Was just sitting around on this 4th of July, watching bad tv, pondering what we had in the kitchen. Came across the four bananas that were getting close to being too ripe. Thought about just doing some banana bread or banana muffins, but that seemed more "bready" than I felt like. Last week, I'd found some pumpkin in the freezer from last fall when we'd roasted and pureed a few pumpkins. I made a great, hearty crust with oats and nuts, so I figured... why not make some banana cream pie bars using the same crust? I've never made banana cream pie before, though strangely, that's kind of how I met Justin - it was a topic of conversation. Then when I was grabbing the vanilla extract, I caught the chocolate chips out of the corner of my eye and decided they'd go into it, too.
Been listening to music all day today. Lots of Lagwagon, Strung Out, Swingin' Utters. It was kind of hard to choose a song. But one album I pulled out today was NOFX's "Punk In Drublic". Total flashback to my angst filled freshman year in high school. I remember specifically playing this cassette tape over and over on my boombox while playing Super Nintendo with my little brother. So I chose "Leave It Alone." -jen
BANANA CREAM PIE BARS Time: 30 minutes Difficulty: Easy/Medium (it seemed easy to me) Makes: 12 bars
Crust
3/4 cup old fashioned oats
2/3 cup flour
1/3 cup brown sugar
1/4 teaspoon salt
1/4 teaspoon baking soda
6 tablespoons butter (3/4 of a stick), softened
1/4 cup chopped nuts of choice (walnuts, pecans, almonds, hazelnuts, etc)
1/3 cup semi-sweet chocolate chips (optional)
Custard
1/2 cup granulated sugar
1/3 cup corn starch
1/4 teaspoon salt
2 cups heavy whipping cream
1 cup water, room temp
3 large egg yolks
2 tablespoons butter
1 teaspoon vanilla extract
4-5 large, ripe bananas, sliced thin
Preheat oven to 375 degrees F.
Combine oats, flour, sugar, salt, baking soda and butter. Beat until butter is cut into flour and crumbly. Stir in nuts and chocolate chips. Prepare a 13"x 9" (2 qt) baking dish by buttering or coating it with non-stick cooking spray. Press mixture into the baking dish evenly, coming slightly up the sides (make sure to even out the corners so they're not real thick). Bake crust at 375 degrees F for 17-20 minutes (until crust is golden brown). Remove and set on a cooling rack.
While crust is baking, prepare custard by combining sugar, corn starch and salt in a medium sauce pan. Whisk in cream and water. Then whisk in egg yolks. Cook over medium-high heat, continuing to whisk until sauce thickens and boils (about 6 minutes). Remove from heat and then whisk in butter and vanilla.
Cover the cooled crust with a layer (2 to 2.5) of sliced bananas. Scoop half of the custard evenly over the layered bananas, and carefully spread across them as evenly as possible. Repeat a second layer of sliced bananas and custard. Cover with plastic wrap and refrigerate for an hour before serving.
I like my creamy soups real thick... like a gravy! Justin, however, prefers his a bit thinner, and that's how we usually make them. This time around, I decided I was in the mood for a thick-ass soup. Really, this could simply be used as a chicken pot pie filling if you wanted, because that's pretty much what it is. Ohhhh... but it was so good! I think I need to heat up some leftovers while I type this up.
You'll note that I used frozen peas & carrots in the recipe, when everything else is fresh. I purposefully did this simply because the frozen peas and carrots ALWAYS make me think about pot pies... that 1950s retro thing, I dunno. I also wanted to be really productive and bake some pie crust to sprinkle on top, but I got lazy (and intoxicated) and went with crumbled crackers instead. And lastly, it seemed like a pain to write this in the recipe, but it calls for 1 cup + 2 tbsp butter. Well, I actually used the chicken fat from baking chicken for those last 2 tablespoons instead of butter, to help lend a little extra chicken awesomeness to it.
NOFX's "Mattersville" came to mind as I was thinking of how homey this
soup was. I haven't thought about this song in a little while, it makes
me laugh. -jen
CHICKEN POT PIE SOUP Time: 45 minutes Difficulty: Medium Yields: About 12 cups
Bonus pic! Deformed bell pepper with alien pods bursting
open inside of it!
1 cup + 2 tablespoons butter
1 large orange bell pepper, minced (about 1 cup)
1 medium yellow onion, minced (about 2 cups)
3 stalks celery, finely diced (about 1 cup)
8 oz package of mushrooms, diced
1 heaping tablespoon minced garlic
1 cup frozen peas & carrots mixed
1/2 lemon, juiced
1 tablespoon fresh thyme, chopped
2 teaspoons rubbed sage
1 teaspoon savory (it's an herb, for those of you not familiar - it's optional)
1 teaspoon paprika
1/2 teaspoon white pepper
1/2 teaspoon cayenne pepper
1 cup + 2 tablespoons flour
4 cups whole milk
4 cups chicken broth (homemade preferable for super chicken flavour!)
2 cups cooked chicken, cubed
Add salt to taste (some broths are saltier than others)
In a large stockpot, melt butter over medium-high heat. Add bell pepper, onion, celery, mushrooms, garlic, peas & carrots. Cook until tender (about 10 minutes with that many veggies). Add thyme, sage, savory, paprika, white pepper, cayenne pepper and lemon juice. Stir in flour, coating all the veggies, and cook, stirring, for about 5 minutes. (It will be paste-like.) Add the milk and broth all at once and whisk until the roux (flour/butter paste) is fully broken down and there are no flour lumps. Continue stirring until the soup just begins to boil, then turn heat to low and add chicken. Taste soup at this point and add more salt if necessary. Remove from heat and serve with crumbled crackers on top.
So, lately, I've been really into making spice/herb blends here at home in order to find flavor combos that I really like as Jen and I frequently do something simple like steaks or baked chicken thighs with a salad or soup for dinner. It's really nice to be able to grab a shaker and sprinkle some heaven on your meat and throw it on a grill or in the oven and be done with dinner! Or to rub it into some steaks or chops the night before a cookout and not have to mess with wet marinades and leaky plastic bags. Sometimes I like something herb-based for chicken or a hot chili rub for a beef roast or whatnot. I've narrowed down a few basic ones that can often be used alone or, more commonly, be used as a base for other flavors to be built on. The main rub I'll feature here was spread liberally over a tri-tip roast and actually has 3 other rubs as a base so I'll include recipes for those as well.
Making these three blends will provide you with a mildly spicy dry meat rub, a garlic herb sprinkle, and garam masala (an Indian "warming" spice blend), all of which will last far beyond this recipe and will provide you with an endless combination of flavors limited only by your tastes and imagination. I recently purchased a small electric coffee grinder that I am using exclusively for herbs and spices as the oils from said ingredients rarely wash out completely and will flavor your coffee if it does double duty for you. I picked one up for $15US and am very pleased so far as a mortar and pestle would take ages. Alternately, if you don't want to put out the cash for a grinder, dried ground spices can be used. They just won't pack the same punch in the flavor department but that won't matter if you just add a bit more of the finished rub to your meat than you normally would.
Safety Warning: Do not touch your face once you have handled spices! All spices have oils that we will be working to release, oils that will irritate your tear ducts and sensitive membranes! I spent a good thirty minutes tearing up in the bathroom after rubbing my eye on the way to wash up. I would suggest washing immediately after you're done grinding spices or, even better, wearing nitrile gloves that can be removed and disposed of after use.
After rinsing my eye repeatedly with cold water, I decided it would only be appropriate for the song to go with this recipe to be NOFX's "Stickin In My Eye" - Justin
If you are foregoing the roasting and grinding of spices, simply substitute ground versions of these spice measurements and shake to mix in a ziplock bag.
Add everything but the nutmeg to a cast iron skillet and toast over medium-high heat for about 3minutes moving the pan constantly. Remove from heat and spread out on a tray or plate to cool for 5 minutes. Once cool, add everything, along with the nutmeg, to the grinder and grind for 1 full minute. Store in an airtight container and use as desired.
Garam masala is rarely used by itself as it has many sharp and pungent flavors. It has some sweetness from the cinnamon but has much more flavor from the clove and cardamom. By itself, it's not very spicy. It imparts a slow burn and tingle to the tongue and back of the throat and is literally translated as "warming spice" as it adds a savory (almost a ginger flavor), mild, warming sensation to dishes.
SPICY DRY MEAT RUB
2 tbsp kosher salt
1 tbsp cayenne pepper
1 tbsp pasilla chili powder
1 tbsp ground white pepper
1 tsp ginger powder
1 tsp ground cumin
2 tbs onion powder
2 tbsp garlic powder
2 tbsp light brown sugar
1 tbsp seafood seasoning (Old Bay all the way!)
1 tbsp ground black pepper
2 tbsp dry yellow mustard
Add everything to a bag and shake until well combined. Simple as that.
This rub is good for any meats. I also like adding a little to soups to liven them up a bit.
THUDIUM'S HERB SEASONING
3 tbsp dried marjoram
3 tbsp dried savory
3 tbsp dried tarragon
2 tbsp dried basil
1 tbsp dried thyme
1 tbsp dried chives
2 tsp dried oregano
1 tsp dried sage
2 tbsp seasoned salt
4 tbsp garlic powder
Add all of the dried herbs to a grinder or mortar and pestle (you'll have to work in batches that way) and grind until fine. Add the herbs, salt, and garlic powder to a bag and shake well to mix.
This is a good blend to lightly dust over pork chops, chicken or seafood. Also good for soups and stews.
Cover the meat liberally on both sides and let sit in a plastic bag in your fridge overnight. Grill the next evening over high heat for 8 minutes per side, if you like medium rare.
This is not an overly spicy rub as the pasilla chili powder is not hot but rather tastes a lot like raisins in flavor. If you like spicier meat rubs add a little more of the Spicy Dry Meat Rub to it or substitute cayenne for the pasilla chili powder for some Cajun-style heat!
Fish is a food that I didn't like until I was about 27 years old and Justin made me my first fish hash tacos. This sealed the deal for me and fish and I have had a love affair ever since. Since it's surely due to California that I love fish (it's much less "fishy" here than it is in Chicago), it was only natural that our play list consist of some of our favourite California bands - Rancid, NOFX, and Sublime. Sublime's "Bad Fish" came on, and seemed incredibly appropriate in its juxtaposition to our excellent fish recipe below. -jen
BLACK BEAN & OLIVE SPANISH RICE
3 tablespoons olive oil
1/2 onion, diced
1/2 cup shredded carrots
1/2 cup chopped green or Kalamata olives
2 tablespoons minced garlic
1.5 cups of long-grain white rice
2.5-3 cups water **see instructions
15oz can diced tomatoes, drained (keep juice and set aside)
15 oz can black beans, drained
2 tablespoons Caldo de Pollo (or chicken boullon)
1 teaspoon cumin
1 teaspoon coriander
1 teaspoon chili powder
1/2 teaspoon smoked paprika
1/4 cup chopped cilantro
Heat olive oil in large skillet or sauce pan. Sautee onions and carrots until tender and onions are transparent. Add chopped olives and minced garlic and sautee another 3 minutes.
Add rice to vegetables and mix in. Measure the drained tomato juice into a measuring cup, and use water to make up 3 cups of liquid total. (If you have 1/2 a cup juice, you'll use 2.5 cups of water). Carefully add liquid to hot pan. Stir in tomatoes, beans, Caldo de Pollo, cumin, coriander, chili powder, smoked paprika and cilantro. Bring to a boil. Cover and turn heat to low. Simmer for 25 minutes or until all the liquid is absorbed. Don't lift the lid during cooking!
FISH TACOS
2 tablespoons olive oil
1/2 cup diced onion (yellow, white, spring, or combination)
1 pound of boneless, light fish (sole, snapper, catfish, cod, etc), patted dry and cut into large chunks
1 teaspoon salt
1/2 teaspoon black pepper
1/2 teaspoon rubbed or ground sage
1/2 teaspoon dried thyme
1/2 teaspoon cayenne pepper (if desired)
1 lime (1 tsp of zest, and then juice the entire lime)
1 teaspoon minced garlic
1/4 cup cilantro, chopped
corn tortillas
Avocado Sauce (see recipe below)
cilantro and chopped green onions for garnish
Queso Fresco (if desired)
Heat oil in a large skillet on medium-high heat. Add onion and cook until onion is tender and translucent, 1-2 minutes. Add fish, salt, pepper, sage, thyme, lime zest, and cayenne. Cook for 2-3 minutes; fish will begin to turn an opaque white. Add lime juice, garlic, and cilantro. Continue cooking another 3 minutes, using the spatula to break up the fish into a hash. Remove from heat.
Heat tortillas over the open flame of a gas burner until lightly browned (or use a dry skillet if you have electric burners). Serve fish in warmed tortilla, top with Avocado Sauce, green onions, and cilantro. We like to add a little crumbled Queso Fresco to ours.
AVOCADO SAUCE
This is a light, avocado and citrus sauce that goes well with fish, chicken, or as a vegetable dip.
1 avocado, cubed
1 green onion, chopped
juice of 1 lime
1 teaspoon minced garlic
2 tablespoons cilantro
2 tablespoons sour cream
1 tablespoon mayonnaise
1 teaspoon green Tabasco sauce
pinch of salt
pinch of black pepper
In a small food processor, combine all ingredients, blend well.
Crust
While crust is baking, prepare custard by combining sugar, corn starch and salt in a medium sauce pan. Whisk in cream and water. Then whisk in egg yolks. Cook over medium-high heat, continuing to whisk until sauce thickens and boils (about 6 minutes). Remove from heat and then whisk in butter and vanilla.
