Bananas and a Sunday Afternoon

I love, love, love Ina Garten's desserts.  Something about them - the comfort factor is way up there, the choice of ingredients are typically stocked in our house and there is an easability to substituting ingredients and the darn thing still comes out fabulous!  "How Easy is That?" is the Barefoot Contessa's cookbook that stresses simplicity but delivers on taste and the wow factor.  First off, good ingredients, and secondly, can't beat a woman who successfully ran a bakery for many years!

Today I found three overripe bananas in my kitchen that were screaming to be made into a cake.  Ina came to mind.  Go figure.  Her Old Fashioned Banana Cake with Cream Cheese Frosting looks heavenly - even though I'm not a fan of cream cheese icing, but the other two-legged members of my family are...I'm sensing I'm going to be a hit today.  Thanks Ina!

Old Fashioned Banana Cake with Cream Cheese FrostingBarefoot Contessa- How Easy is That cookbook

print recipe

Ingredients

3 very ripe bananas, mashed
3/4 cup granulated sugar
1/2 cup light brown sugar, lightly packed
1/2 cup vegetable oil
2 extra-large eggs, at room temperature
1/2 cup sour cream (I used low fat)
1 teaspoon vanilla extract
2 cups all-purpose flour, after sifting
1 teaspoon baking soda
1/2 teaspoon kosher salt
1/2 cup coarsely chopped walnuts (optional)
Cream cheese frosting ( optional,recipe follows)
Walnut halves, for decorating

Tip: If you are not fussy for icing, I'd simply sift some icing sugar on top with a few walnut halves.  You can serve warm with a dollop of vanilla cream or even ice cream.

PREHEAT oven to 350 degrees. Grease and flour a 9 x 2-inch round cake pan, or line the pan with a piece of parchment or wax paper cut to fit inside the cake pan.  Spray the liner and sides lightly with cooking spray. 

MIX bananas, granulated sugar and brown sugar in bowl with an electric mixer on low speed until combined. Add oil, eggs, sour cream and vanilla. Mix until smooth. Add flour, baking soda and salt. With mixer on low,  mix just until combined. Stir in chopped walnuts if using. Pour batter into the prepared pan and bake for 40-45 minutes, until a toothpick inserted in the center comes out clean. Cool in pan for 5 minutes, turn out onto cooling rack.

Serve warm, sprinkled with powdered sugar, or cool completely and top with Cream Cheese Frosting. 

Cream Cheese Frosting

6 ounces cream cheese, at room temperature
6 tablespoons unsalted butter, at room temperature
1 teaspoon pure vanilla extract
2 1/2 cups sifted confectioners’ sugar (1/2 pound)

MIX cream cheese, butter and vanilla in the bowl of an electric mixer fitted with paddle attachment on low speed until just combined. Don’t whip. Add sugar and mix until smooth.

Enjoy!

Sangrita

Back from Mexico about three weeks ago and just too darn busy with family, life, work, dog, et al until now to get back blogging!  What a fantastic trip!  Officially known as Hubby's retirement bash, we spent two and a half weeks in Cabo in our new Villa with friends and family.  Perfect.  And come Wednesday, we will be back there again!  No rest for the wicked, is there?

I found some great new places, a quirky cooking school and some new favorite foods.  But for now, I think I'll start my blogging with Hubby's favorite Mexican drink: tequila banderas, or banderita.  This is one shot of a moderately good drinking tequila (we use reposado) with a shot of lime juice and a shot of a chaser, called Sangrita.  There you have it: three shot glasses filled with the colors of the Mexican flag (bandera).  Very patriotic, very Mexican and full of flavor from start to finish.

Let's start with a quick Tequila 101.  There is the Jose Cuervo line, perfect for campus or those looking for a good time and cheap time.  Then there are three levels of tequila: Blanco, Reposado and Anejo that are distinguished primarily on the length of aging, similar to a scotch or other fine liquor. Blanco is a good, light tequila that is often used in high end cocktails (think PATRON Blanco Tequila).  I believe it is roughly aged a few months and like the word "blanco", is very light in color.  The next level is reposado, aged slightly longer, about a year, and slightly darker in color.  This is a great sipping tequila.  Smooth and not too expensive, a reposado is often considered in Mexico to be a "lady's tequila" (think HERRADURA Reposado Tequila).  And last but not least, there is tequila Anejo.  Anejo means aged, and with that, this tequila is typically aged anywhere from one to three years.  It's generally considered the top shelf of tequila, used for sipping the same way you'd enjoy a single malt scotch and can vary in color from pale to a deep and beautiful amber color.

Once you chose your tequila, on to a freshly squeezed ounce of lime juice and then, the Sangrita....

Sangrita was difficult for me to wrap my head around.  First off, I don't and I won't drink tomato juice.  No issue with the tomato itself, but the thought of a cold glass of tomato juice just doesn't do it for me.  So, a drink that is predominantly tomato is well...unappealing.  That said, Sangrita is more than just V8.  It's a complex drink that includes vegetables, fruits, spice, sugar and a real savory finish.  I found several recipes online for Sangrita - most fairly labor intensive with fine dicing involved. David loves it, so after spying on the bartenders mix this flavorful concoction together, I headed back to the lab to hammer out my own recipe:

Sangrita Gringa

Ingredients

1 1/2 cups V8 Juice (I use the low sodium with mixed vegetables)
1 1/4 cup Orange Juice
1 Tbsp. and 1 tsp. Grenadine
3/4 tsp. Tabasco Sauce
3 tsp. HP Sauce
3/4 tsp. Worchestershire Sauce

Directions

Whisk all ingredients together until smooth.  Store in a glass bottle in the fridge, serve cold.

How easy is that? :-)

If you need help, start with sipping the tequila, then lime and finish it off with a sip of sangrita.  Repeat until you need another...

Saludos!