip-off, but one bite of the bread and you could tell it was more like pound cake made with corn meal.  Kind of gross.  And completely disappointing.  

The second rule is that cornbread is best when made in a cast iron skillet.  It adds a nice touch, and I like the crust it makes better.  The third rule is that under no circumstances should cornbread be dry.  That's just sad.  Dry cornbread is like a featherless penguin.  It gets rejected, and no body wants to mess with it.  Luckily the penguin was able to grow its feathers after some love and care by aquarium workers.  The cornbread isn't so lucky.

Y'know good cornbread isn't hard to make.  A little of this, a little of that.  A pat of butter.  

Don't Mind Me. It's the Benadryl Talking.

I've been in a Benadryl haze for two days now.  It knocks me out, makes me have crazy dreams, and makes me feel like a crazy person.  Cray-cray.  This always happens with the change in seasons.  My allergies go nutso and I have a few days of sore throats and congestion.  It doesn't surprise me, but it does throw me for a loop.

The only thing making me feel like a real person right now is this pumpkin bread:

Sugar? Bread? Why Wouldn't You?!

My dog is kind of a weirdo.  Evidence:

There was a bag on the floor, and he climbed right in.  He did a few turns and plopped down inside.  Weird.

What's not so weird about him is his absolute terror when he sees lightning.  You see, when he was just a puppy, a puppy not even the least bit concerned about thunderstorms, a giant ball of lightning hit the pecan tree outside our house.  It made a spectacular bang and obviously was very bright.  Since then, Puddin just hasn't been the same.  Now when there's lightning he comes into my room.  I think it's harder to see the lightning from my window, so he lies down and goes to sleep.  Poor baby.

Ya know what makes me feel better when there's lightning?  Cinnamon bread.  Specifically, Joy the Baker's cinnamon sugar pull-apart bread.

Pumpkin Bread, Y'all!

Fact:  I was bitten in the face by a bug.  In my sleep.  I'd like to thank the good sweet Lord that it wasn't poisonous and that it's in a relatively inconspicuous spot on my jawbone.  Small favors.

In lighter, brighter news, I made my first pumpkin bread of the season!  This is easily one of the best I've made, especially because of the glaze I came up with.  It's stupendously moist, even after sitting out a few days.  In fact, we were going to share it at the tailgate Saturday, but my sister decided that she wanted to eat it more than she wanted to share it.  And well, I'm not gonna argue with the pregnant lady about food.

Saturday's Theme: Rustic Foods

Confession:  I love grocery shopping.  I like to look at meats and cheeses and products.  And wine.

On Saturday, my mom and I went shopping at the new Fresh Market that opened up in Pawleys.  I know it might be a little ridiculous to get excited over a grocery store, but I love looking at the things I can't get at Wal-Mart or even The Pig.  When I lived in Columbia, I had Earth Fare and Fresh Market within a reasonable distance if Publix didn't have what I wanted.  So yes, Fresh Market excites me.  And it's closer than Piggly Wiggly.

We had a pretty filling lunch at Roz's at the Hammock Shops, so we didn't want a big dinner.  Enter Fresh Market's inspiration.  I'm perfectly okay with hearty bread and cheese for dinner, so that's what we did!  I'd been eyeing this Kalamata olive bread earlier, so we grabbed a loaf of that.  It was big and crusty but not too crunchy like a baguette might be.  My mom wanted a little meat with the spread.  Thinly sliced capicola ham had just a touch of spice to it and was a nice addition to our little meal.

Does anyone else love the olive bar at grocery stores?  I love olives of all sorts, though Kalamatas are probably my favorite.  We chose large green olives with pimientos, Kalamata olives, and some hot cherry peppers.

I have a love affair with goat cheese, so we headed over to the cheeses and picked out a Norwegian goat cheese.  We would later be surprised by it.  Speaking of dairy, how could we not get some European salted butter?  Really, how could we live without it?!  Probably pretty easily, but if you've got the option, do it.

Our spread

That brown stuff on the far left?  That's the goat cheese!  I was completely surprised when I unwrapped it.  As it turns out, it has a slight caramel flavor to it.  Not in an unappealing way either, at least not to me.    I think it might be more of an acquired taste for some, but you won't know if you like something unless you try it.  A little look at this cheese blog explains more about how it's made.  I honestly didn't mind the sweetness since we were getting a fair amount of salt from olives and ham.

And of course, there was wine.

This was a malbec they had on display.  I am by no means a wine critic.  I just know when I like something and when I don't.  I enjoyed this pick along with the rest of the meal.

Don't forget dessert!  In keeping with the rustic theme of the meal, I made a free-form plum tart and served it with Talenti's Tahitian Vanilla Bean gelato.  Gawd, y'all it was tasty.  I combined two recipes to make one yummy tart.
For the dough, get out your:

• Flour
• COLD butter
• Salt

This recipe is from Food & Wine, courtesty of Jacques Pepin.  He made an apple tart, but it's an appropriate dough for really any tart.

Give 1.5 cups flour a quick mix with a pinch of salt.  Add 1.5 sticks of cold butter that has been cut into cubes.

If you have a food processor, this can be mixed in about two seconds.  I decided to use my hands, but you can also use a pastry cutter or a fork even.

Gettin' messy.

Eventually and without too much work, the butter should roughly be the size of peas.

Add 1/3 cup ice water.  I placed ice cubes into 1/3 cup of water while I mixed the butter and flour.  When I was ready for the water, I removed the ice cubes and removed any water that was added from the cubes melting.  I reserved the extra water in case I needed it.

After drizzling the water over, I gently mixed the dough with a fork until it just came together.  Dough can be rather finicky and may need extra water for a variety of reasons.  I ended up adding an extra tablespoon to mine, but you may find that 1/3 cup is just right.  If you need extra water, add it a tablespoon at a time because you can always add water if you need it.  You can't remove it, however.  

Knead the dough a couple of times on a lightly floured surface.  Pat the dough into a disc, then roll that baby out!

Okay, so I would've liked it to be a little rounder.  But hey, that's rustic for you.  You can always trim the edges if you're more of a perfectionist.

Line a baking sheet with parchment paper and transfer the dough to the baking sheet.  Parchment paper is good because it keeps food from sticking and also takes care of any mess you might have.

Here's where recipe #2 came in.  Sunny Anderson on the Food Network has a plum tart recipe that looked yummy.

You'll need:

• 4 plums
• Jam (I used black raspberry)
• More butter
• Sugar
• Egg

Start by cutting your plums into about 1/2" slices.  Really all I did was cut around the pit in a crosswise fashion so that the fruit came off the pit easier.  Then I sliced those quarters in half.  The slices should be roughly the same size so that they cook evenly.

The picture says it better than I can.

You end up with a mess of plums.

Spread 2 tbs of jam on the dough, leaving a nice, wide border.  

Arrange the plum slices in a pretty fan pattern.  Actually, you could probably just throw 'em on there and not notice the difference.

And because there's not enough butter in the crust, drizzle 2 tbs of melted good stuff over the plums.  Sprinkle a little sugar on them while you're at it.

Fold the dough over the plums.  You should be able to see the plums in the middle and still have some good surface area to work with on the dough.  Remember that egg?  Beat it with a little water to make an egg wash.  The yolk of the egg will give the dough a golden color, and the white will make it shiny.  Brush the egg wash over the dough and sprinkle with more sugar.  I prefer raw sugar for this because I like that you can see the big flecks of sugar on the dough.

Bake at 400º for about an hour.  I checked it at 45 minutes and it was almost ready, so I let it go a few more minutes and took it out.

Nom.  As you can see, it was a bit juicy.  Not that I'm complaining.  But I was glad to have put down parchment paper because it didn't stick AND I didn't have any mess to clean up.

I had plum slices leftover, so I used them as garnish on the gelato.  I may have licked the plate.  I can't be responsible for my actions when I eat delicious crust.

Here's the easy-to-follow version.

Rustic Plum Tart (serves 6)

Adapted from Food & Wine and The Food Network

Dough:

• 1 1/2 c all-purpose flour
• Pinch of salt
• 1 1/2 sticks cold unsalted butter, cut into cubes
• 1/3 c ice water
• 1 egg, beaten
• Raw sugar for sprinkling

Filling:

• 4 plums, sliced into 1/4"-1/2" wedges
• 2 tbs jam or preserves
• 2 tbs butter, melted

Preheat oven to 400º.  Combine flour and salt in a medium bowl.  Add cubed butter and mix in with fingers or pastry cutter until butter resembles peas.  Drizzle in ice water and mix gently with a fork.  Knead the dough 2 or 3 times on a lightly floured surface, then pat dough into a disc and roll into a rough circle.  Transfer dough to a parchment-lined baking sheet

Spread jam on the dough, leaving a border of about 2".  Arrange plum slices on jam and sprinkle with sugar.  Drizzle melted butter over plum slices.  Fold dough around plums, leaving the middle exposed.  Mix the beaten egg with 1 tbs water and brush dough with the mixture.  Sprinkle sugar over dough.  Bake 45 minutes to 1 hour.

Serve warm with ice cream. 

This tart is just that, a little tart.  It's not too sweet, which is why ice cream or gelato goes so wonderfully with it.  I almost ate it for breakfast this morning but decided I would rather have it with my afternoon coffee.