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.  

Do you know why I love Thanksgiving?  Yes, because we gather family around and give thanks and blah blah blah, but what I love most is constructing the ideal bite on my fork.  Flavors and textures that perfectly compliment each other, all at once.  I think this is why I love bowls.  Salad bowls, rice bowls, noodle bowls... you can eat a delicious bite with each spoonful (forkful, chopstick-ful?).  Does anyone else think about their food this much?  Should I seek help??

Anyway, my friend recently sent me the following recipe, and I shortened the title but it's really called "Crockpot Caramelized Pork Ramen Noodle Soup with Curry Roasted Acorn Squash" - a mouthful, right?  A PERFECT MOUTHFUL.  But before you click on the link and say... "wait, this takes 9 hours to make and calls for one thousand ingredients?!" let me calm you down right now.  Your crock pot will do most of the work... just throw that pork butt in there with as many ingredients as you have (I omitted the red curry paste and the Chinese five-spice because I didn't want to go out and get them) and let it slooooowly cook.  You don't HAVE to crisp up the pork at the end if you're low on time, but I would HIGHLY recommend it, as it really transforms the meat into something special.  For the acorn squash, I only roasted it in olive oil, salt, pepper and a little brown sugar because, again, I didn't have any of the rest of the ingredients.  But I still thought it was superb. 

Raw carrots offer the perfect crunch, and the egg's creamy yolk adds a wonderful richness... 

(Click here for a tutorial on soft-boiling eggs.)

Also, Sriracha on everything, always.  Forever.

Fifteen years ago, my knowledge of Greek food consisted of hummus and gyros (which I only ate when the bars closed).  Thank god it has expanded since then, because it might be one of my favorite cuisines.  One day, mark my words, I will go to Greece and eat my way through the country.  Until then, I will continue to explore the wonderful Greek restaurants this country has to offer, like Petros in California and Avra and Limani in New York.  My favorite things to order are Grilled Octopus, Moussaka, lamb anything and always, ALWAYS, Shrimp Saganaki, which is a simple, flavorful dish consisting of shrimp cooked in a tomato feta sauce.    

I've been dying to try it at home and I finally did.  It was extremely easy to make and I loved it.  Make sure you buy some crusty bread or soft pita to sop up this sauce.  I followed the recipe here (and ditched the greek liquor because I didn't feel like buying an entire bottle).  This is a wonderful transitional meal for the change of seasons... comforting but not TOO heavy.  Make it.  Opa!