Banana Oat Cake with Coconut

So the holidays came and went and the usual happened: I bought tons of fruit, all of it gone-replenished-gone again.

Except for a few bananas. I am always left with bananas.

Which is why there is always a banana bread or banana cake or banana muffins on my counter or in the freezer.

This one turned out to be one of the all-time favorites.

Banana Oat Cake with Coconut

•  2 cups flour

• 1/2 cup quick oats

• 1/2 cup grated coconut

• 2 teaspoons baking soda

• 1 teaspoon baking powder

• 1-1/2 teaspoons cinnamon

• 1 teaspoon salt

• 1 cup vegetable shortening

• 1 cup sugar

• 4 medium very ripe bananas, mashed

• 4 large eggs

• 1 teaspoon vanilla extract

• 3/4 cup raisins

Preheat the oven to 350 degrees. Grease and flour a 10-inch (8-cup) bundt pan. Mix the flour, oats, coconut, baking soda, baking powder, cinnamon and salt together in a bowl. Set aside. In the bowl of an electric mixer beat the shortening and sugar at medium speed for about 2 minutes or until well blended. Add the bananas and blend them in thoroughly. Add the eggs and vanilla extract and beat the ingredients well. Add the flour mixture and beat until batter is well blended. Fold in the raisins. Pour the batter into the prepared pan and bake for 55-60 minutes or until a cake tester inserted into the center comes out clean. Remove from the oven and let cool in the pan for 10 minutes. Remove to a cake rack to cool completely.

Makes one cake, serving 12-16

Flavorful - yet Salt-Free - Blueberry Muffins

People frequently joke about the fact that after you reach a "certain age" -- whatever that is -- you get "conditions." So you have to watch what you eat because maybe your LDL cholesterol level is too high or your blood sugar is too high or your weight is, well, let’s not discuss that…. 

But when you think about it, however old and/or fit you are, it's always a good idea to eat more or less healthy food. Especially at this time of year when we’ve spent the last month or so indulging through the holidays.

I'm not suggesting that we never indulge in rich, fattening, sugary or fried food. I have posted recipes for fried onion strings and chocolate cake, haven’t I?

Just as a general matter, I think it's smart to be aware of your body and the consequences of what you feed it.

Over the new year weekend, I had to prepare recipes that contained less salt because one of our guests has high blood pressure and needed to cut down on salty foods.

Not a problem. In many cases, for multitudes of recipes, other flavor enhancers come in handy — think citrus peel, extracts, ground spices such as nutmeg or cinnamon, herbs such as thyme and basil, chili peppers, fresh ginger, hot sauce — there are loads of choices.

Here’s the recipe for Blueberry Muffins I served. I added both cinnamon and orange peel as well as vanilla extract (I recommend pure Bourbon vanilla extract, not imitation). You could also stir some chopped nuts into the batter.

No salt necessary. They were terrific for breakfast.

Remember these next Purim — they make excellent edible gifts!

Salt-Free Blueberry Muffins

• 6 tablespoons butter

• 2 cups all-purpose flour

• 1/2 sugar

• 2 teaspoons baking powder

• 1/2 teaspoon ground cinnamon

• 3/4 cup milk

• 2 large eggs

• 1 teaspoon grated fresh lemon or orange peel, optional

• 1/2 teaspoon vanilla extract

• 1 cup blueberries

Preheat the oven to 400 degrees. Lightly grease 10 muffin tins. Melt the butter and set it aside to cool. In a large bowl, combine the flour, sugar, baking powder and cinnamon. Whisk the ingredients until well blended. In another bowl, combine the milk, eggs, peel, if used, and vanilla extract. Pour the liquid ingredients and the melted butter into the flour mixture and stir until thoroughly blended. Fold in the berries. Spoon equal quantities of the batter into the prepared muffin tins. Bake for about 25 minutes or until a cake tester inserted into the center comes out clean and the tops are lightly golden brown. 

Makes 10 muffins

India-style Shakshuka

We always have sleepover guests — my cousins — for New Year’s Eve. The next morning it’s always the same brunch: smoked fish, herrings, whitefish salad, bagels and coffee.

Perfect.

Except this year, for a variety of reasons, we have to consider less-salty meals.

I decided on a complete change. Something delicious, different and needs no extra salt because the seasonings are so bountiful and flavorful (the recipe says salt to taste, which can be zero).

I’ve made this for dinner and brunch. Works either way. Add a hunk of bread (naan if possible).

May become a new tradition.

Happy New Year 2020.

India-style Shakshuka

• 1/4 cup olive oil

• 1 medium onion, chopped

• 1 red bell pepper, deseeded and chopped

• 1 small habanero, serrano or other chili pepper, deseeded and chopped

• 1 large garlic clove, chopped

• 2 teaspoons chopped fresh ginger

• 8 plum tomatoes, coarsely chopped

• 2 teaspoons curry powder

• Salt to taste

• 4-6 large eggs

• 2 tablespoons chopped fresh mint

• 1 tablespoon chopped fresh parsley

Heat the olive oil in a large sauté pan over medium heat. Add the onion, bell pepper and habanero peppers. Cook for 3-4 minutes or until softened slightly. Add the garlic and ginger and cook briefly. Add the tomatoes, curry powder and salt to taste. Stir, cover the pan, turn the heat to low and cook for about 10 minutes, stirring occasionally, or until vegetables are very soft and sauce-like. Crack the eggs into a small bowl one at a time then transfer each one next to the other over the vegetables. Cover the pan and cook for 4–5 minutes or until the eggs are set but yolks are still slightly runny. Sprinkle with mint and parsley. Serve each person an egg with some of the vegetables.

Makes 4-6 servings.

Handmade Potato Chips with Smoked Salmon Tartare

Potato latkes for Hanukkah? Of course!

But homemade potato chips also satisfy the holiday requirement of crispy potato.

And SO MUCH EASIER! And HEALTHIER. Because the chips in my recipe are baked, not fried (you could fry them if you wish though). They are so crispy they crunch as if they were fried.

And of course a homemade potato chip topped with smoked salmon tartare is perfect for my New Year’s celebration.

If you’ve never tasted homemade potato chips you have missed something spectacular in life. Do try this soon, with or without the salmon. You could serve them plain or with sour cream or applesauce, just like latkes. If you want to get fancy, make a dip by mixing some chopped fresh herbs into creme fraiche or mascarpone cheese.

Potato Chips with Smoked Salmon Tartare 

• One large Russet baking potato

• Vegetable oil

• salt

• 1/4 pound smoked salmon pieces

• 2 tablespoons finely chopped red onion

• 1-2 tablespoons chopped fresh dill

• a few drops of olive oil

• few drops of lemon juice

• cream cheese, dairy sour cream, crème fraiche or mascarpone cheese, optional

Preheat the oven to 425 degrees. Peel the potato and slice 1/8-inch thick slices. Wipe the slices with paper towels. Brush the slices on both sides with vegetable oil. Sprinkle lightly with salt. Place on a cookie sheet and bake for 9 minutes. Turn the slices over and bake for another 8-9 minutes or until golden brown. Remove from the oven and set aside. Chop the smoked salmon. Add the red onion and dill and mix thoroughly. Sprinkle in a few drops of olive oil and lemon juice and mix. For a dairy hors d'oeuvre, spread the chips with cream cheese, sour cream, crème fraiche or mascarpone cheese. Top with some of the salmon mixture. For a parve hors d'oeuvre, place the salmon mixture directly on the potato chips

Makes 16-24

Mini Salmon Latkes

I’m thinking ahead to Hanukkah and the New Year’s Eve weekend. For the first, of course latkes! For New Year’s? Hors d’oeuvre.

Here’s a recipe that works for either or both.

Salmon latkes in mini form. Fried right? So perfect for Hanukkah. Make them small enough and put them on some sort of base and you’ve got a super morsel for cocktail hour.

You can put the latkes on crackers or toasted bread, but I like using small tomatoes (campari tomatoes in the photo) as a base because it makes the hors d’oeuvre colorful. They are less crunchy but much juicier.

The latkes are freezable. Isn’t that nice?!

Mini Salmon Latkes

• 2 cups mashed cooked salmon

• 2 large eggs

• 1/2 cup matzo meal

• 2 tablespoons chopped chives

• vegetable oil

• 12 campari tomatoes (approximately) (or other small tomatoes)

• 3 tablespoons mayonnaise

• chives or fresh dill for garnish

In a bowl, mix the salmon, eggs, matzo meal and chives until well combined. Heat about 1/8-inch vegetable oil in a saute pan over medium heat. Shape the salmon mixture into 36 small disks. Fry, a few at a time, for 2-3 minutes per side or until crispy. Drain on paper towels. Before serving, slice the tomatoes about 1/2-inch thick. Place the latkes on top of the tomato slices. Spoon a small amount of mayonnaise onto the tops. Sprinkle with chopped chives for garnish (or use a tiny leaf of fresh dill).

Makes 36

Kourabiedes

Years ago, before even floppy disks, I would bake zillions of cookies for the Hanukkah-Christmas season and give baskets of different kinds to the editors of the various local newspapers and magazines that I wrote for.

There were always: butter cookies, peanut butter cookies, chocolate chippers, oatmeal raisin, gingersnaps and Chinese cookies.

Occasionally: Dutch Butter cookies, St. Cupcake Brownie cookies, Orange Marmalade cookies and Fruit Roll cookies.

My house smelled as fabulous as any bakery. Various and sundry repair people, delivery people and dog walkers would occasionally stop by and ask if there were any “seconds” — you know, not pretty enough for the gift baskets — that they could sample.

I always gave away (still do!) a lot of food.

One year I added kourabiedes (Greek almond-butter cookies) to the assortment. They got rave reviews and I always included them after that.

Of course time passed and, thanks to technology, I no longer deliver hard or floppy disks to editors. Everything is sent over the internet. To places far and wide.

So, no more editor-and-media staff cookie baskets.

Less work (baking cookies, that is), but also less personal contact with the people I write for.

I still give away a few cookie baskets but I don’t bake the variety of cookies I once did. Hadn’t made kourabiedes for a year or three until a few days ago.

So glad I did! They are as delicious as I remember. A few simple ingredients. Not fancy or fussy. I like to think of them as “the coffeecake of cookies” — the kind you reach for with afternoon tea or coffee. Lightly sweet and buttery but not overly rich. Freezable. Perfect for giving away. Or not.

Kourabiedes

• 1 cup butter

• 2 cups all-purpose flour

• 1/3 cup ground almonds

• 1 egg yolk

• 3 tablespoons confectioners’ sugar

• 1/4 teaspoon salt

• confectioner’s sugar for coating

• ground cloves, optional

Beat the butter with an electric mixer set on medium speed for 2-3 minutes, or until it is light and fluffy. Add the flour and almonds and mix for a minute or two until the ingredients are well blended. Add the egg yolk, confectioner’s sugar and salt and beat until ingredients are well blended and a uniform dough has formed. Wrap the dough in plastic wrap and refrigerate for at least one hour.  Preheat the oven to 325 degrees. Take off pieces of dough and shape them into balls about 1-inch in diameter. Place the balls on ungreased cookie sheets. Bake for about 25 minutes or until they are lightly tanned. Let cool. Roll the cookies in confectioner’s sugar to coat the entire surface. Place on a serving tray and sprinkle with ground cloves if desired. 

 Makes 4 dozen

Cranberry Kumquat Conserve

There are so many delicious “November foods.” Like sweet potatoes, pears, cranberries, persimmons and so on.

Not as many people know about kumquats though.

In case you don’t know what they are or haven’t used them, kumquats are a small citrus fruit. They look like oval mini-oranges.

They aren’t everybody’s taste. Kumquats are tart, so the flavor is something you love or hate immediately.

I love them. In fact, one of my favorite treats is candied (sugar coated) kumquats.

You can eat kumquats raw. Cut them into a salad — they’re especially good with greens or Brussels sprouts and a soft goat’s milk cheese.

But the pungent flavor mellows beautifully when cooked, so kumquats are especially wonderful in chutneys, relishes and preserves. If you need a pretty hors d’oeuvre that goes beyond ordinary for a party or New Year’s Eve guests, check out my mascarpone crisps with kumquat preserves.

The recipe here for cranberry conserve, is a really good option for Thanksgiving. This dish has several virtues:

1) it goes with turkey, so it’s perfect for Thanksgiving.

2) it’s quick and easy to prepare — about 30 minutes from start to finish.

3) it’s colorful, making it a festive addition to your holiday table.

4) it lasts for a week or so in the fridge, so you can make it ahead and also rely on leftovers.

5) best of all, it is really tasty.

Happy Thanksgiving.

Cranberry Kumquat Conserve

• 3 cups fresh cranberries

• 10-12 kumquats

• 1/2 cup honey

• 1/2 cup orange juice

Rinse the cranberries and place them in a saucepan. Cut the kumquats in half and remove the seeds. Chop the kumquats and add them to the cranberries. Add the honey and orange juice. Stir the ingredients and bring the liquid to a boil over high heat. Turn the heat to medium and simmer the ingredients for about 20 minutes, stirring occasionally, or until thick.

Makes about 2 cups

Bread Stuffing with Sour Cherries

Every year I make at least two stuffings for Thanksgiving dinner. For old time’s sake one is usually my Mom's (Nana’s) barley-shape noodle "filling" or a sorghum-based version of that.

I just put one of those Nana ones in the freezer.

Once I made a fabulous Bread Stuffing with Figs and Hazelnuts. This year I want dinner to be completely nut-free though, so, maybe I’ll redo that one some other time.

I have prepared gluten-free stuffings for certain guests and once made one based on spelt bread.

A while ago a friend of mine gave me a jar of sour cherries, so I used some recently in an experiment to see if they would be tasty in a stuffing for a turkey dinner.

They were!

This recipe is versatile though. If you don’t want to buy a bottle of sour cherries, you can use grapes or fresh or dried cranberries.

Bread Stuffing with Sour Cherries

• 3 tablespoons vegetable oil

• 1 medium onion, chopped

• 2 stalks celery, chopped

• 2 medium apples, peeled, cored and chopped

• 6 cups 1/2-inch diced bread

• 1 cup sour cherries

• 2 teaspoons grated orange peel

• 1 teaspoon dried rosemary (1 tablespoon fresh, chopped rosemary)

• 1 teaspoon dried thyme (1-1/2 teaspoons chopped, fresh thyme)

• 1 cup chicken or vegetable stock

• salt and freshly ground black pepper to taste

Preheat the oven to 350 degrees. Heat the vegetable oil in a sauté pan over medium heat. Add the onion, celery and apples and cook, stirring occasionally, for 3-4 minutes or until slightly softened. Add the bread cubes, cherries, orange peel, rosemary and thyme. Toss ingredients to distribute them evenly. Pour in the stock and sprinkle with salt and pepper. Toss the ingredients to moisten the bread. Spoon the stuffing into a casserole, cover the casserole and bake for 30 minutes. Remove the cover and bake for another 12-15 minutes.

Makes about 8 cups

Cranberry Orange Muffins

My mother always said, “if you have a good recipe, why play around with it?!”

Most of the time I don’t heed that advice. I tinker here and there, always reaching for some new way to prepare some dish or other.

But there are a few classics I don’t change, or, if I do, find myself coming back to the original because it can’t be surpassed.

This is one of those classic recipes. Nothing innovative. Plain old plain old.

Fabulous.

Cranberry Orange muffins. Breakfast, brunch or dinner. Dairy or parve. Freezable. Why play around with it?

Cranberry Orange Muffins

• 2 cups all-purpose flour

• 1 cup sugar

• 1-1/2 teaspoons baking powder

• 1/2 teaspoon baking soda

• 1 teaspoon salt

• 1 tablespoon grated fresh orange peel

• 1/2 teaspoon cinnamon

• 1/4 cup cold butter, margarine or solid coconut oil, cut into chunks

• 1 large egg

• 3/4 cup orange juice

• 1 cup fresh cranberries

Preheat the oven to 400 degrees. Lightly grease 10 muffin tins. Mix the flour, sugar, baking powder, baking soda, salt, orange peel and cinnamon together into a bowl. Add the butter chunks and work into the dry ingredients with your fingers or a pastry blender. If you use an electric mixer, set it at low-medium speed. In a second bowl, beat the egg and orange juice together until well blended. Add to the flour mixture and stir to blend ingredients. Fold in the cranberries. Pour the batter into the prepared tins. Bake for about 20 minutes or until a cake tester inserted into the centers come out clean.

Makes 10

Sweet Potatoes with Raisins and Ginger

Is it just me or does everyone else think that life goes from holiday to holiday?

Rosh Hashanah/Yom Kippur — Sukkot — weren’t they just a few days ago?

And now, Thanksgiving is coming. I already ordered a turkey. Already have my menu planned.

It includes this sweet potato dish which I served recently to much acclaim.

Bonus to this dish? You can prepare this ahead up to adding the raisins and ginger. How easy is that?

Sweet Potatoes with Raisins and Ginger

• 3 medium sweet potatoes

• 3 tablespoons vegetable oil

• 3 tablespoons honey or maple syrup

• cinnamon, salt

• Cayenne pepper (or use Aleppo pepper), optional

• 1/4 cup raisins

• 1/4 cup chopped crystallized ginger

Preheat the oven to 425 degrees. Line a baking sheet with parchment paper. Peel the sweet potatoes, cut them into bite size pieces and place on the baking sheet. Heat the vegetable oil and honey together until warm and easy to combine; pour over the pieces and toss to coat them. Sprinkle lightly with cinnamon, salt and pepper if used. Roast for 14-15 minutes, turning the potatoes 2-3 times, or until softened. Add the raisins and crystallized ginger, toss and continue to bake for another 5-6 minutes or until the potatoes are crispy and tender..

Makes 4 servings