The Secret Life of Bees and Some Cake Too!

 

We at Cook the Books Club are currently reading The Secret Life of Bees, by Sue Monk Kidd, hosted this round by Debra of Eliot's Eats.  This is a novel I had totally missed out on, though it's been around for over 20 years now. Quite an original and fascinating tale. I especially loved the account of 14 year old Lily springing her nanny from the hospital lockdown, after she was beaten up for daring to attempt voting!  

The Portuguese Escape and Bacalhau, Etc.

The Portuguese Escape by Ann Bridge, an author I have only recently discovered, then also saddened to hear she is no longer with us, in one sense anyway, but luckily her books live on!  This is the third novel of Bridge's I've read, and the second of her Julia Probyn mysteries.  What a wonderful, witty, and intelligent writer, always a delight to discover such an author!  Very highly recommended.  

From the Publishers:  "Julia Probyn, journalist and amateur sleuth, must acquaint herself with the world of counterespionage. Hetta, a young Hungarian Countess, just released from behind the Iron Curtain, is drawn into a communist plot. Together the two young women will need all of their strength to unravel the schemes and machinations closing in from all sides.

With Ann Bridge's talent for evoking place and mixing mystery with humor, The Portuguese Escape, book two in The Julia Probyn Mysteries, is full of danger and adventure amidst Communist intrigue." To put it mildly! And with romance touchingly thrown into the mix.

A Death in Vienna - Pastry Disaster

 I just finished A Death in Vienna by Frank Tallis, the debut novel for a new series, and was quite impressed with his unique combination of the history of psychology and early 20th century Vienna, romance and mystery.  This is the era of Freud, Klimt and Mahler. There is a new wave of artistic as well as scientific innovation, contending with old school thought, the reigning, male dominated conservatism which categorized abused and traumatized women as "hysterics" and often had them committed to hospitals for the mentally ill.  It was also an age in which antisemitic feeling was gaining ground.

This then is the setting for a murder, and the fledgling psychologist hero, Max Liebermann, assists his police detective friend in finding the totally unusual and unexpected solution.

A beautiful medium is killed in mysterious circumstances – a murder that couldn’t have been committed by anyone alive, from all the available evidence.  The supernatural is invoked, but of course, appearances can be deceiving.  A fascinating, delightful read and highly recommended.

Hana Bay Banana Cream Pie

We do have a Hana here in Hawaii, on the island of Maui, however this is a Carabbean Hana, as in the rum, used in this pie for flavor.  Don't worry you tee totallers, it's cooked out.  Totally.  Trust me.

The trick with my version of Banana Cream Pie is actually not the rum, but lies in caramelizing the bananas first in butter and palm sugar.  Then you set that aside and make the custard, into which you stir all those lovely bananas.  The cream is in the custard and extra goes on top.  Yum.

Best Banana (or Breadfruit) Waffles

Yes, you heard me right.  I have discovered that a ripe breadfruit can be used interchangeably with ripe mashed bananas.  So, for muffins, pancakes, waffles and even aebleskivers.  Those of you with access to breadfruit, who may not have used the really ripe ones before for anything other than Papaiaee, that South Pacific pudding, there are more options.  Actually, you could give me a few more ideas for them as well.

The fruit must be allowed to start turning brown and a bit crusty, just like bananas you're going to mash for a recipe.  The flesh even looks like ripe banana inside.  A client gave this one to Bob, and he brought it home for me to do something with.

Cut in half, then scoop out the soft fruit, away from the core and skin.  This was a medium to small ulu, and yielded about 2 cups.  Mash it up a bit.  The recipe is one I've had for years.  Used many times, tried, true and excellent.  Exactly as good this time around, with the breadfruit flavor just coming through.  For this South Pacific take, I used coconut oil in place of the butter,  palm sugar, soy milk and a little nutmeg. 

Breadfruit (or Banana) Waffles

1 cup flour
1/4 cup raw sugar
2 teaspoons baking powder
1/4 teaspoon salt
1 egg, separated (I rarely bother, but if you're using gluten free flours it might be a good idea)
1/3 cup melted butter (or coconut oil)
1 1/4 cups milk
1 cup mashed breadfruit (or banana)

Mix the dry ingredients together on a piece of waxed paper and set aside.  Combine egg yolk, milk, bananas and butter or oil in a mixing bowl.  Stir in the dry ingredients.  Beat the egg white til stiff and fold into batter.  Bake in waffle iron at medium heat.  Sprinkle one side with macadamia nuts if desired before closing the lid.

We had ours with some passion fruit syrup.  Coconut syrup would be nice.  Or maple syrup.  Now, since I've only used 1 cup of that breadfruit, I'm on to try aebleskivers with it, which will make the 5th in my series if they turn out.  I'll let you know.  Sharing with Hearth 'N Soul Blog Hop, co-hosted by Alex of A Moderate Life.

Banana Coconut Fritters

The fritters that aren't frittered (fried).  This is my long delayed, but promised post on banana fritters from the aebleskiver pan.  Fourth in a series, utilizing that silly fantastic purchase.  The last one was mini Yorkshire Puddings.   These delicious Banana Coconut Fritters were derived from François-Xavier's recipe at  fxcuisine.

This pan really is amazingly versatile. Of course, it's not as sexy or pretty as the Indian one on FX's link, called an Unniappam pan, but still, reasonably priced and quite serviceable for Corn Dodgers, Mini Popovers, Yorkshire Puddings, even Aebleskivers, etc. etc.  I intend to continue adding to the list.

More Bananas, Banana Almond Cake

Well, I just discovered that the ground, toasted almonds in my recently made Banana Almond Cake are on the list of trendy foods.  Haven't decided how that changes anything exactly, but hey, guess I'm just so with it.  I was looking for more ways to use up all our bananas.  Did the Passionfruit-Banana Sorbet, dried bananas, Banana Waffles, even sliced one into my Ahi Coconut Curry, a dish I've been making (with variations) a lot lately.  Then discovered this fantastic cake via Jules at thestonesoup blog.  Posted several years ago.  Back when toasted almonds weren't trendy.  She was ahead of her time.

This so beats Banana Bread.  It's in a whole other league, folks.  There's no flour, so it's gluten free, and the cake is light, yet moist from the fruit and ground nuts.  Toasted ground almonds smell so wonderful - they're in the running with fresh ground coffee, grated nutmeg,  and even, yes, chocolate melting. I want to roast and grind some more, just for the aroma, the flavor of which comes through in this cake.  And, as more bananas are on their way......

I used my Sumeet Asia Kitchen Machine, which was mentioned previously in the context of grinding cacao to make truffles.  It whirs them into submission very quickly. And, after the almonds are removed, just dump the bananas in and give them a whir.  So, here's my version of a now trendy cake. 

 

Banana Almond Cake

1 3/4 cups (250 grams) raw almonds, toasted

2 eggs

1/2 cup (110 grams) white sugar

1/2 teas. baking powder

1 3/4 cups (250 grams) bananas, peeled & mashed well

juice of 1/2 lemon

2 teas. lemon zest

2 teas. vanilla extract

1/2 cup sliced almonds

confectioners sugar to dust top before serving

Preheat oven to 300 F ( 150 C).  Butter a 9" (22cm) fluted flan tin with removable base.  Jules recommends taking a large square of baking paper, moistening it, then lining the base and sides of the tin with it.  I only put parchment paper on the bottom, which was a mistake. The cake stuck to the sides, messing with the nice fluted business.  Even with moistening the paper, it seemed there would be big creases around the sides, but next time (and there will be a next time) I'll do it anyway.

Process the whole, toasted almonds until finely ground.  Beat eggs and sugar until pale and fluffy.  Stir the almonds and baking powder well together, then gently add to the eggs.  Puree bananas with lemon juice and stir into the almond mixture with lemon zest and vanilla.  Mix to incorporate, without over doing it, so as not to deflate the eggs.

Pour into your prepared pan, then sprinkle the sliced almonds evenly over the surface.  Bake 40-50 minutes, or until a knife inserted in the middle comes out clean.  Let it cool in the pan on a rack.

Carefully remove from the tin to a serving plate and sift confectioners sugar over the top.  Serve with whipped cream, or whole milk yogurt if desired.  Very much in the Italian tradition of cakes made with seasonal fruits and ground nuts, great for an afternoon snack, along with a glass of vin santo or iced coffee.

Banana Ice Cream with Dulce de Leche

If you've thought I was through posting banana recipes, you'd be wrong. As long as they keep coming, I'll be trying to do something creative with them. When I can't think of anything or am too lazy to cook, there's always dried bananas.

But, just couldn't resist this recipe I found at Mike's Table. What an outstanding combination: bananas, roasted in brown sugar and butter, vanilla ice cream, and Dulce de Leche swirled in at the end. Of course, I had to fiddle with it. No cream?? This is ice cream folks. So, instead of using whole milk, I used half milk and half heavy cream. But, the good thing is, no cooking an egg custard. Plus, since I was making it for my grandson's birthday party, where there would be all kinds of picky kids running around (confession time here) I thought, if I throw in some lovely, toasty, macadamia nuts, there will definitely be enough. Ha ha, for the adults. And, won't it add to the whole flavor combination? And, I was right, on all counts, though the more discriminating of the children had some. "Honey, do you want chocolate ice cream, or the banana one with nuts?"

Roasted Banana Ice Cream with Dulce de Leche Swirls

This is derived from David Lebovitz’s The Perfect Scoop, via Mike's Table

7 ripe bananas (plus one for adding later in frozen or fresh chunks)
1/2 cup brown sugar
2 Tbsp butter
3 cups whole milk (as much of this as you want can be cream)
1/3 cup sugar
1 tsp vanilla extract
juice of 1 lemon
1/2 tsp salt
1/3 cup toasted, chopped macadamia nuts
1/2 - 3/4 cup dulce de leche

Slice 7 of the bananas, and toss them in the brown sugar and butter (melted a few minutes in the baking dish). Bake in a 400°F oven for 40 minutes, stirring once.

Once time is up, the bananas should be nicely browned and syrupy. Scrape the contents of this pan (bananas and syrup) into a blender/food processor along with the milk, cream, sugar, vanilla, lemon, and salt and blend until smooth. Cover and chill this in the fridge for a few hours.

While that is cooling, you can make the Dulche de Leche (very easy - milk cooks in oven) or if you don't want to heat up your kitchen, you can maybe buy this in some supermarkets. I wasn't able to here in Hilo, but you may be able to in a bigger city, one with more strange/ethnic stuff available.

Dulce de Leche.

one14 oz can of condensed milk
dash salt

Pour the condensed milk and dash of salt into a nonreactive oven-proof container (enamel, glass, etc). Cover with tin foil and put this in a warm water bath so that the water goes about halfway up the height of the pan. I used a heavy glass measuring cup. How simple is that?

Set this in preheated 425F oven at least an hour - check if it is looking like caramel yet. Is it thick and gloppy? Then it's done.

Here you see the Dulce before whisking smooth.

So, when it resembles dark butterscotch, remove from the oven, carefully take off the foil, and let it cool to room temperature, whisking well once it does. While it's cooling, you may want to toast some chopped macadamia nuts. Watch them so they don't burn. I overdid mine and had to do another batch.

Once well chilled, churn the banana-cream mixture in your ice cream maker, according to manufacturer's directions, for about 20 minutes. About 5 minutes before it's finished, dump the nuts in. I sliced a frozen banana (you can use a fresh one as well) into little bits, and once time was up, mixed it into the ice cream along with a few globs of dulce de leche. Immediately scoop your finished ice cream into a suitable container and put into the freezer.

It should sit overnight to take on the right texture. This is so creamy, nutty, rich caramelly good, yikes!

Banana Crepes

This is another, and highly recommended way of dealing with bananas. Just one of many things you can do with that wonderful fruit. I make my usual crepe recipe, which I've just noticed does not fit the ratio of Ratio, Michael Ruhlman's new book. But it's a favorite, originally from my mother-in-law, revised by myself, tried and true over many years. So, first whip up the crepes, and set aside (which is good for the batter) then, saute some bananas in butter, the amount depends on how many people will be eating them. For two of us, I sliced up about 5 small ones. We grow what are called Apple Bananas and they are so sweet and flavorful. Add a bit of nutmeg, cardamom, cinnamon, vanilla, (not all of the above) or get fancy and flame some rum.

We put a little trail of jam (this is Starfruit Marmalade) on our crepes, then the bananas, add a bit of sour cream or yogurt, roll it up and top with powdered sugar or syrup. Bob uses syrup and I like the effect of a dusting of sweet white on top. Eat, then do another, and on and on...

My Crepes recipe:

3 eggs
1/2 stick butter, melted
1 cup flour
1 1/4 - 1 1/2 cups milk

Beat the eggs well and add in some of the milk, and the flour, whipping like crazy with a wire whisk til smooth (this is the tricky part - avoiding lumps) and enough remaining milk, so that the batter still coats your spoon. Beat in the melted, slightly cooled butter. Pour about 1/4 cup batter in a hot crepe pan, with a tiny bit of butter first, if necessary, swirling around to coat the pan's bottom. Flip and do the other side.

This amount usually makes enough for us to have crepes for breakfast and a crepes dinner of some sort later, so I don't add any sugar to the batter. Not necessary. It's also another very delicious way of using some left-overs, which I did last night.

I was reading in my journal of ten years ago this morning, and my entry for April 21 was:

We are tenants in the vineyard of God's love - designed to produce fruit for his kingdom.
And this quote from Marcus Aurelius', Meditations:
As the earth is a pinpoint in infinite space, so the life of man is a pinpoint in infinite time - a knife-edge between eternities.

A good reminder to make the most of what I'm given.

Queen's Surf Banana Muffins

Well, after my silly rants on the last post, I thought I'd share these awesome banana muffins with you. They're an old favorite, and I do mean old. The recipe originally came from the popular Queen's Surf restaurant in Waikiki, which was torn down years ago. Note below for a bit more of the history.  I occasionally make a few updates, of course. There's crunchy, toasted macadamia nuts and chunky, crystals of raw sugar on top. I added some grated lemon zest, for a bit of citrus zing, and a little nutmeg and ground cardamom to heighten that mellow banana flavor.

What usually sets me off on a recipe quest is the sight of something like this. And the awareness of 4, yes four more large bunches of bananas in various stages of ripening. Have I mentioned just how good these sweet little Apple Bananas are? Got to be the most sought after variety for growing here in Hawaii.



So, out comes the faithful recipe card for banana muffins from the Queen's Surf. I'm also going to try Ilva's Chocolate Banana Bread, posted just the other day (her April 10th entry). Maybe with big chunks of dark chocolate. Yum.

Over the years, I've tried various and sundry additions to the basic recipe, dried or fresh fruits - pineapple is especially good, nuts in or on top, brown sugar, or honey, instead of the original plain sugar. This time I used brown sugar, a full, packed 1/2 cup, instead of the 3/4s cup sugar called for, which to me, is sweeter than I prefer. The flavors were heightened with lemon zest from one lemon, 1/2 teaspoon cardamom and 1/2 teas. nutmeg. Also, I used AP flour instead of cake, which I never seem to have on hand, and sifted only once with all the other dry ingredients, instead of three times. One day, I'm actually going to do what I'm told, just to observe the difference, if any. I may also separate the eggs and whip the whites to fold in next time. Here, I'll give you the historic, original version, for tradition sake, cut down to proportions for one dozen.

The Queen's Surf Banana Muffins

Ingredients:

3/4 cup sugar
1 stick butter (4 oz)
3 ripe bananas, mashed (a few bigger chunks are ok) and double the amount for smaller varieties like the Apple Banana
2 eggs
1 1/4 cups cake flour
1/2 teas. salt
1 teas. baking soda

Cream sugar and softened butter, add bananas and well beaten eggs. Sift dry ingredients together three times and blend with batter. Don't over-mix.

Pour into greased muffin pan and bake at 350F for 25-30 minutes. Cool on rack and enjoy!



These muffins were topped with sprinkles of raw Turbinado sugar and toasted, chopped macadamia nuts. If you don't happen to have macadamia trees in your garden, like I do, pecans or walnuts would be great. And, since the bananas, lemon and mac nuts are grown by us, I'm entering this post in April's edition of the Grow Your Own event.



For some background information notes:

Queen's Surf Restaurant and Nightclub

Queen’s Surf, built 1916 across from Kapiolani Park on Waikiki Beach, became Fleischmann’s Yeast heir, Chris Holmes' beach house in1933. Acquired by the city of Honolulu around 1946, following Holmes’ death, it was leased to Spencecliff Corporation which operated it as the hugely popular Queen’s Surf Restaurant and Nightclub. Closed down 1969 by Honolulu Mayor Frank Fasi in a lease dispute the building was demolished in1971.

When You've Got Bananas

Father's Day Breakfast Special

When we have time for a more leisurely breakfast, one of my all time favorites is fruit-filled crepes. I usually dribble a bit of marmalade down, add either fresh sliced mangoes or, as today, bananas sauteed in butter, a little creamy, thick yogurt or sour cream, roll it up and top with syrup or, as I do, with a dusting of powdered sugar. They're unbelievable!

Almost any fresh fruit is good, but bananas are even better when they're lightly sauteed in butter, just til softened. So, you see, I DO use bananas for something besides wine. There's cream pie, banana muffins, banana waffles, banana pancakes and, of course, banana bread too.

The easy crepe recipe is:

• 1 - 1 1/2 cups milk (batter should coat spoon well)
  
• 3-4 eggs (depending on the size)
  
• 1 cup flour
• 1/4 cup melted butter

Beat flour in gradually with whisk, then add the butter. Swirl a small amount in hot crepe or small saute pan. Flip after a minute and voila!

---

I was thinking about how Jesus told people many times that their faith had healed them - Luke 18:43 for example. Besides actually healing people he used parables, and the healing was also a form of illustration. You come to Jesus Messiah, and ask him to lift you above your circumstances - to save you. That is faith - that he not only can, but will. And, he does, by his mercy and grace. Because he loves us.