Nifty butter trick!

I saw this on Facebook and had to share.

Kimberly Reaves Bernards

April 3, 2016 · Robbinsdale, MN · 

One of the coolest baking tips ever... Tried and true... If you need to soften butter quickly but don't want to melt it.... Put boiling hot water in a glass to heat the glass. Dump the water out and flip it over your stick of butter. In a few minutes it will be softy soft to use! You're welcome!

Funny name for a fabulous treat

Chocolate lovers, this is your dream. It's a cake and pudding all in one, and comes in a little ramekin for you alone. Top it with whipped cream, strawberries, gelato, ice cream, Grand Marnier or Baileys Irish Cream, or a combination of the above. It's very rich, so it's best to make it in 4-ounce cups.

Muck-muck Cake
Serves 8

Ingredients
7 ounces fine dark chocolate, broken into small pieces (I've made it with Scharffen Berger 70%,  Lindt 85%,  Baker's semisweet chocolate and Safeway real semisweet chocolate chips. Buy the finest you can afford. You won't regret it.)
14 tablespoons butter (2 sticks, minus 2 tablespoons. Use the extra to brush inside the ramekins.)
4 eggs
4 egg yolks
1½ cups confectioner's sugar
¾ cup flour

Instructions
Preheat oven to 425 degrees. Brush 8 3-inch ramekins with a tablespoon of melted butter. Set all of them in a 9x13-inch pan. Fill the pan with about a half-inch of water.
Place the butter in a 2-cup glass microwave-safe measuring cup. Microwave for a minute and a half or until butter is completely melted. Stir in the chocolate. Microwave for 30 seconds more if the chocolate doesn't completely melt when stirred.
Beat with a whisk the eggs and yolks in a 4-cup glass measuring cup. Slowly add the butter and chocolate, then the sugar, then the flour, until completely combined.
Pour into the ramekins, then put in the oven. Bake for 10 minutes (if you get distracted, or like only a little goo in the middle, a somewhat longer time is OK). Remove from oven and serve immediately with a dusting of confectioner's sugar or the topping of your choice.

Adapted from recipe given to me by Linda Wallihan in Sacramento

Pi day pie – a rustic quiche

I was supposed to host a brunch today for my fellow nerds who wanted to mark the best Pi Day of our lives (3/14/15 9:26:59) by eating pie together. Alas, the best laid plans were laid aside when I slipped on ice in my driveway last Sunday and fell hard and twisted my left knee. It's healing, but I couldn't possibly host anything today.

But we did have pie this morning. I decided to try to make a pie that didn't require a lot of measuring or extra fat and could be committed to memory. Here's what I came up with and it was very tasty.

If you don't have ham, use crumbled cooked bacon or sausage or sliced hot dogs. If you don't have chopped fresh kale, used thawed chopped spinach squeezed until dry. Any medium hard cheese you like will do. Chopped green onions or any color chopped bell peppers would be good, too. And if you like it spicy, use cayenne pepper instead of nutmeg. If you don't have a 7-inch spring-form pan, an 8-inch pie plate will do.


Lori K's rustic quiche for two 

 Crust
½ stick of frozen butter (2 oz)
1 cup whole-wheat flour
¼ teaspoon salt
¼ cup ice cold water

Filling
2 eggs, beaten
¼ cup Greek yogurt
¼ cup skim milk
¼ teaspoon nutmeg
¼ teaspoon salt
⅛ teaspoon black pepper
2 slices of deli ham, chopped
½ cup chopped kale
¼ cup part-skim mozzarella

Instructions
Grate butter into mixing bowl. Add flour and salt and combine well. Add water slowly until it looks like everything is sticking together but not not sticky; you might not need the full amount of water.
Knead a little until it holds firmly together in a ball. Flatten the ball a bit, put it back into the bowl and put in the refrigerator while you make the filling.

Heat the oven to 475°.

Make the filling: Whisk together the eggs, yogurt, milk and spices. Roll out the dough so that it's large enough to cover a 7-inch spring-form pan. Press it around all the bottom edge, and flatten the folds. Take off any overhanging dough (you can roll it out thinly and bake at the same time to make crackers; they may be done before the quiche is, so keep an eye on them if you do this). Sprinkle the kale, ham and cheese on top of the dough, then pour the filling over.

Put in the oven on a baking sheet and turn the heat down to 375. Cook for 20 minutes. The sides will slip down and it will look like a rustic tart. Take out of the oven and cool for at least 5 minutes.

Savory tart centerpiece of vegetarian meal

Photographs ©2014,  Lori Korleski Richardson

Now that we're back from vacation, it's time to get back to the gym and start eating better.

One way to make sure we get the variety of vegetables that are the key to good health is to have at least one vegetarian meal a week.

Tonight's was a savory chard and onion tart, with a side of carrot salad on a bed of arugula.

I made the tart in a 10-inch spring-form pan for easier serving (it also looks good enough to serve to company that way, especially decorated with nasturtiums from your herbicide-free garden. The cheery salad is a simple and delicious Alice Waters creation that depends in large part on the freshness of the carrots, parsley and lemon, and the quality of the olive oil.

Savory chard and onion tart

Ingredients for crust
1 ¾ cups flour
pinch kosher salt
1 stick (4 ounces) frozen unsalted butter, grated into small curls
Ice water

Instructions for crust
Combine flour and salt in a medium mixing bowl and grate in the frozen butter; mix with two knives or a pastry blender until texture resembles stone-ground cornmeal. Add 4 tablespoons ice water, mixing with a fork, until the dough comes together. You may need to add another tablespoon or two. Handle dough as little as possible, form into a ball, cover with plastic wrap and refrigerate for at least 30 minutes. Roll out the dough and place in a 10-inch spring-form pan or 9-inch tart pan. The dough sides need to be at least an inch deep. Refrigerate until the filling is ready.

Ingredients for filling
4 tablespoons olive oil
1 large finely chopped onion
1 pound chard, stems removed, chopped
1 teaspoon dried oregano
Kosher salt and freshly ground pepper to taste
4 large eggs, lightly beaten
6 ounces chèvre or ricotta
¼ cup evaporated milk or cream
½ cup grated Parmigiano-Reggiano
½ teaspoon of freshly grated nutmeg (or to taste)
Dash cayenne pepper
3 tablespoons blanched, slivered almonds, lightly toasted

Instructions for filling and assembly
Warm the olive oil in a skillet over medium-low heat, then add the onion and cook until it is soft and golden, add the chard, oregano, salt and pepper, and cook 3 to 4 minutes. Allow the mixture to cool as you preheat oven to 375 degrees.

Combine the eggs, cheeses, milk or cream and nutmeg, then add the cooled chard-onion mixture. Pour into the crust, sprinkle with the nuts and bake 45 minutes. Serves 4 as an entree, 8 as a side dish and 16 as an appetizer.

Alice Water's Spring Salad
Serves 2

Ingredients
1/2 pound of carrots, peeled and shredded
1 clove of garlic
1 teaspoon white sea salt or kosher salt
Juice of one lemon
¼ teaspoon cayenne or paprika
¾ cup good quality olive oil
¼ cup chopped parsley

Instructions
Put the carrots in a mixing bowl. Mash the garlic and the salt into a paste. Mix it with the lemon juice and any spices you are using. Toss with olive oil; add parsley at end. Chill.

Breakfast blossoms

In "Rancho Cooking" (Sasquatch Books, 2001, 238 pages), Jacqueline Higuera McMahan, an eighth-generation Californian, mentions that her people loved squash blossoms more than they loved squash itself, and although I'm fond of squash almost any way one cooks it, I would have to agree.

You usually don't find squash blossoms in the grocery store; they are fragile and don't take to handling and transport well. But those big showy male flowers are wonderful in a number of recipes. I found them at the farmers market in Sacramento yesterday, along with a long stemmed spring garlic and some beautiful maitake mushrooms, also known as hen of the woods.

This morning, I made omelets with them. Unfortunately, we were so hungry, we ate them before I had a chance to take a photo. If I make them again tomorrow, I will photograph them before we eat.

Lori K's Squash Blossom Omelet 
with Maitake and Spring Garlic
Serves 2-3

Ingredients

Butter
⅛ pound maitake mushrooms
1 clove spring garlic, crushed and minced
1 tablespoon olive oil
6 squash blossoms
3 eggs
Salt and pepper to taste

Instructions

Heat a 12-inch crepe or omelet pan over medium-low heat. Swish the butter stick over the bottom of the heated pan, then add the mushrooms and garlic. Sauté until softened, then remove from pan and set aside.

While the mushrooms are cooking, twist the stems off the blossoms and remove them and the pistil and throw that part in the compost. In a separate bowl, beat the three eggs until smooth.

After removing the mushrooms from the pan, add the oil, swish it around and place the flowers in it with the stem areas near the middle. When they have wilted, turn them over.

Add the beaten eggs, swirling the liquid gently around the blossoms as not to disturb them. When they have mostly set, sprinkle the mushrooms over and season to taste. When the edges start curling up a bit,  flip in half, then split the omelet and serve immediately.

An anniversary dinner to remember

Detail of wallpaper at
Chez Panisse.
Photograph ©2014,
Lori Korleski Richardson

We were due to be in Berkeley on the day of our 25th wedding anniversary, so there was one restaurant that immediately jumped to the top of our list: Chez Panisse.

And we were not disappointed. Although a printed menu comes to each table, there was more to each dish than what was described. Each course seemed somewhat small, but by the time we were done, we were quite full. We ordered a glass of Spanish sparkling rosé (a 2011 Cava Rosado) for each of us to start, then I had a glass of chardonnay (2010 Votes du Jura, Peggy et Jean-Pascal Buronfosse, France) with the fish course, and Jim had a pinot noir (2011 Ponzi Tavola, Willamette Valley) with the duck (we shared sips).

After we were seated in a room that had been redone after a fire closed the restaurant last year, and presented with menus and a wine list, a basket of rustic whole wheat and a pain d'epi came, with a small butter bell and some fleur de sal. A server then came by with a few green, unpitted olives that had been marinated in orange and lemon zest.

 Here are the menu items, followed by photos.

First:
Porcini mushroom and celery salad with fava beans, mint and new garlic vinaigrette. The favas were mashed and spread on a delightful crostini; the sprouts and radish were also nice additions. Much to my delight, the celery was absolutely fresh and not overpowering in quantity.

Photograph ©2014, Lori Korleski Richardson

Fish:
King salmon in saffron brodetto with agretti greens. The broth was made from halibut and the little yellow orbs were cooked and peeled yellow cherry tomatoes. The poached squid was amazingly tender and tasty. Agretti is a salt-tolerant plant that is native to the Mediterranean, but tonight's greens were locally sourced. They had the look of rosemary, the taste of spinach and the texture of a delicate seaweed.

Photograph ©2014, Lori Korleski Richardson

Main:

Grilled Salmon Creek Ranch duck breast and leg with sage and pine nut salsa, wild rocket and squash tian. As you can see from the photograph, a couple of spears of peeled asparagus slipped in, along with a generous grate of parmesan. The sage was muddled with the pine nuts, rendering it an amazing seasoning for the duck. The leg was exceedingly rich, having been cooked confit style then crisped, while the breast was grilled in the fireplace until just warm. It was so melting tender that practically dissolved on our tongues. The tian was like a light, crustless quiche. Side note: Wild rocket, indeed. Just try keep arugula in the garden.

Photograph ©2014, Lori Korleski Richardson

Dessert:
Star blueberry tart with candied Meyer lemon.

I stopped taking photographs before dessert arrived, so I'll try to describe it the best I can. The tart was a slender slice, with a light, whole wheat crust. The candied Meyer lemon was in tiny bits scattered on a side drizzle of honey and a goodly number of raspberries. On the other side was a dollop of vanilla-bean crème anglaise. It was pure heaven.

After dinner, our server stopped by with the restaurant's version of an Almond Joy: two tiny coconut macaroons and two almonds dusted in cocoa.

What could we say but yum! And we'll be back well before we celebrate our 50th.

Squash with panache

Plop. Plop. Plop-plop-plop-plop-plop-plop-plop. It's raining acorns outside. Last year, the oak trees gave up so few that there were notes on Freecycle.com begging for anyone who had a bucket of acorns in their garage to please share for their squirrels. The oaks have more than made up for their previous year's stinginess.

It's also the time of year when acorn squash plop, plop, plop down in the stores as well. They look very cheerful with their pointy tips, deep green and orange coloring and scalloped exterior. I think that's why many people just half them, cook them face down on a cookie sheet, then serve them drizzled with maple syrup. Pretty easy, and a half of squash is a hearty portion for one person, a healthy alternative to a baked potato drizzled with butter and stuffed with sour cream, cheese and bacon bits.

Yet, I never much liked them. I pondered whether it was the texture, which can be a bit more stringy than butternut squash or pumpkin, or was it the maple syrup? Thinking it might be the latter, plus the blandness of the vegetable once the coating was eaten, I decided to try to peel the squash and roast it.

Peeling turned out to be the most time-consuming part, because of its scalloped shell. But once that was done, the rest couldn't be easier.

Lori K's pork tenderloin with roasted acorn squash
Serves 2

Ingredients
1 acorn squash, seeds removed, peeled and diced into 1" chunks
1 tablespoon chili powder
1 teaspoon garlic salt
1 teaspoon cumin
1 tablespoon olive oil
1 pork tenderloin
Spice rub
2 quarters of cabbage
Salt and pepper to taste
Butter, optional

Instructions
Preheat oven to 500 degrees.
In a dutch oven or enameled iron casserole, toss the squash with chili powder, garlic salt, cumin and oil until well coated. Cook for 15 minutes.
Coat all sides of the tenderloin with your favorite spice rub (I used Mas Guapo; it's spicy and a little sweet).
Remove the pan from the oven and lay the tenderloin on top. Cook for 20-25 minutes until the squash is very tender and the pork is 160 degrees in the center. Take out of the oven and wait 5 minutes for the juices to reabsorb into the meat.
While the meat is resting, put the cabbage in a microwave safe dish, season with salt and pepper to taste and cook for 4 minutes on high, or until tender but still bright green. Add a pat of butter while hot, if desired.
Remove meat to a cutting board and slice thinly. Divide onto 2 plates and pour any juices over the meat. Fill out plate with half the squash, and a cabbage wedge. Serve.

Note: There are usually two tenderloins in a pack; if you get a pack that's about 2 pounds, one will be just about the right amount for two people. You can cook both of them and have meat for sandwiches for the next few days.

Give me love, give me peas

Things were looking good at the City Market in downtown Charlottesville today. By 9 a.m. the line for tacos was out to the street, and they don't sell breakfast tacos, unless you think chorizo is breakfast sausage. The steak and the al pastor tacos are the best I've had in Charlottesville.


I bought some great looking dinosaur kale and rainbow chard, a variety of lettuces and some rhubarb-sweet cherry jam. But what looked the best of all were the fresh peas. I put on a Daily Show episode I had missed, and before it was over, my pint of peas had yielded enough for this recipe.

Lori K's Spring Pea Risotto

Ingredients

3 1/2 cups regular or low-sodium vegetable broth

2 teaspoons unsalted butter

2 teaspoons olive oil

1 large shallot, finely diced

1 cup arborio rice

1/2 cup dry white wine


1 cup fresh shelled English peas

1 tablespoon butter (salted OK)


1/4 cup Parmesan cheese

Salt and freshly ground black pepper, to taste

Instructions
In a large saucepan over medium heat, bring broth to a simmer.

For the risotto, heat butter and olive oil in a wide, shallow, heavy-bottomed saucepan over medium heat. Add shallot and cook, stirring, 3 minutes or until tender and translucent. Add the rice and toast for 1 to 2 minutes, or until slightly translucent. Add the wine and stir until it has evaporated.

Cook the risotto at a slow simmer, adding heated broth a half-cup at a time. Stir occasionally, making sure the risotto absorbs the liquid before adding more. Use more or less broth as needed.

Continue cooking in this manner for 18 to 20 minutes. Taste the risotto - it should be creamy and thick. It's best al dente, which means it should be fully cooked, yet still retain some firmness when you chew it.

When you have about 1 cup of broth left, stir in the raw peas. 


When the risotto is finished, turn off heat, stir in 1 tablespoon of butter, the Parmesan and season to taste with  sea salt and freshly ground black pepper.

Serve immediately.

Butter - let's make it perfectly clear

One of the ingredients called for in Sautéed Maine Scallops on Garlic Mashed Potatoes with Chanterelle Mushrooms and Parsley Nage in "Terra: Cooking from the Heart of Napa Valley" (Ten Speed Press, 2000, 256 pages) by Hiro Sone and Lissa Doumani is clarified butter. You could go out and buy it as ghee, a common ingredient in Indian food. But clarified butter, also known as draw butter, isn't that hard to make at home.

Why bother? Well, if you don't clarify butter, the solids in it will burn at a rather low temperature. And the milky part of it will cause it to go rancid in a few weeks. Clarified butter will keep for months in the refrigerator (maybe even next to the stove, but I'm not that confident it would meet food safety standards, so I refrigerate).

Besides, it's not that hard to do. You start with unsalted butter, cut into cubes. Melt it on the stove over low heat. Skim off the foam (this is optional; if you don't skim it, it will eventually drop to the bottom with the other solids). Keep cooking it until the moisture boils off and the solids begin to brown; this may take up to 30 minutes. (The higher the butterfat content of the butter, the faster this step will go.) Strain it through a mesh strainer lined with damp muslin, a hemp coffee filter or cheesecloth (you could use dry cheesecloth, but it will absorb some of the butter oil, and you should expect only about 75 percent of what you started with to end up as clarified butter). Regular coffee filters clog too quickly and absorb too much of the oil. You can either discard the cheesecloth with the solids, or spread them on toast or use them in soups or oatmeal.

It's possible to clarify butter in the microwave. Melt the butter in a Pyrex measuring cup that's at least twice the volume as the amount of butter you have. A frozen stick, cut in half, takes about 90 seconds, with another 30 seconds of swirling. Put the measure into the refrigerator and cool until completely solid. Skim any foam from the top, then loosen the fat and remove to a plate. Scrape any solids off the bottom and the solid that is left will be clarified butter.

If you don't have cheesecloth, try you can try using a gravy separator. Most of the solids will sink to the bottom. Pour them off, skim off any foam at the top and the rest should be clarified butter.

A nage to remember

©2012,  Lori Korleski Richardson

Nage isn't a word we use much, even among dedicated cooks. It is a French word that means "swimming," and is used to describe a dish served in a soupy sauce.

For my birthday this year, my dear husband - who before he met me was considered a gourmet bachelor cook - took over the kitchen for an afternoon and made me a version of this dish. He substituted haricots verts for sugar snap peas, a wild mushroom mixture for the chanterelles, and he skipped the baby squash.

There's a saying popular among cooks: "Never go to a restaurant for a meal that's not significantly better than what you make at home." It's no wonder we don't eat out more often.

And I must say, my birthday dinner was better than the meals at any of the restaurants that we tried for Restaurant Week, although the one at Ten came very close.

Jim found this recipe in "Terra: Cooking from the Heart of Napa Valley" (Ten Speed Press, 2000, 256 pages) by Hiro Sone and Lissa Doumani. We've eaten at cozy Terra several times, but have never ordered this dish.

If this seems like way too much work (not everyone has a whole afternoon to prepare a dinner), or you don't care for scallops, I'll be posting my simplified version of this recipe, made in less than 30 minutes with chicken breasts, later this week.

Sautéed Maine Scallops on Garlic Mashed Potatoes with Chanterelle Mushrooms and Parsley Nage
Serves 4
Typed in by Lori Korleski Richardson
Ingredients
For the nage
2 teaspoons minced shallots
1/3 cup dry white wine
1/2 cup heavy cream
Salt and freshly ground white pepper to taste
1 bunch flat-leaf parsley, stemmed
1/2 cup packed spinach leaves
2/3 cup chicken stock
Pinch of minced garlic
1 tablespoon unsalted butter
4 1/2 ounces chanterelle mushrooms, cleaned and cut or torn into bite-size pieces

For the rest
3 tablespoons clarified butter
20 ounces large scallops, cleaned (hinge removed)
Salt and freshly ground white pepper
2 tablespoons flour
2 tablespoons unsalted butter
8 peeled young thin carrots, tops trimmed to 1/2 inch and blanched
4 baby yellow squash, blanched
12 sugar snap peas, blanched
2 cups hot garlic mashed potatoes (recipe)
4 sprigs parsley, for garnish

Instructions
To start the nage, combine the shallots and wine in a small, heavy, nonreactive saucepan. Bring to a boil and cook until reduced to 2 tablespoons. Add the cream and return just to a boil. Season lightly with salt and pepper. Set aside and keep warm.

Bring a pot of salted water to a boil. Add the parsley and spinach, and blanch for 10 seconds. Drain and immerse in ice water until cold. Drain, squeeze out all the excess water and coarsely chop. Combine in a blender with the cold stock and garlic and process until smooth. Season lightly with salt and pepper. Strain through a fine-mesh sieve, pressing the solids with the back of a large spoon to extract all the liquid. Reserve the liquid and discard the solids. Melt the butter in a medium sauté pan or skillet over high heat, add the mushrooms and sauté for 2 minutes. Set aside.

To sauté the scallops, heat the clarified butter in a large sauté pan or skillet over high heat until hot. Season the scallops with salt and pepper, dust with flour on both sides, and sauté until golden brown, about 1 minute per side. Remove the pan from the heat and let the scallops rest in the pan for 1 minute.

Meanwhile, finish preparing the nage: Reheat the cream mixture, and add the parsley-spinach purée and the mushrooms. Bring just to a boil, then remove from the heat. Taste and adjust seasoning. Set aside and keep warm.

At the same time, melt the butter in a medium sauté pan or skillet over medium heat, add the carrots, squash and sugar snap peas, and sauté until heated through, about 2 minutes. Season with salt and pepper.

To serve, put 1/2 cup garlic mashed potatoes in the center of each of 4 warmed shallow bowls. Spoon the mushroom and parsley nage evenly around the potatoes, then place one fourth of the scallops on top of each serving of mashed potatoes. Arrange the vegetables on and around the scallops. Garnish with parsley springs.

Cookbook giveaway: Cooking From Above: Classics

Do you like pretty pictures? Are you a visual learner? The "Cooking From Above" series may be the cookbooks for you.

The books, published in England by Hamlyn in 2009, were originally $24.99 retail. "Cooking From Above: Classics," the book I'm offering this week, is written by Keda Black, described as "a French home cook and food writer. She was born in Zambia and is of a thoroughly mixed Scottish, Bourguignon, Spanish and Italian descent. Her cooking tends to go beyond the boundaries of traditional French cuisine but is never complicated or labored."

The biggest drawbacks to them is that they are paperbacks, they don't fold flat, and the pages aren't spill-proof. One reviewed also noted that some recipes have ingredients left out, and I noticed that some techniques are not fully explained, especially in the more involved recipes. It would not be a good book for a beginning cook.

If you lean more toward Italian food, I will be offering "Cooking From Above: Italian" at a later date. But this book does have a considerable number of Italian recipes.

Because you are a loyal reader of this blog, I'm offering this book to you, not for sale, but just for shipping and handling, $11.95.

If you want this week's book, "Cooking From Above: Classics," be the first to click the PayPal button (Buy Now) below, follow the directions to deposit a payment to my account, AND leave a comment at the end of this blog item with some way to contact you for your address or in case you were not the first one (I have only one copy of each book). I will send the book by Priority Mail on Monday. Offer good in the United States only at this time. You don't need a PayPal account, but you will need a credit card to pay with the button.

If this isn't the book for you, keep checking back on Fridays. I offer a different cookbook each week. I'll edit the post to indicate when a book is no longer available.

If you live in Charlottesville, you can save the money by coming to pick up the book. Be the first to leave a comment, with a way to contact you.

To give you an idea of the recipes in "Cooking From Above: Classics," here's a sample recipe.

Béarnaise Sauce
Serves 2 * Preparation: 5 minutes * Cooking: 10 minutes

Ingredients
2 small shallots
3 tablespoons tarragon vinegar or white wine
4 peppercorns
3 tarragon stalks
2 egg yolks
5 ounces soft butter, cut into cubes
Salt

In advance
Peel and finely chop the shallots

Instructions
Put the shallots in a small pan with the vinegar or wine, peppercorns and tarragon.
Bring to a boil, let it reduce, then remove the peppercorns and herbs.
Put the yolks in a small bowl over a pan of gently simmering water.
Add the reduced vinegar and whisk to combine.
Whisk in the butter, one cube at a time. Turn off the heat once half the butter has been added.
Continue to add the butter off the heat. The sauce should become rich and thick. Season with salt.

Banana nut bread - but what nuts?

The following post is taken off my Facebook page verbatim. If anyone wants Tina May's recipe, I'll ask if I can share it. Who knew how bananas people are about banana bread?

Lori Korleski Richardson

Banana nut bread: Better with pecans or walnuts? Discuss.

Yesterday at 12:45pm ·  ·  · 

• • 

    Lyn Crouch Walnuts. Sharper flavor thus better contrast with bland bananas.

    Yesterday at 12:56pm · 
  • 

    Marjie Lambert I like the sweetness of pecans in tea breads.

    Yesterday at 1:00pm · 
  • 

    Betsey Hawley Monnot I like my banana nut bread toasted. Walnuts taste better toasted than pecans. But maybe that's just me.

    Yesterday at 1:00pm · 
  • 

    Susan Portugall Walnuts! Nice sharp contrast, better texture, and better toasted. I guess I agree with prior comments.

    Yesterday at 1:11pm · 
  • 

    Susan Portugall I plan to make a loaf this weekend...yum!

    Yesterday at 1:12pm · 
  • 

    Mary Wiley Smith Pecans. There is a tartness to bananas that is balanced by the sweetness of the pecans. Plus, I just love pecans.

    Yesterday at 1:25pm · 
  • 

    Peter Haugen Should probably recuse myself, but I vote walnuts.

    Yesterday at 1:36pm · 
  • 

    Lori Korleski Richardson Thank you all for your comments. I went with pecans this time. I couldn't find my mom's recipe, but I remember it had walnuts and was very moist. I made mine with whole wheat and tried to cut back the butter. It was lighter than I thought it would be, but too dry.

    Yesterday at 1:52pm · 
  • 

    Peter Haugen When you cut back on the butter, try adding apple sauce for moisture.

    Yesterday at 1:55pm ·  ·  1 person
  • 

    John H. Ostdick Always the contrarian, I like my banana bread sans nuts

    Yesterday at 1:55pm ·  ·  1 person
  • 

    Lynn Pribus Alternate.

    Yesterday at 1:56pm · 
  • 

    Peter Haugen What?! John, you're nuts! (So do my kids.) ;-)

    Yesterday at 1:57pm · 
  • 

    Darla Morgan My taste says pecans or black walnuts benefit banana bread, but I never turn down nutless banana bread.

    Yesterday at 2:05pm · 
  • 

    Lisa Mondori Pecans, and I would leave out the bananas . . . .

    Yesterday at 2:39pm · 
  • 

    Jonathan Schnyer Walnuts! Pecans are too sweet :)

    Yesterday at 2:45pm · 
  • 

    Ann Bancroft pecans. walnuts too bitter :) (and I'm allergic to 'em, but aside from that, banana pecan is fabulous)

    Yesterday at 2:59pm · 
  • 

    John Griffing Well I'm allergic to nuts and have discovered that banana bread tastes great without nuts!

    Yesterday at 3:04pm ·  ·  1 person
  • 

    Tina May Pecans. Lori, I have a fabulous recipe from Cooking Light from years ago for Jamaican rum/lime/coconut/pecan/banana bread. It has a bit of reduced fat cream cheese in it (says to use whipped, but I use regular) and only two tablespoons of butter (the recipe calls for margarine, but YUCK). The glaze with lime/rum/brown sugar/ coconut and pecans is wonderful. Happy to share it with you, if you would like. It freezes well, too. Great toasted, except the glaze runs off...kinda defeats the purpose.

    23 hours ago · 
  • 

    Lori Korleski Richardson Yes, Tina, please send!

    21 hours ago · 
  • 

    Tina May Sent it to your personal email a little while ago. Lemme know if you got it.

    21 hours ago · 
  • 

    Denni 'Sue' Fike Conner Though I am allergic to them (the ONLY food I am allergic to and got it the last couple of years) is ... black walnuts :-)

    20 hours ago · 
  • 

    Gina Spadafori Walnuts. Pecans are for pie.

    19 hours ago · 
  • 

    June Augusta Gillam Either way sounds mouth watering!

    18 hours ago · 
  • 

    Nancy Jane Dodge pecans unless you can find some butternuts down here...

    17 hours ago ·  ·  1 person
  • 

    Hilary Abramson PECANS!

    15 hours ago · 
  • 

    Conni Musser toast the pecans slightly before baking. Afterward slather with butter

    4 hours ago · 
  • 

    Nancy Jane Dodge ummm...butter....

    2 hours ago · 
  • 

    Cyane Williams PECANS make EVERYTHING better (but I like walnuts too!)

    49 minutes ago ·