Best Banana Bread Recipe EVER

We have all been there...the last few bananas sit in the bowl and turn a little black while the week buzzes by. Everytime you pass them you think, "I really need to make banana bread." Then, just as quickly the moment passes. Yesterday I felt more inspired than usual. I called my brother for his recipe. He was happy to share it but wasn't where it was handy. I waited a few hours then I decided to crack open one of my many cookbooks.

This is what happened...

My house smells like bananas and butter right now...I am baking a Paula Deen banana bread.....

1/2 C butter, room temp
1 C sugar
1/2 tsp salt
2 eggs
1 tsp vanilla
1 1/2 C flour
1 tsp baking soda
1 tsp baking powder
3 ripe bananas

Preheat oven to 350.
Grease 9x5 pan.
In a mixing bowl, combine butter and sugar, mix well. Add the salt, eggs, vanilla, flour, baking soda, baking powder and bananas, and mix well.
Pour the batter into the pan and bake for 50 minutes.

At this point I don't care if it tastes good, my house smells so good I can't stand it. The dogs keep coming upstairs to tell me there is something in the oven. They usually only do that when I am baking chicken.

*************

Update: It tastes even better than it smells. I can't believe I found a recipe that doesn't need any tweak to improve upon it. Simple and delicious. Sooooo good.

Rather fond of fondue!

Okay, our kitchen isn't as cramped as it used to be but I still look for easy ways to entertain without taking too much time or space. For the Autumnal Equinox we celebrated by having ten people over for fondue! The beauty of fondue is all of the side items can be prepped ahead of time and it really is conducive to mingling groups of friends.

Here's the menu:

Traditional Swiss Cheese and White Wine Fondue with French bread, onion bagels, grapes and Granny Smith apples
Beer Fondue with Swiss & Sharp Cheddar with with French bread, onion bagels, and kielbasa. Caesar salad
Pinot Grigio Sparkling cider
Dessert: Sorbet and wafer cookies

Ahead of time: Cube the French bread, cut the bagels into 1/2" thick rounds. Rinse the grapes, stick them back in the fridge in a colander with paper towels underneath. Cube the kielbasa. Shred the cheeses. Chill the wine. Make sure you have the sterno or candles needed to keep the fondue pot on the table properly heated.

Gadget tip: A large lazy susan will make it easier to serve all the components of the fondue. The lazy susan can be turned while people are dipping their goodies in the cheese.

Etiquette tip: Some people haven't fondued (surely a verb even if spell check thinks not) before so its nice to give a few pointers on the methods of dipping and twirling and also, the golden rule of fondue...if you drop your bread in the cheese, you must kiss the person sitting next to you.

Recipes

TRADITIONAL SWISS CHEESE FONDUE
1 split clove of garlic
1 c. dry white wine
1 lb. Swiss cheese, grated
2 tsp. cornstarch
3 Tbsp. vermouth
Dash nutmeg

Rub pot with garlic, add wine and vermouth and heat on stove until bubbles begin to rise. Do not boil. Toss cheese with cornstarch and add to hot wine, a handful at a time, cooking over low heat until cheese is melted and smooth, stirring constantly with wooden spoon. Add nutmeg. Light burner, set pot on unit, spear bread with fondue fork and dip away.

BEER CHEESE FONDUE

1 sm. clove garlic, halved
3/4 c. beer (Sam Adam's Octoberfest)
8 oz. Swiss cheese, grated
8 oz. grated Sharp Cheddar cheese
1 tbsp. flour

Rub inside of saucepan with garlic. Discard garlic. Add beer, heat slowly. Coat cheese with flour. Adding slowly to beer. Stir constantly until bubbly. Transfer to fondue pot. If too thick add warm beer.

Go fish

I love fish and chips, but I am not a big fan of deep fat frying, at least not when it is me doing the frying. I usually cook for two, so a big vat of oil just doesn't make sense, and reusing french fry oil is a pretty poor idea, health- and taste-wise.

So I've been opting for hashbrowns and oven-fried fish:

Oven-fried fish for two
8-12 ounces true cod, cut into pieces of your choosing (i.e. the size you like your fried fish pieces, skipper)
Three slices of bread (I am talking about bread about the size of Wonder bread)
About 1/4 cup cream
Butter (I use about 1/4 of a pat per piece of fish during cooking)

Break the bread into small crumbs and heat on a cookie sheet in a 200-degree oven until dry and crispy.
Dip the fish pieces in cream, then dredge in the crumbs. In principle, you're supposed to somehow place the dredged fish pieces on a rack until "dry" but I didn't have a lot of luck with that.
Place the fish pieces in a casserole, top with a little bit of butter and bake at 350 degrees for about 20 minutes.
As I hinted a moment ago, this dredge-in-crumbs bit is a little sketchy, so you could also lay down a layer of crumbs in the casserole, lay the cream-dipped fish in on top and top the fish pieces with crumbs, then butter, then bake. The result is just as tasty.

Hashbrowns
Three medium Yukon gold potatoes, diced
One *small* yellow onion, finely chopped
Worcestershire sauce or other seasonings, to taste
Two to three tablespoons olive oil
1/4 cup cream

Heat the oil over medium heat until hot, then dump in the onions and potatoes. Season with your favorites (I like W-sauce, but they're good with pepper, salt and paprika, too)
Um, cook the hash until brown, flipping at least once (to prevent burning, if nothing else). When they're done, drizzle the cream over the top and cook for a couple minutes more, then serve.
These can also be amended with some cottage cheese...

Chase's Cobbler v2.1

It's been a few years since I posted my original cobbler recipe. So, taking inspiration from a recipe I found in this month's Country Home magazine...here are a few more delicious combos to try:

Cherries with Chinese Five Spice
Blackberries with Pears and cloves
Apples with Cheddar (add 1/4 cup sharp shredded cheddar to the "dough") and Nutmeg

Macaroni and cheese for one

The stuff in the box is never as good as from-scratch baked macaroni and cheese, but from-scratch M&C is also a big time and dish hog and gives you a ton of leftovers. If you like toasty bread crumbs on top of your dish, the leftovers are also a letdown. Here's my take on single-shot mac and cheese:

Cook a generous handful of macaroni noodles in about three cups of boiling water. Just cook them until they are al dente.

Drain the noodles and dump them into your smallest baking dish. You might have a more suitable dish than you thought, just hanging around. For example, I have a pair of little springforms that would do.

Into the noodles, mix 1/4 cup milk and 1/4 to 1/2 cup shredded cheddar cheese. You may heat the milk, but if not, be sure to put the cheese in first to encourage more uniform melting. You will notice that this way of making "sauce" will not give you that super-thick result you'd get from real sauce, but this is a quick-and-easy way to go.

Grate a generous amount of black pepper and nutmeg over the dish, then top with bread crumbs. You could tear up one heel of an old loaf of white bread, for example, into little bits.

Bake the dish at 350 degrees for about 15 minutes, or until the dish is bubbly and the crumbs are crispy.

Allow to cool for a few minutes, then dig in.

Dana Delish's Delightful Dips

From Dana's moderately cramped kitchen...

WOWZER....WHITE BEAN DIP

2 (15-ounce) can cannellini beans, drained and rinsed
5 cloves garlic
5 tablespoons fresh lemon juice
2/3 cup olive oil, plus 4 tablespoons (or Olive Oil Pam Spray)
1/2 cup (loosely packed) fresh Italian parsley leaves
Salt
Freshly ground black pepper
Cracked red pepper flakes
12 pitas

Preheat the oven to 400 degrees F.

Place the beans, garlic, lemon juice, 1/3 cup olive oil, and parsley
in the work bowl of a food processor. Pulse until the mixture is
coarsely chopped. Season with salt and cracked red pepper flakes, to
taste. Transfer the bean puree to a medium bowl.

Cut each pita in half and then into 8 wedges. Arrange the pita wedges
on a large baking sheet. Pour the remaining oil over the pitas. Toss
and spread out the wedges evenly. Sprinkle with the coarse salt, and
pepper. Bake for 8 to 12 minutes, or until toasted and golden in
color. Pam spray with olive oil works the best.

Serve the pita toasts warm or at room temperature alongside the bean puree.

HOORAY for HUMMUS

4 garlic cloves
2 cups canned chickpeas, drained, liquid reserved
1 1/2 teaspoons kosher salt
1/3 cup tahini (sesame paste)
6 tablespoons freshly squeezed lemon juice (2 lemons)
2 tablespoons water or liquid from the chickpeas

Turn on the food processor fitted with the steel blade and drop the
garlic down the feed tube; process until it's minced. I have a
microplane, and I actually think that works better to get the garlic
tiny. If you don't have one, GET ONE! It's the best kitchen tool. Add
the rest of the ingredients to the food processor and process until
the hummus is coarsely pureed. Taste, for seasoning, and serve chilled
or at room temperature.

I make the baked pita chips to serve with this too. MMM mmm goood.

International Potluck Fare

Over the past few weeks as I have discussed both the upcoming Cramped Kitchen television show and the currently running Cramped Kitchen blog one theme recurs over and over again. The simplest solution to the constraints of a mini-kitchen is eat out, order in or eat at friends' houses. (Actually those are the easiest solutions to any dilemmas relating to spending time in one's kitchen no matter the size.)

I recently spent several months nestled away in a small resort town in the Southern California Mountains. I belonged to a writers group up there and we had monthly potlucks. Some people brought a bag of chips as their "dish," others a bakery-made cake or two two-liter bottles of soda. A few people though consistently brought their "signature dish" and other party goers complained if those dishes didn't show up.

While our goal is to actually demonstrate that it is not necessary to give up on great meals made and enjoyed at home, the reality is we don't all eat at home every day so, my question is to you, "What is your favorite potluck dish to bring?"

And to keep it interesting...how about those dishes with at least a moderately international flare? And next week we'll bring the dishes back home.

Happy Cooking!

~Chase

TaraMATTsalata

My friend, Matt, who I loving refer to as the Cynical Chef, brings this dish to all the potlucks and office parties he attends.

TARAMASALATA a la MATT

Just whipped up some delicious taramasalata from an improvised recipe:
1 10-ounce jar tarama (carp roe). Make sure not to buy already-made taramasalata sold in similar jars. You could substitute other fish roe that hasn't been given a caviar treatment.
1-2 cloves garlic
approximately 1/4 small onion, finely grated (I used a microplane)
dash salt
juice of one lemon
about 1/2 cup extra-virgin olive oil
four slices cheap white bread and some stale pita, soaked in water
fresh-milled black pepper
Ingredients should be at room temperature. I used a large mortar and pestle, but a food processor or blender would also work.

Crush the garic, onion and salt into a paste. Add the lemon juice and tarama and pound for a while to break up some of the eggs. Whisk in olive oil in a thin stream as if making a mayonaise (which, indeed, you are). Squeeze out excess water from the soaked bread and pita; break up and whisk into the mixture and season with fresh-milled pepper. Adjust seasonings (if too salty, add more lemon juice).

Serve with wedges of pita, veggies and a side dish of olives.

NOTE: Our friends at www.cellartastings.com recommend this greek wine with taramasalata.

Try this dish with: Amethystos dry white wine, Constantin Lazaridis
From the wine region of Drama, located in Greece’s mountainous beautiful Macedonia wine producing area, in the community of Adriani, lies one of our favorite wineries in Greece- Constantin Lazaridis. Leaders in top Greek wine production and also in wine tourism in Greece, Lazaridis makes a range of wines from the Amethystos brand, to Chateau Julia, the flagship range. They also have an interesting distillery where they produce Eau-de-Vie.

The white Amethystos wine is made with principally Sauvignon Blanc, in an ultra dry, very zippy style. It tastes quite similar to how you would imagine a Bordeaux “Entre-deux-Mers”, as indeed it is blended with Semillon blanc and also the Greek varietal, Aegean Assyrtiko. The color is pale straw with hints of green and the bouquet is pure peaches! The flavours and aromas are intense and there is a lovely, long finish. Highly recommended.

Ensalada Española Magnífica De Guillermo Cornett

In keeping with our theme of what works in a small kitchen and staying seasonal...any meal that ends up in one big serving dish certainly fits the bill. Ah, speaking of Bill...

Bill Cornett's Superb Spanish Salad
aka Ensalada Española Magnífica De Guillermo Cornett

Culinary change of pace for you: Make the following
spanish salad.... three or so juicy valenica or blood
oranges (more if you use the latter, which tend to be
smaller), cut into 1-2 inch chunks. Chop, not too
fine, but smaller than the oranges, a spanish
onion--any white onion will do if you lack the latter,
and they need not be sweet, even though that may seem
necessary. Add a dozen or so pitted olives--kalamata
are a bit briney, but something along that line only
perhaps a bit milder will do nicely--if you do use
kalamata, go lightly until you've developed a taste
for what ratios work for you. Also, a few spoons of
sun dried tomatoes, but less is more with them. Stir
lightly and let sit (chilled if you wish) for a bit to
let the flavors blend.

Dog Days of Summer Picnic

It’s hot out, its hot in, you really don’t want to cook. How about making a great picnic, packing it up and taking it to your favorite spot – the beach, the lake, the backyard. Relax, soak up that sunshine – watch the sailboats, clouds or just the kids on the swings, remember how it used to feel when it was almost time to go back to school and you treasured every single moment of the last few weeks of summer.

A few notes: You need to be careful in this heat not to pack food that spoils easily or needs to be temperature specific to be enjoyed. We have proposed a mayonnaise free menu here and only one thing needs to be cooked – the cobbler – and it’s better to make the night before anyway.

Packing checklist – plates (enough for separate cobbler serving), fork-knife-spoon sets (put each setting plus a napkin and a packaged handi-wipe in a ziplock baggie), a roll of papertowels, a corkscrew, bottled water (stick it in the freezer for twenty minutes before you go), glasses (ceramic mugs are better if you don’t mind the weight – the wine will taste better and the water stay cooler), a blanket, hats, mosquito repellant, and sunscreen.

DOG DAYS PICNIC MENU
• Herb Roasted Chicken – purchased at the deli of your grocery, carved while warm and packed in a pretty casserole dish.
• French Bread with Herbed Cheese – from the deli, too (we like Rondele)
• Cold Corn Salad
• Chase’s Farmer’s Market Peach & Blueberry Cobbler
• A bottle of Spanish Rose or Beaujolais (chill it ahead of time and take it in an insulated sleeve) – see the sidebar for more suggestions

Cold Corn Salad

Package of frozen whole kernel corn, nearly thawed
8 slices of crispy bacon, crumbled
2-3 cloves of garlic, minced
2-3 chopped fresh jalepeno peppers, seeds & such removed
1 vine-ripened tomato, chopped
1 cup grated jack cheese
1 cup ranch dressing

Mix veggies together, then stir in enough dressing to coat them. Stir in grated cheese and bacon. The corn will keep thawing but its chill will help keep the salad cool on the way to the picnic.

Enjoy!

Dana Delish's Easy Blender Peanut Sauce

(good for your tiny kitchen! one appliance!)

4 cloves garlic
1/2 cup lemon juice
1/2 cup creamy peanut butter
1/4 cup water
1/4 cup ketchup
1/4 cup soy sauce
1/4 cup brown sugar
2 tbsp peanut or veg oil
4 tsp chopped fresh ginger
1 tsp red wine vinegar
1 tbsp onion powder
1 tbsp sesame oil
1/2 tsp crushed red pepper

Chop the garlic in the blender first, then add all of the rest of the ingredients, pulsing until combined.

Obviously this makes a TON. But take your grill pan and make some chicken skewers on it (chicken breasts and thighs in bite size chucks and veggies--remember to soak the wooden skewers first or they'll catch on fire!)

You can refridgerate the rest for up to a week...but it won't last that long...it's SO FLIPPIN GOOD!

THANKS TO DANA OSTERMAN FOR CONTRIBUTING THIS RECIPE!!

Chase’s Farmers Market Cobbler

Mid-July Version – Peaches & Blueberries

This recipe is one of our family favorites!
You can easily adapt it to the fruits you find at your farmers market on a given week and change the spices accordingly…the options are limited only by your imagination. The small baking pan fits in any oven and can go straight to the table.

1 cup flour
1 cup sugar
1 tablespoon baking powder
A pinch of salt
1 teaspoon spices: allspice
2/3 cup milk
½ teaspoon vanilla
3 cups total fruit: peaches & blueberries

1 stick of butter

Preheat oven to 375 degrees. While the oven is heating, cut a stick of butter into four pieces and place in an 8 x 8 glass baking pan, put the pan in the oven to melt the butter.

While the butter is melting, mix the dry ingredients in a medium sized mixing bowl. Stir in milk and then the vanilla.

Once the butter is JUST melted in the pan remove from the oven and pour the batter directly in on top of it. Spread the batter out gently, not touching the bottom of the pan with the spoon.

Sprinkle the fruit evenly over the top of the batter. Bake for one hour, until the cobbler is golden brown and coming away slightly from the edge of the pan. Cool for 15 minutes before serving.

Serves six.

I don’t recommend using a metal or ceramic pan but if you do, lower the temperature to 350 and cook it a little longer, otherwise the center tends to be mush and the edges chewy.

For other variations – mixed berries + cloves, apples + cinnamon, plums + 1 TBS crystallized ginger chopped.