Food is Food

I am a zombie.  Yesterday morning, Carson and I woke up, flew to LA, attended the Emmy's, and then flew home on a red-eye last night.  Essentially, we spent 12 hours in Los Angeles and another 12 hours on a plane in a 24-hour timespan.  I am a zombie.  BUT, it was allll worth it because The Voice won an Emmy!!!!  I was so proud of Carson and everyone that works so hard on the show, and it was very exciting to be there in person to cheer them on.  Tonight starts a new season, so tune in!!

Moving on to this ridiculously delicious banana bread that I made on Saturday morning in guilty preparation for leaving my children.  I think it worked, because they barely missed us and made us pretty cute "welcome home" signs.  Go, banana bread, go!  I tried out a couple of new techniques after seeing this recipe.  First, I caramelized the bananas by roasting them in the oven with a little honey and cinnamon.  Then, I browned the butter and let it cool slightly before adding it to the batter.    

By doing these two things, the banana bread tasted sinful.  Almost as if I had added rum or peanut butter.  It has a caramely, slightly nutty flavor, and it's perfectly moist and plain old delicious.  No need to bake this out of guilt, just bake this!  And watch The Voice tonight!  Ok, I'll take a nap now...

(Makes 1 loaf)

4 ripe bananas

Honey

Cinnamon

1 1/4 cup flour

1 tsp baking powder

1/2 tsp baking soda

1/2 tsp salt

1/4 tsp ground nutmeg

6 T unsalted butter

1 tsp vanilla

1/4 cup sour cream

1 cup brown sugar

2 eggs

Preheat oven to 400 degrees.  Peel bananas, and place on a parchment-lined baking sheet.  Drizzle with honey and sprinkle with cinnamon.  Place in oven, and cook for 20 minutes, until bananas begin to caramelize.  Remove, and set aside to let cool.  Reduce oven heat to 350 degrees.

While bananas are roasting, melt butter in a small saucepan over medium-low heat, until it begins to brown and let off a nutty aroma.  Remove from heat, and set aside to let cool.

In a small bowl, whisk together dry ingredients (flour, baking powder, baking soda, salt and nutmeg). In a larger bowl, add the bananas and mash.  Stir in the butter, vanilla, sour cream, brown sugar and eggs, and combine until just smooth.  Add the dry ingredients, and stir to combine.  Pour batter into a greased bread pan, and bake for one hour.  

When I'm on vacation and in an unfamiliar kitchen without my own arsenal of kitchen ingredients, I love to make up recipes.  Oh, when you're on vacation you love to relax, shop, get facials?  You sound normal.  I sound not normal.  However, I gotta be, gotta be, gotta gotta be me (all I listen to is the Teen Beach 2 soundtrack).  I made up this salad the other day, and while it may not look very appetizing (I think it could use some chopped chives on top?), it really, really was.  Roasted vegetables, fluffy quinoa and crunchy garlic croutons... a perfect side dish for just about anything!     

(Serves 6-8)

1 head cauliflower

1/3 cup olive oil, plus more to make croutons with

1 tsp cumin

Zest of one lime, plus juice for salad

Salt and pepper

4 ears corn

1 box quinoa, cooked

4 pieces bread, chopped into small pieces 

1 clove garlic, minced

1/2 cup crumbled cotija cheese

Preheat oven to 425 degrees.  Break up cauliflower into florets and place on a baking sheet.  In a small bowl, whisk together olive oil, cumin and lime zest.  Pour over florets and toss with hands.  Season with salt and pepper.  Wrap each ear of corn in foil.  Roast corn and cauliflower in oven for 30 minutes.  I use this time to make my croutons.  In a large skillet, heat a couple tablespoons of olive oil over medium heat.  Add bread and garlic, and cook for 10-15 minutes, stirring often, until bread is golden and crispy.  Once veggies are roasted, place cauliflower in large bowl.  Let corn cool enough to handle, and then slice kernels off and add to bowl.  Add cooked quinoa and croutons to bowl, and toss.  Finally, add cotija cheese and squeeze some lime into bowl.  Season to taste with salt and pepper!   

Want to know something?  I love olive oil.  Some women collect shoes, or handbags, or jewelry... and I collect olive oils.  One of my favorite brands, Bertolli, is celebrating their 150th anniversary and they sent me that beautiful anniversary bottle above.  It's so pretty!  I want to carry it around like a handbag or wear it on my feet!  I'm very normal!  Anyway, to celebrate, Bertolli is having a recipe contest in which you could win a trip to Tuscany (as well as other prizes) just by submitting a dish using Bertolli oils.  Check it out here and enter soon, the deadline is July 31st!

The other night, using Bertolli olive oil (duh), I tried to recreate a dish we recently had at the Manhattan Beach, CA restaurant Love and Salt.  If you follow me on Instagram, then you know I pretty much fell in love with this restaurant right away.  We ate insanely crispy yet juicy roast chicken, and pasta with bone marrow (yup), and a salad with crispy garbanzo beans... all while sipping spicy margaritas.  And we began the meal with an albacore tuna and avocado toast.  This toast was something magical... every bite so full of bright texture and flavor.  I could have made love to the toast alone... perfectly crispy and probably soaked in delicious olive oil.  Creamy avocado, with a hint of lemon, topped with fresh, chunky tuna that melted in your mouth, and sprinkled with some sort of olive (caper?) mixture and a sliver of onion.  Am I still talking about this toast??

I thought it would be the perfect appetizer to make with my fancy olive oil, see what I did below...      

I had ciabatta bread leftover from our local pizza joint, so I used that, however you could use sourdough or french bread.  Just slice, and sauté on the stove in a splash of olive oil over medium heat until both sides are golden.  Take a can of solid white albacore tuna (soaked in water), drain and place in a bowl.  Scoop out an avocado into another bowl and mash with a fork.  Take the juice of half a lemon, and sprinkle over both bowls.  Drizzle both bowls with olive oil, and sprinkle with salt and pepper to taste.  To assemble toasts, spread avocado first, then tuna and then top with some chopped kalamata olives (or use an olive tapenade).  Serve and enjoy!