Sasha's Kitchen: Banana Pecan Bread

I love banana bread and pumpkin bread, but I am not into making either in the most unhealthy way possible, with lots of butter. I just can't enjoy it that way. The following banana bread recipe is perfect because it uses canola oil rather than butter, just like the majority of my muffin and bread recipes. The combination of bananas and pecans is stellar, and this bread makes a perfect snack anytime. A slice of it is the perfect way to start your morning! I made mine in my mini silicon bread molds that I got at Crate & Barrel.

Sasha's Banana Bread (makes 1 full size loaf or three mini loaves)
4 ripe bananas
1 cup of granulated sugar
1 cup vegetable oil
3 eggs
2 cups all purpose flour
1 1/2 baking soda
1 tsp cinnamon
1/2 tsp Kosher salt
1/3 cup chopped pecans

Preheat the oven to 325 and prepare your molds. Mash the bananas using a food processor. In a mixer, on the lowest speed, combine the sugar, oil and eggs. Slowly add the dry ingredients until fully mixed. Mix in the bananas until combined, and stir in the pecan choppings. Pour the batter into your molds and bake until a toothpick comes out clean - this took about 45 minutes for the mini molds, but might take between and hour and an hour and a half for a full sized loaf. Allow to cool before un-molding and slicing. You can make larger batches and freeze, as well. 

Sasha's Kitchen: Banana Pecan Bread

Sasha's Kitchen: Blueberry Muffins

Blueberries are one of my favorite summer fruits. Lately , I have been getting some pretty fantastic blueberries from the farmers market here in Park Slope. Some went into that blueberry peach pie I posted recently, and there were just too many delicious blueberries not to make some blueberry muffins.  I never make my muffins with butter. Many people do and I am sure they are good, it's just that if I wanted to load them up with butter, I'd just make some cupcakes. Hence, my banana pecan muffins are also butter free. These blueberry muffins were delicious and the recipe I came up with wound up making about one and a half dozen. Use the best blueberries you can find - freshly picked ones from that summer farmers' market are idea. This is a great way to brighten up a sunday morning!

Sasha's Blueberry Muffins
3 cups flour
7 T canola oil
1/2 tsp salt
3 tsp baking powder
1 cup sugar
2 large eggs'
1 tsp vanilla
1 cup milk
2 cups fresh blueberries

Preheat the oven to 375. Combine the baking powder, salt and flour in a bowl with the sugar. Mix in the other ingredients (eggs, canola oil, vanilla, milk and blueberries) and combine well in a bowl. Divide in muffin tins and bake for about 30 minutes until just golden and toothpick clean. Allow to cool and unmold. Eat right away!

Sasha's Kitchen: Blueberry Muffins

Sasha's Kitchen: New Orleans Style Eggs Sardou

I am a big fan of cooking classes at Williamsburg's The Brooklyn Kitchen. Its a great place to learn new recipes, cooking skills and a great environment to cook with others. About a week ago, I took the New Orleans Brunch cooking class with Emily Casey and learned and helped make a bunch of fun New Orleans recipes, including beignets, shrimp remoulade, eggs sardou, creole grillades and grits, Commander's Palace bread pudding souffle and creole blood mary's. It was a great time and after the class, I couldn't wait to try out some (well most) of these recipes on my husband. So this past weekend, I made a nice brunch for Brad with some of these recipes. My eggs sardou came out pretty good as I practiced one of the skills I learned in the class - egg poaching. I still need to work to poach a bit more gently, but I am getting the hang of it. I have included the whole recipe below, although I only made six poached eggs for the two of us yesterday. Also, since I don't eat ham, I left that out both of the recipe below and my own version.

Eggs Sardou (recipe adapted from the Encyclopedia of Cajun and Creole Cuisine by John Folse)
8 poached eggs (see below for instructions on poaching)
1 T white vinegar
8 cooked or canned artichoke bottoms
1 T butter
1 T flour
1 cup milk
4 cups cleaned, fresh spinach leaves
salt, pepper and tabasco sauce to taste
1 cup hollandaise sauce

Hollandaise Sauce
3 egg yolks
1 T lemon juice
 1 stick butter
1/2 tsp salt1/8 tsp cayenne, or a few drops of tabasco

Rince the artichoke bottoms (mine were canned). Cover with lightly salted water in a saucepan and simmer five to ten minutes until tender but not overcooked.

Add butter to a pot and melt, incorporating with the flour. Whisk in the milk and let come to a boil, then reducing to a simmer. Let simmer for five minutes, and then add the salt, pepper and tabasco to taste. Sir in the spinach into this béchamel sauce, one cup at a time, allowing each cup to wilt before adding the next.

When ready to serve, poach the eggs into a pot of boiling water with a tablespoon of white vinegar added. Gently break the eggs apart and release into the poaching solution. Gently fold over the whites and when they are done after a few minutes remove with a slotted spoon.

To make the hollandaise, melt the butter slowly in a sauce pan. Put cayenne, egg yolks, lemon juice and salt in the blender. Blend at medium to high speed about 20-30 seconds until it lightens in color. Then, lowering the blender speed to low, slowly add the melted butter while the blender is going. The resulting sauce should be buttery, lemony and just a tad salty.

To assemble, top each artichoke bottom with creamed spinach, a poached egg, and drizzle with hollandaise, and sprinkle with a bit of cayenne. My husband loved this - it's the perfect springtime brunch entree!

Below, I have included some pictures from the NOLA Brunch cooking class at the Brooklyn Kitchen as well.

Cafe du Monde's chickery coffee, used to make a NOLA style Cafe Au Lait. 

Creole bloody mary and a delicious beignet! Yum!

Shrimp remoulade

A whole bunch of yummy eggs sardou 

Creole grillades and grits (veal chops)

Commander's Palace bread pudding souffle with a whiskey sauce - a real NOLA treat using the recipe from the famous Garden District restaurant!

Sasha's Kitchen: New Orleans Style Eggs Sardou

Sasha's Kitchen: Cinnamon Buns for Sunday Brunch

A week ago for Sunday brunch, I made cinnamon buns. These were a perfect, sweet brunch treat, only to be rivaled by the hazelnut french toast I made the following weekend. I had never made cinnamon buns before, but I was inspired to try it out using a recipe from the new Kosher baking cookbook that I had received to review. It's a terrific cookbook and the cinnamon bun recipe was a winner, and not too difficult to make. If you are making it for brunch, you will want to give yourself a bit of a head start, as it takes a bit of time to let the dough rise, just like with any recipe that uses dry active yeast. These are the perfect way to start your day.

Cinnamon Buns (recipe from Paula Shoyer's the Kosher Baker)
Dough
1 cup soy milk (I used Silk)
1/2 oz (two envelopes) of dry active yeast
1/3 cup plus 1 tsp granulated sugar
4 1/2 cups all purpose flour
2 large eggs
4 T margarine
1/2 cup canola oil

Filling
1 cup (2 sticks) margarine
1 1/2 cups light brown sugar
2 tsp ground cinnamon

You can also glaze with a confectioner's sugar , water and vanilla mixture, but I made them without the glaze, which was also terrific.

To make the dough, heat the soy milk in a microwave until lukewarm. Place in a large bowl and add the yeast and a teaspoon of the sugar and let sit for 10 minutes until the yeast activates and gets all foamy. Add the flour, eggs, remaining sugar, margarine and oil and mix well. I did this in a stand mixer.  I absolutely love making bread and dough because I love the way that activated yeast smells in the kitchen. Place in an oiled bowl and cover with plastic wrap. Allow to rise at room temperature for one hour.

While the dough is rising, make the filling. In a mixer, beat the margarine, cinnamon and brown sugar to make the filling until smooth, again using the electric mixer. Set aside. When the dough is done rising, place the dough on flowered parchment paper and roll into a 15 x 24 inch rectangle. Spread the filling evenly on the dough and roll up the dough into a long log. Use a sharp knife to cut the roll into 1 inch slices, which will be your individual cinnamon buns. Grease a baking sheet with margarine or Pam and bake in an oven heated to 350 for about 25 to 30 minutes, until golden brown.

This is another winning recipe from a great new cookbook that I really have enjoyed.

Sasha's Kitchen: Cinnamon Buns for Sunday Brunch

Sasha's Kitchen: Cinnamon-Apple Fall Muffins

Baking muffins always makes me think of my mom. She loves to make muffins, from zucchini muffins to carrot muffins to my favorite pumpkin muffins. I was initially intending to make apple cupcakes this past weekend, but ultimately decided that my recipe worked much better as a muffin. Apples are still in high season, especially here in New York, so these would really be perfect with any variety. I used locally grown, Granny Smith apples in my recipe, which were nice because the end result of the muffins was not overly sweet. I think my mom would have really enjoyed these. I loved the texture of the muffins as well - they're slightly lumpy, but really that is just perfect. The apple cider and the mix of spices are a nice compliment to the apples - it brings out the flavors of fall really well. Muffins like these bring me back to my childhood days.

I love cooking with apples, pumpkins and squash in the fall - these three foods are really the best thing about fall. I haven't tired yet either - I have a whole group of wonderful pumpkin desserts that I will be making when we host Thanksgiving dinner this year, and I am making butternut squash risotto tomorrow night as well.

Sasha's Cinnamon-Apple Fall Muffins
3 large granny smith apples
3 cups all purpose flour
3/4 cup of granulated sugar
1 1/2 tsp ground ginger
1 1/2 tsp ground cinnamon
1/8 tsp ground nutmeg
1 1/2 tsp baking soda
1/4 tsp salt
3 large eggs
3/4 cup of canola oil
1/2 cup apple cider
1 1/2 tsp vanilla extract

To make the muffins, first peel and core the apples, cutting into slices. Bake for 30-40 minutes, until soft. Next, I decided to puree the apples in my Cusinart miniprep. I didn't fully puree though - just enough to leave them chunky so that the cupcakes would have the perfect texture and have some actual lumps of apple in there.

Combine the dry ingredients (flour, sugar, spices, baking soda and salt) in a bowl.  Add the eggs, canola oil, vanilla, apple cider and apples and mix until well combined. The final mixture will be lumpy an a bit thicker than typical cupcake batter. You do not need a stand mixer to make this recipe.

Using muffin tins, or silicon muffin molds (I am a huge fan of any baking tools made of silicon, including the muffin tins), fill 3/4 of the way full, the same way as if you were making cupcakes. I was initially intending on turning these into apple cupcakes with a caramel icing or glaze, but the muffin idea really worked much better since they are not super-sweet. I think using Granny Smith apples (rather than a sweeter variety) is crucial to accomplishing that.

Bake the muffins at 350 for about 20-25 minutes (I'd say mine took about 22). Enjoy!

Sasha's Kitchen: Cinnamon-Apple Fall Muffins

Sasha's Kitchen: Banana Pecan Muffins

I love muffins.  They are perfect for breakfast, brunch or any other time of day.  And they can be easy to make, and much healthier than cupcakes.  I like to make my muffins with canola oil, rather than butter so they are healthier.  My favorite muffins are blueberry muffins and banana nut muffins.  I created my own recipe for banana pecan muffins a couple weeks ago that worked out just perfectly.  I made these in my mixer to combine the ingredients, but you really can make this recipe without a stand mixer. I made these for a saturday or sunday brunch, but the rest of them were enjoyed over the remainder of the week as perfect snacks.

Sasha's Banana Nut Muffins
7 T canola oil
1 1/4 milk
1 egg
1/2 tsp salt
2 pureed bananas
2 cups flour
1/2 cup chopped pecans
1 cup sugar
1 T baking powder

To prepare these combine the dry ingredients.  Beat the egg well with a fork and combine the egg, followed by the canola oil, banana puree and milk.  Stir in the pecans.  Fill a silicon muffin pan with the batter (which should be enough to make a dozen muffins).  Bake in an oven preheated at 350 for about 20 minutes.

This is an easy baking recipe (and when I say easy I mean it, coming from the gourmet chef who still always screws up peeling hard boiled eggs) and is one kids are sure to love, too.

Sasha's Kitchen: Banana Pecan Muffins

Sasha's Kitchen: Maple Walnut Muffins for the Perfect Brunch

Muffins make for the perfect weekend breakfast.  If you make a good muffin recipe, it should be relatively quick and easy to make, and the muffins should disappear quickly.  For this recipe, I adapted the original recipe from my new Vermont cookbook to make it a bit healthier, using Canola Oil, rather than butter.  I also adapted the recipe to incorporate skim milk, rather than whole milk.  The end result was a delicious maple walnut muffin that was a scrumptious breakfast treat, and a healthy muffin that you can enjoy eating several of without too much guilt (not that there's any guilt here).

I recommend serving the muffins with a little bit of softened butter, or perhaps even a bit of whipped cream.  The maple adds a lovely (but not overpowering) sweetness to the muffins, while the walnuts are the perfect complement and add a nice element of texture.  This probably goes without saying, but the recipe is dependent on the quality of the maple syrup that you use for the flavor, so I recommend using the best local Vermont or Quebec maple syrup that you can get your hands on.

Maple Walnut Muffins (Loosely adapted from the cookbook, Dishing Up Vermont)
2 cups flour
2/3 cup high-quality Maple Syrup (I used Brad's Organic Maple Syrup, named after my husband!)
1 T baking powder
1/2 tsp salt
1 egg
1 cup skim milk
 7 T canola oil
1/2 cup granulated sugar (the original recipe called for maple sugar, which I didn't have access to)
2/3 cup chopped walnuts

Preheat the oven to 350.  Grease a silicon muffin tin.  I made a total of 13 muffins.  Mix the dry ingredients (including the sugar) in a bowl.  In a separate bowl, whisk the egg, canola oil and maple syrup.  Combine the two mixtures, alternatively also adding the milk, until all of the ingredients are fully combined.  Chop the walnuts and fold in gently with a spatula.  Fill the muffin tins and bake for about 20 minutes.  Allow to cool before removing from the muffin molds.

These really are perfect for brunch - despite the maple syrup, they are not overly sweet and have the perfect organic fresh New England flavor.  And, they are healthy too!

Sasha's Kitchen: Maple Walnut Muffins for the Perfect Brunch

Sasha's Kitchen: Asparagus Feta Cheese Egg White Breakfast Frittatas

I was going to post a recipe for my amazing chewy peanut butter chocolate chip cookies.  However, the cookies were consumed in record time, and the photos accidentally were deleted from my camera.  I am not happy about this!  So, I am going to have to make a new batch of those cookies tomorrow (yes, they were that good) and save that post for next week.  In the meantime, I am sharing a less sexy, but perhaps healthier recipe for the egg white frittatas that I made for my husband and I for a quick and easy breakfast this morning.  I'm not much of an omelet maker.  I've gotten some requests to share omelet making techniques on this site, but that is going to require further reading on my part since I always have difficulty flipping my omelets and getting a lovely shape.  But my frittatas are always beautiful, perfect and loaded with yummy cheeses and vegetables.  I usually use whatever cheese and fresh vegetables I have left around the house, so this morning I prepared a simple pair of frittatas using egg whites, asparagus and feta cheese.  I used egg whites here that I had left over from making tiramisu for a dinner party that we are hosting tonight (tiramisu uses only the egg yolks).


Sasha's Quick Asparagus Feta Cheese Egg White Breakfast Frittata
6 egg whites (separated from the yolks)
4 stalks of asparagus, chopped into small pieces
1/4 cup feta cheese

Combine all of the ingredients together and fill two small souffle ramekins.  Be sure to butter the ramekins or spray with PAM before filling with the frittata mixture.  Bake in an oven preheated to 350 degrees for about 30 minutes.  Test with a toothpick to make sure they are done.  These are perfect for a weekend breakfast or a first course for brunch.

Frittata

Sasha's Kitchen: Asparagus Feta Cheese Egg White Breakfast Frittatas

Margie’s Kitchen in Boston Valentine’s Day Special: Brunch Entrée – Strawberries Romanoff

Photos by Lena

This year, 2010, Valentine’s Day falls on a Sunday and for this reason I am suggesting a menu for a Valentine’s Day Brunch. The brunch begins with Crunchy French Toast. The recipe can be found in my most recent blog [I made a correction in my initial posting: ½ cup, not 1 cup of milk]. The next entrée is Strawberries Romanoff, which looks surprisingly simple to make that one might wonder whether the addition of a liqueur and orange zest could make much of a difference to the taste of plain strawberries; they do!

I’ve looked around at different recipes and settled on a simple version by Pierre Franey from the classic “60-Minute Gourmet” Series in The New York Times. This recipe is from a second cookbook from the series titled, More 60-Minute Gourmet (page 277 “Fraises Romanoff”), with one exception, I use orange liqueur (Patron Citronge ) and not Grand Marnier (cognac and orange liqueur):
2 pints strawberries, ⅓ cup plus 2 tablespoons sugar (I would cut in half), peel from one small orange, ⅓ cup Grand Mariner, ¾ heavy cream (I use whipping cream which is a bit less calories—5!)
Remove the stems from the strawberries. I usually take a knife and hack off the tops but I’ve come to respect the importance of food presentation after writing in this blog. For this reason I now carefully cut the strawberries around the stems then rinse, drain, and thoroughly dry on paper towels. When dry, place strawberries in bowl (flat bottom), sprinkle with sugar, and then pour liqueur over strawberries. Add orange peel and gently mix and refrigerate; no time is specified. You want enough time to allow liqueur to penetrate strawberries, 1 hour preferably. Whip cream with 2 tablespoons of sugar (or less if you desire) just before serving. Put strawberries in separate dessert-style glass bowls. Pour residual liqueur mix over the tops of each serving bowl and serve with whipped cream. Stay tuned for my last Valentine’s Day Brunch entrée.

Margie’s Kitchen in Boston Valentine’s Day Special: Brunch Entrée – Strawberries Romanoff

Molly D's Kitchen in Seattle: Congee

One of my favorite comfort foods is rice porridge with Chinese flavors. When I was a kid in Honolulu we called it jook (the “oo” is pronounced as in “book”), which from what I can tell from my limited research is a Korean or alternative Cantonese name. Now that I’m on the mainland it seems the more common name is congee, so that’s what I’m calling it here.

My parents never made congee when I was little, so I only ate it in restaurants, often with dim sum. Muddling through Seattle’s dreary winter, I recently decided to make congee a more regular part of my repertoire. It’s warm and filling, cheap and easy to make, and can accommodate a wide variety of ingredients and toppings.

My congee is adapted from this recipe. (The blog is worth a read, too.)

Here is the absolute base recipe:

Congee

1 c. short-grain rice

8 to 10 c. water

Wash rice and put it in a large pot with 2 cups water. Place over high heat until water boils, then add another 4 cups water. Bring to a boil and reduce heat to low. Simmer for about 1½ hours, stirring occasionally and adding water as necessary (about 2 to 4 cups more).

Serves 6-8

Of course, you won’t want to eat it like that; it’s extremely bland, and congee can be much more interesting. This is what I did to make the bowl pictured above:

Congee

1 c. short-grain rice

2 c. chicken broth

6 to 8 c. water

4 or 5 shiitake mushrooms

handful dried shrimp

Wash rice and put it in a large pot with stock. Place over high heat until stock boils, then add about 4 cups water. Bring to a boil and reduce heat to low. Soak 4 or 5 dried shiitake mushrooms in hot water until softened. Remove stems and thinly slice. After congee has been simmering for half an hour, add mushrooms and shrimp to pot along with a pinch of salt.

Simmer for another hour, stirring occasionally and adding water as necessary (about 2 to 4 cups more).

Serves 6-8

I topped this bowl with:

• Fried tofu cubes
• Slices of lap cheong
• Fried carrot slices
• Sesame oil
• Dark soy sauce
• Sliced green onion
• Crispy fried shallots

(So many of these were fried because I was already frying the tofu.)

But honestly, you can mix in or top with anything you like. Any or all of the liquid can be veggie or meat broth. In the step when I added the mushrooms and shrimp, you could also put in ginger, garlic, bits of meat, or anything else you want to simmer with the rice and flavor the whole congee.

Other toppings might include:

• Flavorful sauces like black vinegar, chili paste, or soy sauce
• Meats and veggies like char siu, blanched broccoli, or raw tofu
• Garnishes like crispy noodles, pork floss, or bits of onion

You could even use non-Chinese ingredients based on what you have in the fridge and pantry, I just wouldn’t suggest combining preserved soybeans with leftover chicken mole, you know?

Molly D's Kitchen in Seattle: Congee

Matt's Kitchen In D.C. - Cooking With Kids: Popovers

Since my son was born almost three years ago, I have unfortunately been up at the crack of dawn nearly every weekend. Over the past year or so, a family tradition has arisen - every saturday and sunday morning, my son and I fix breakfast for ourselves and for momma, who gets to sleep while the cooks are in the kitchen. The only criteria is that the breakfast has to be something special that doesn't get eaten during the week - so no toast or cereal. Most often, we make pancakes or waffles, sometimes with bacon if we have some. Occasionally we will make muffins or coffee cake. These types of recipes work well with a toddler as sous chef because they involve three simple stages - mixing dry ingredients, mixing wet ingredients, and stirring them all together. Thus, there are plenty of opportunities for my son to help out (see picture).

One of my son's favorite weekend breakfasts are popovers. They come out of the oven looking and tasting impressive, but they couldn't be easier. The only problem is that, unlike pancakes, you have to wait awhile for them to cook, which can be difficult. But once they do they are well worth it.

1 cup flour
2 tsp. sugar
1/2 tsp. salt
2 eggs
1 cup milk
1 tbsp. melted butter, plus more for greasing muffin tin

Put a 12-cup muffin tin in the oven and preheat to 450. Combine the dry ingredients and the wet ingredients separately, then stir them together quickly - just until they are combined, the batter doesn't have to be 100% smooth. Remove the muffin tin from the oven (careful, that thing is hot!) and brush them thoroughly with melted butter, or a neutral oil. Pour the batter in each cup until about 2/3 full. I find this will fill about 9-10 cups.

Bake at 450 for 15 minutes, then reduce the heat to 350 and bake for another 20 minutes. During this time, do not open the oven - if you don't have an oven window then you will just need to have faith that they are cooking properly. When finished, remove quickly from the tin and put them in a basket, wrapped in a towel. They really need to be eaten warm (read: as soon as possible) so you want to keep them from cooling.

When done right, they should puff up high above the tin they are baked in, with a crunchy browned exterior and a soft, eggy interior. The exterior should be browned and firm and cooked enough to maintain its shape even when you pry them out of the muffin tin. If they are undercooked they tend to deflate when you remove them - they still taste great, but don't have the pleasing puffed up shape. Of course, cooking times may vary by oven, so if you find that they are overdone or underdone according to my timing above, then adjust accordingly.

They can be eaten just plain, with a little salt or with honey or maple syrup. Also, for a variation try sprinkling some grated cheese on the batter in each cup right before it goes in the oven. My son refuses to eat them with cheese, but I think most people will like it. As a note, a large single popover cooked for a crowd is called a yorkshire pudding, and is a traditional accompaniment for prime rib or a similar meat dish. But that is a subject for another post.

Matt's Kitchen In D.C. - Cooking With Kids: Popovers