Month: April 2023

Best Banana Bread

Recipes

Truly, I say to you, this is the best banana bread. Mango, dates, and a ginger and pistachio streusel topping.

Susan found this recipe. “Why don’t you make this for us? We have the ingredients.” And, I did.

You will be very happy you made this delicious and special banana bread.

Ingredients

2 cups all-purpose flour
1 ½ teaspoon baking powder
 ½ teaspoon baking soda 
¼ teaspoon salt 
1 teaspoon ground ginger
2 eggs, lightly beaten 
1 ½ cup mashed bananas
1 cup sugar
 ½ cup vegetable oil or melted butter 
¼ cup chopped dates 
½ cup chopped fresh mango 
1 tablespoon all-purpose flour 

Ginger Streusel-Nut Topping

 3 tablespoon packed brown sugar
 2 tablespoon all-purpose flour
 4 teaspoon butter
 ¼ cup chopped pistachios
1 tablespoon chopped crystallized ginger 

Directions 

  1. Preheat oven to 350°F. Grease bottom and 1/2 inch up the sides of one 9x5x3-inch pan; set aside. In a large bowl combine flour, baking powder, baking soda, salt, and ginger. Make a well in center of flour mixture; set aside.  
  1. In a medium bowl stir together eggs, bananas, sugar, and oil. Add egg mixture all at once to flour mixture. Stir just until moistened (batter should be lumpy). Meanwhile, toss chopped mango in 1 Tbsp. flour. Fold dates and mango into batter. Spoon batter into prepared pan. Sprinkle Ginger Streusel-Nut Topping over batter.  
  1. Bake for about 70 minutes or until a wooden toothpick inserted near the center comes out clean. If necessary to prevent overbrowning, cover loosely with foil for the last 15 minutes of baking. Cool in pan on a wire rack for 10 minutes. Remove from pan. Cool completely on rack. Wrap and store overnight before slicing.  (I didn’t wait that long! It looked so delicious and it was delicious.)

Ginger Streusel-Nut Topping  

In a small bowl combine brown sugar and flour. Using a pastry blender, cut in butter until mixture resembles coarse crumbs. Stir in pistachios and crystallized ginger. 

Based on a recipe from Better Homes and Gardens Test Kitchen.

One-Pan Paprika Chicken with Lentils, Squash and Daga

Recipes

For one week, maybe two, Susan kept asking me to make this recipe. At first, I thought it might be a bit labor-intensive. How wrong I was. It was, in fact, fairly easy to make and so delicious!

Writing for The New York Times, Yotam Ottolenghi:

“This oven bake requires minimal effort and is very much a meal in itself. Daqa is a vinegar-based condiment, most commonly used when making the much-loved Egyptian koshari, a hearty dish of rice, pasta and lentils. Daqa is a nifty way to brighten stews, braises and anything that needs an acidic lift. Feel free to swap out the kabocha squash for root vegetables, such as sweet potato or celery root, and serve the whole thing with nothing more than a leafy green salad.”

INGREDIENTS

Yield: 6 servings

  • 6 bone-in, skin-on chicken thighs (about 2¼ pounds)
  • ¾ pound skin-on kabocha squash, seeds removed, cut into about 6 (1-inch-thick) wedges (I used butternut squash)
  • 1 tablespoon plus 2 teaspoons ground sweet paprika
  • 3 tablespoons olive oil
  • Fine sea salt
  • 2 small yellow onions, halved and thinly sliced
  • 3 garlic cloves, minced
  • 1 teaspoon cumin seeds, lightly toasted
  • 8 ounces/1 heaping cup (uncooked) French green lentils, rinsed
  • 2 cups chicken stock
  • ¾ cup sour cream
  • ¼ cup finely chopped chives
  • 3 tablespoons finely chopped fresh dill, plus 1 tablespoon picked leaves for serving
  • 3 tablespoons apple cider vinegar
  • ½ teaspoon granulated sugar

PREPARATION

  1. Heat the oven to 450 degrees.
  2. In a large bowl, mix together the chicken, squash, 1 tablespoon paprika, 1 tablespoon oil and 1 teaspoon salt; set aside.
  3. Place the onions, 2 garlic cloves, ½ teaspoon cumin, 1 teaspoon salt and the remaining 2 tablespoons oil and 2 teaspoons paprika in a 9-by-13-inch baking dish and mix to combine. Roast for 10 minutes, stirring halfway, until the onions are lightly colored. Stir in the lentils, chicken stock and 1 cup of water. Arrange the squash wedges and the chicken, skin-side up, on top and roast for another 20 minutes, until the chicken skin is deeply golden. Turn the oven down to 350 degrees and cook for another 40 minutes, until the chicken is cooked through and the squash is nicely softened.
  4. Meanwhile, in a small bowl, combine the sour cream, chives and dill; set aside.
  5. To make the daqa, mix the remaining garlic and cumin with the vinegar, sugar, ¼ teaspoon salt and 2 tablespoons of water.
  6. When ready, remove the bake from the oven and top with spoonfuls of the sour cream mixture. Pour over the daqa and sprinkle with the extra dill. Serve hot, straight out of the baking dish.

Featured in: Yotam Ottolenghi’s Secret to Great Sheet-Pan Chicken