montcarte

Happy Canada Day, fellow Canadians (and 4th of July for all the American readers out there) – I’m posting this right in the middle of the two holidays so that it celebrates both holidays…a little too late for some and a little too early for others.

Rhubarb is just on its way out of season here in Quebec, and strawberries are just on their way in. So, of course, what better dessert than one that combines the two (in the spirit of combining the two holidays as well) than a good strawberry rhubarb crisp?

I had trouble finding a complete recipe that I thought would be perfect, so I combined a bit of a bunch of recipes, and ended up with this, a tart and still sweet crisp. It smells wonderful baking, and tastes even better than it smells. I made a few adjustments with the recipes I found and ended up with a perfect summer dessert – rife with berries, nuts and oats. I love the cinnamon and nutmeg in this dish.

Strawberry Rhubarb Crisp

FILLING
adapted from Everybody Likes Sandwiches

5 stalks rhubarb, diced
4 c strawberries, quartered
juice of one small lemon
1/3 cup sugar
3 1/2 tablespoons cornstarch
1 teaspoon cinnamon
1/2 teaspoon nutmeg

TOPPING
adapted from Sweet Charity Pie

1 1/2 cups flour
2/3 cup firmly packed brown sugar
1/2 cup butter softened
2/3 cup rolled oats
2/3 cup pecans, coarsely chopped

1. Preheat oven to 375F. (I used a 9×13 glass baking dish, but a casserole dish would work for a deeper type of crisp.)

2. Add the rhubarb and strawberries to a large bowl, tossing with the sugar, cornstarch, cinnamon and nutmeg. Squeeze in lemon juice and stir to combine. Set aside.

3. In a small bowl combine all the topping ingredients, except pecans. Using a wooden spoon, stir everything until clumps form. Use your hands to scatter the topping evenly over the fruit. Sprinkle top with walnuts. Bake for 45 minutes until the topping is golden and the fruit have created a bubbly sauce. Cool slightly and serve with ice cream.

Summer’s here! I can tell by the three sprawled out cats around the house, the number of cold showers I keep taking, the glorious month-long vacation I have now started, and perhaps the most telltale sign of all, my constant craving for cold, tart lemonade.

Having recently come into an abundance of lemons, I decided to satiate my lemonade urge by making my own, instead of buying the oversweetened, chemical-ridden yellow stuff. I don’t think I’ll ever want to go back. I really appreciate being able to control the amount of sweetness and tartness that goes into it – being able to make the perfect lemonade for me. And it’s so easy to make! The trick is making a simple syrup, and not just mixing sugar with the cold water and lemon juice; it’ll never dissolve that way. Heat some sugar and water, squeeze some lemons, add more water and ice, and you’re done. I appreciate how versatile it can be as well – if I had other fruits on hand, I would’ve added some raspberries or strawberries. Oh well, next time…summer is here for a few more months, after all.

Play with the amounts to get the taste you like. Start with the simple rule of 1 cup (well, actually, i used 3/4 cup) sugar dissolved in 1 cup water, and then add as much lemon juice and water as you like after, until it becomes the perfect lemonade.

3/4 cup to 1 cup sugar
1 cup water (for the simple syrup)
1 – 1 1/2 cups lemon juice
3 to 5 cups cold water (to dilute)
Ice and lemon slices

1. Make simple syrup by heating the sugar and water in a small saucepan until the sugar is dissolved completely.

2. While the sugar is dissolving, use a juicer to extract the juice from 4 to 8 lemons, enough for one cup (or more) of juice.

3. Add the juice and the sugar water to a pitcher. Add 3 to 4 cups of cold water, more or less to the desired strength. Refrigerate 30 to 40 minutes. If the lemonade is a little sweet for your taste, add a little more straight lemon juice to it.

4. Serve with ice, sliced lemons.

It was my turn to bring the Friday snack to work, which I look forward to, as it gets me into the kitchen. I had a few bananas ripening up on the counter, so I figured I should use them in whatever I decided to bring. When searching for something tasty to make, I came across these on Miss.Cupcake Face. They sounded wonderfully appealing to me, they became my choice.

I’m so happy I made these! They have a lot of flavour, a great cakey (and sooo moist) texture (more like cake than muffins), and the frosting is incredible. I changed the recipe a bit, using equal quantities of banana and pineapple, and I think it was a wise choice. I found the pineapple flavour to be very noticeable, especially given the juicy chunks of crushed pineapple that are scattered throughout each cupcake. The banana does play a predominant role, but that’s something I’m okay with. I wanted a banana flavour, with just hints of others. The toasted pecans are a necessity, adding a great crunch to the cupcakes and that oh-so-wonderful nutty flavour. I also fortunately upped the cinnamon.

And the frosting? Droooooooool. Again, I upped the cinnamon, and thankfully so. I reduced the amounts of all the ingredients too. I don’t know how much frosting people take on their cupcakes, but even with my reduced recipe and a heavily iced cupcake, I still have at least a cup of this stuff sitting in my freezer right now (which I will of course eat from sporadically with a spoon and nothing else). It’s definitely a cream cheese frosting, and the cinnamon is very noticeable.

These are excellent and versatile cupcakes (I’m thinking next time of adding coconut and using a white chocolate frosting), and good enough to serve at any type of occasion.

Is this what a hummingbird cake would likely taste like?

Pineapple Banana Cupcakes with Cinnamon Cream Cheese Frosting
adapted from Miss.Cupcake Face

CUPCAKES
2 3/4 cups all-purpose flour
2 tsp salt
1 tsp baking soda
2 tsp cinnamon
1 3/4 cups sugar
1 1/4 cups canola oil
3 eggs
2 tsp vanilla
1 1/2 cups mashed bananas (about 3 medium sized bananas)
1/2 cups crushed pineapple (juice not included)
1 cup pecans, toasted & coarsely chopped

1. Preheat your oven to 350°F and line two cupcake pans with cupcake liners.

2. In the bowl of an electric mixer, combine flour, salt, baking soda & cinnamon. In a large bowl, mix together the sugar, oil, eggs and vanilla. Whisk until everything is combined. Slowly add the sugar mixture into the flour mixture. Add the bananas, pineapple & pecans. Mix until incorporated. Divide batter between the cups. Bake for about 20 minutes, rotating pans halfway through.

FROSTING
3/4 cup butter, slightly softened
8 oz cream cheese
5 cups powdered sugar
2 tsp vanilla
2 tsp cinnamon
Half and half cream, enough to get the consistency you like

1. In the bowl of an electric mixer, beat the butter and cream cheese until smooth. Slowly add the powdered sugar and mix until everything is combined. Add the vanilla and the cinnamon.

If you like this, you might also like:

Banana Bread with Hazelnuts
Banana Gumdrop Loaf
Caramel Apple Cupcakes

When I stumbled upon Once Upon a Plate’s recipe for Wild and Mild Mushroom Lasagna, I knew I had to make it. It’s been sitting in my must-eat-recipe backlog for a long time, just waiting for the perfect occasion. The time finally came when I had my family over for a Mother’s Day/sister’s birthday meal.

My mother made a great spinach salad, filled with pralined pecans, cranberries, red pepper and mango:

This lasagna did not disappoint. I made some changes to the recipe, like using more dried mushrooms in the bechamel, and adding onion to the mushroom filling (as well as adding more fresh mushrooms, thankfully, as the filling was rather sparse), and I’ve taken some liberties in rewriting the recipe for clarity’s sake (some info was missing, or so I found).

The bechamel sauce in here is so wonderfully tasty…packed with earthy, rich mushroom flavour! Make sure to chop those reconstituted mushies very well, as they’ll always stay a little bit tough. I found adding wine to deglaze the pan imparted a lot of flavour, so I wouldn’t skip that part. Next time, I might try making a bit more sauce – perhaps by another half – because I loved it so much and could’ve done with a bit more.

Same with the mushroom filling. Next time, I think I would go as far as doubling it, as there wasn’t enough sliced mushrooms between the layers. The onion addition was a good one as well, the flavour really carried over.

The thyme really stands out in this recipe, especially the next day. I might be tempted to make this a day ahead of time, just to let all the flavours flourish. The leftovers were particularly tasty! (Speaking of that, that’s why the cut portion photos are so lame…I didn’t take the time to take pictures hot out of the oven, so what you see isn’t the lasagna in its most appealing state )

I was really pleased with this dish and think it’s a great vegetarian option, as well as an excellent crowd pleaser. The instructions make it look longer and more complicated than it is – it’s actually quite easy to prepare.

Wild Mushroom Lasagna
adapted from Once Upon a Plate

BECHAMEL SAUCE
3 oz dried mushrooms, soaked for 1/2 hour in 1 cup hot water (I used a “forest mix” of dried mushies)
2 1/2 cups milk or half & half (I used 1 cup milk, 1 1/2 cups 15% cream)
4 tablespoons butter
4 tablespoons all-purpose flour
1/2 teaspoon freshly ground nutmeg
Salt and pepper to taste

MUSHROOM FILLING
2 lbs fresh mushrooms, mixed and sliced (I used a combination of button, shitake and oyster mushrooms)
1 onion, chopped
1/4 cup chopped parsley
1/4 cup olive oil, divided into 2 parts
4 tablespoons butter, divided into 2 parts
3 to 4 chopped garlic cloves, divided into 2 parts
1/2 teaspoon dry thyme
1 cup grated mozzarella cheese for topping
1 tablespoon of Cognac or extra dry sherry or white wine
3/4 cup grated Parmesano Reggiano or Pecorino Romano cheese, plus more for passing at the table
kosher or sea salt
freshly ground black pepper

1 pound of Barilla no-boil lasagna noodles
fresh thyme for garnish (optional)

BECHAMEL SAUCE
1. Put dried mushrooms in hot water. Let sit for 30 minutes.

2. Melt butter over low heat.

3. In a separate pan, (or in microwave) heat milk gently.

4. Whisk flour into butter, stir for a few minutes to cook flour, without allowing mixture to gain color.

5. Slowly add warm milk, still whisking. Keep whisking over low heat until smooth and thickened.

6. Grate fresh nutmeg over and stir in. Let the sauce cook very gently over a low flame, as you continue with the recipe.

7. Chop the reconstituted dried mushrooms rather finely (reserving mushroom water).

8. Heat 1 part butter and 1 part olive oil in a large frying pan. Saute the chopped wild mushroom & 1 part of the chopped garlic in the oil and butter, then salt and pepper generously. Saute until most of the mushrooms are a good medium brown. Stir in the Cognac, sherry or wine at this time, if you are using, and allow to cook off for a moment or two, until the strong alcohol scent has dissipated.

9. Pour in the reserved water from soaking the mushrooms, taking care not to allow any sediment (sand, etc.) to go into the frying pan. Turn up heat and stir until mushroom liquid has nearly all evaporated.

10. Transfer the contents of the pan (chopped mushrooms and any bit of juice) to the bechamel sauce, stir and retain over low heat; stirring occasionally; add a bit more milk or cream if sauce becomes too thick. The bechamel will turn a deliciously looking tawny to deep brown color.

MUSHROOM FILLING
1. Wipe out the frying pan, and heat the remaining butter & olive oil.

2. Saute the onion until translucent, then add the remaining garlic, dried thyme and sliced fresh mushrooms, salt & pepper them, and cook until nicely browned and liquid has evaporated. If the pan is very dry add a tablespoon or two of water or chicken broth.

3. When mushrooms have finished cooking, toss the minced parsley in the pan, stir and set aside.

ASSEMBLING THE LASAGNA
1. Though not indicated on the box of “no-boil” lasagna noodles, I soak each noodle in a bowl of hot water for about 1 minute for this particular recipe.

2. Lightly oil 9×14 lasagna pan.

3. Pour about 1/4 cup of milk or half & half into bottom of baking pan; this provides added moisture while baking so noodles will become tender.

4. Place noodles next, then follow with the bechamel sauce (cover noodle completely), a generous sprinkling of grated Parmesan, then arrange 1/2 cup of the cooked sliced domestic mushrooms on top.

5. Repeat layers 3 to 4 more times, ending with sauce and grated cheese.

6. Finally sprinkle generously with grated Mozzarella.

7. Cover baking dishes with foil (not resting directly on the lasagna ingredients, but rather ballooned on top and sealed around the edges), and bake in a 350-degree (F) oven for approximately 45 minutes. I check at 30 minutes, then watch carefully from that time forward. Sauce should be bubbling vigorously, and all layers of noodles should be tender when pierced with a toothpick or tip of sharp knife.

Allow lasagnas to rest for about 10 minutes before serving. Garnish with additional thyme sprigs.

If you like this, you might also like:

Asparagus and Mushroom Bread Pudding
Butternut Squash and Pecan Lasagna
Sour Cream Mushroom Pasta

So it’s been a while, been though I had claimed it wouldn’t be. We just haven’t been cooking or baking as much these days…combine this with the fact that there are numerous keys no longer working on our keyboard and you get very little inclination to write.

I did do some kitchen-stuff this past weekend though, so I’ll suffer through non-functioning letters to write about the birthday cake I prepared for my sister’s birthday (the meal, a wild mushroom lasagna, will follow shortly, but dessert always takes precedence!): Dorie Greenspan’s Low and Lush Chocolate Cheesecake with Cappuccino Swirl.

This cake is one good cheeseake – an exellent go-to recipe whenever you’re looking for an utterly decadent, rich cheesecake. Even the simple graham cracker rust is fantastic! The whole thing is amazingly smooth, feeling like velvet on the tongue. It’s verrrry chocolately, and tastes even better the net day, so I recommend you make it a day in advance.

I took Dorie’s “Playing Around” tip and added a cappuccino (well, coffee, since I didn’t have any instant cappuccino powder) swirl to it. Visually, it didn’t add much, but taste-wise, it added what I consider to be a necessary dimension to the cake. It definitely cut the sweetness of the cake as well.

The cake says it serves 8, but those would be some big pieces! It would easily serve 12, if not more.

It’s a perfect cheesecake, and a breeze to prepare. If chocolate and coffee is a dream combination for you, you’ll love this cake.

Low and Lush Chocolate Cheesecake with Cappuccino Swirl
adapted from Dorie Greenspan’s Baking: From My Home to Yours
Makes 8 servings (more like 16!)

CRUST
1 1/2 cups graham cracker crumbs
2 tablespoons sugar
1/4 teaspoon ground cinnamon
3 tablespoons unsalted butter, melted

FILLING
1 1/2 pounds (three 8-ounce packages) cream cheese, at room temperature
1/2 cup sugar
3 large eggs, preferably at room temperature
1 teaspoon pure vanilla extract
Pinch of salt
4 ounces bittersweet chocolate, melted and slightly cooled

CAPPUCCINO SWIRL
1 1/2 tablespoons sugar
1 tablespoon instant espresso powder (I used instant coffee)
1/4 teaspoon ground cinnamon
2 tablespoons boiling water.

Center a rack in the oven and preheat the oven to 350 degrees F. Butter an 8 1/2- or 9-inch springform pan and put the pan on a baking sheet lined with parchment or a silicone mat.

CRUST
1. Stir the crumbs, sugar and cinnamon together in a medium bowl. Pour over the melted butter and stir until all of the dry ingredients are uniformly moist. (I do this with my fingers.) Turn the crumbs into the pan and, with your fingers, press the crumbs evenly over the bottom of the pan and as far up the sides as they’ll go. Freeze the crust for about 10 minutes.

2. Bake for 10 minutes, only until the crust is lightly set and just tinged with color. Cool on a rack or refrigerate while you make the filling. Keep the oven at 350 degrees F.

FILLING
1. Cut each bar of cream cheese into quarters and toss the pieces into a food processor, along with the sugar. Process, scraping down the bowl 2 or 3 times, for a full 2 minutes. You’ll see how dramatically the cream cheese changes; it will look like white velvet at the end of its beating. Add the eggs, vanilla and salt and give the batter 4 longish pulses, the scrape down the bowl and pulse 2 more times. Pour in the chocolate and pulse and scrape a few times to blend the batter well.

2. Remove the bowl from the processor and rap it hard on the counter a couple of times to de-bubble the batter. Scrape the batter into the cooled crust.

3. Bake the cheesecake for 35 to 40 minutes if you are using a 9-inch pan or 45 to 50 minutes if you are using an 8 1/2-inch pan. The top should be puffed and set, but if you tap the pan gently, the center of the cake will still be a little shaky–that’s just fine. Transfer the pan to a cooling rack and allow the cheesecake to cool to room temperature, then refrigerate for at least 8 hours or for up to 3 days.
Run a blunt knife between the crust and sides of the pan, then open and remove the sides of the springform.

CAPPUCCINO SWIRL
1. Make a cinnamon-espresso syrup by whisking together 1 1/2 tablespoons sugar, 1 tablespoon instant espresso powder and 1/4 teaspoon ground cinnamon and mixing in 2 tablespoons boiling water. Cool to tepid or room temperature.

2. Spoon about 1/3 of the cheesecake batter (I did this prior to adding the chocolate to it) into a measuring cup with a spout and stir in the syrup. Pour the remaining batter into the crust, then pour over the cappuccino batter, pouring so that it creates a swirl pattern in the chocolate. For good measure, take a tableknife and give the 2 batters a few extra swirls.

STORING
Wrapped well, the cheesecake will keep in the refrigerator for up to 3 days. It can be frozen for up to 2 months; defrost, still wrapped, overnight in the refrigerator.

If you like this, you might also like:

Cheesecake Pops
Super Layer Chocolate Cake
Cinnamon Squares

Baked goods with citrus are my favourite, so I’m surprised it took me this long to make Dorie Greenspan’s lemon muffins. But I’ve finally done it, and I’m happy I did.

I’m not a fan of poppy seeds, so I omitted them. I took her suggestion and put dollops of raspberry jam in the middle…a lot of it leaked out (okay, I may have been a bit generous with my dollops), but it still added a nice additional flavour to a very lemony muffin.

The drizzle of icing became more of a complete covering, and that was a good thing. I wouldn’t omit this icing, it emphasizes all the lemony goodness that’s already in the muffin. These are moist and cake-like, not very sweet, and good for breakfast or dessert.

The batter is very thick. With muffins, I never use my mixer; it overmixes too quickly and easily, making the muffins chewy. Do it by hand, and use a light hand. Less is more, when it comes to muffins or cupcakes!

Lemon Raspberry Muffins
adapted from Dorie Greenspan’s Baking: From My Home to Yours
12 muffins

MUFFINS
2/3 cup sugar
grated zest and juice of 1 lemon (I used the zest of 2 lemons)
2 cups all purpose flour
2 teaspoons baking powder
1/4 teaspoon baking soda
1/4 teaspoon salt
3/4 cup sour cream
2 large eggs
1 teaspoon pure vanilla extract
1 stick (8 tablespoons) unsalted butter, melted and cooled
2 tablespoons poppy seeds
1 cup jam (blueberry, raspberry, etc. or lemon curd)

ICING
1 cup confectioners’ sugar, sifted
2-3 tablespoons fresh lemon juice

MUFFINS
1. Center a rack in the oven and preheat to 400 F. Spray your muffin pan with nonstick cooking spray or line the cups with paper liners. Place the muffin pan on a baking sheet.

2. In a large bowl, rub the sugar and lemon zest together with your fingertips until the sugar is moist and the fragrance of lemon strong. Whisk in the flour, baking powder, baking soda and salt.

3. In a large glass measuring cup or another bowl, whisk the sour cream, eggs, vanilla, lemon juice and melted butter together until well blended. Pour the liquid ingredients over the dry ingredients and, with the whisk or a rubber spatula, gently but quickly stir to combine. Do not overmix the batter – a few lumps are ok. Stir in the poppy seeds.

4. Divide the batter evenly among the muffin cups. (I filled them halfway, then put a teaspoon of jam on top, the filled the cups with batter)

Bake for 18 to 20 minutes, or until the tops are golden and a thin knife inserted into the center of the muffins comes out clean. Transfer the pan to a rack to cool for 5 minutes before carefully removing each muffin from its mold. Cool completely on the rack before icing.

ICING
1. Put the confectioners’ sugar in a small bowl and add about 1 1/2 tablespoons of the lemon juice. Stir with a spoon to moisten the sugar, then add enough additional lemon juice, a dribble at a time, to get an icing that is thin enough to drizzle from the tip of the spoon. Drizzle lines of icing over the tops of the muffins.

I’m not sure what’s up these days, but it seems Soli and I have taken a little break from the cooking blogosphere. Not only have I not been keeping up with maintaining Montcarte, I’ve been extremely slack in visiting all my favourite food blogs as well.

I’ve been doing lotsa eating…just not a whole lot of writing about eating. With spring right around the corner, I’m hoping I can get back on track.

So my apologies to any of our readers, and to all the people who usually hear my enthused comments on the fantastic food they’re writing about. I’ll be back soon!

In the meantime, a little glimpse of some of the food Soli prepared for his work a few weeks back (I was lucky enough to get to sample some of it at home): all-beef hotdogs, crispy fried onion rings, and two mouthwatering homemade ketchups, one spicy-hot and one filled with basil. Wonderful!

We couldn’t just have one winner – we wanna share the wealth. So using a random number generator, we got ourselves two winners.

The first one is loyal reader, Noble Pig. She gets a jar of caramel, as well as some super-fantastic-incredible chocolates.

But I wanted to give more, so I randomly-generated another winner. Tracey, you get a jar of caramel as well!

Please send me your mailing address:
montcarte@umbrela.com!

Congrats! We’ll play again come 100,000 hits!

I’ve seen lots of lists like these floating around, and have decided to give some of them a go myself. Since I’m a proud Canadian, it only makes sense that I should do this one first! This one comes from Maple Syrup and Poutine (two of my favourite things!)

1) Copy this list into your blog or journal, including these instructions.
2) Bold all the items you’ve eaten.
3) Cross out any items that you would never consider eating.
4) Post a comment here linking to your results

100 Canadian Foods to Consume
compiled by Maple Syrup and Poutine

1. Arctic Char
2. Ketchup flavoured chips
3. Wild Rice Pilaf
4. Caribou Steak
5. Gourmet Poutine
6. Screech
7. Beaver Tails
8. Maple Baked Beans
9. Bison Burger
10. Bumbleberry pie
11. Nanaimo bar
12. Butter Tarts
13. Cedar Planked B.C. Salmon
14. Wild Blueberries
15. Pure Local Cranberry Juice
16. Chocolate from Ganong or Purdy’s
17. A cup of warm cider from your local orchard
18. Caesar
19. 4 of the following types of apples (Cortland, Empire, Golden Delicious, McIntosh, Spartan, Greensleeves, Liberty, Granny Smith, Red Delicious, Honeycrisp, Golden Russet, Idared, Gala)
20. Freshly foraged mushrooms
21. Dinner cooked by Michael Smith, Susur Lee or Rob Feenie
22. Fondue Chinoise
23. Dish created from a Canadian Living Magazine recipe
24. Peameal Bacon Sandwich from St. Lawrence Market in Toronto
25. Lobster bought directly from a boat in a Maritime harbour
26. Handmade perogies from your local church or market
27. Alberta Beef at an Alberta Steakhouse
28. Leamington Tomatoes
29. Roasted Pheasant
30. Wild Game hunted by someone you know
31. Ice Wine
32. Habitant Pea Soup – entire can
33. Any Canadian Artisinal Cheese
34. Bannock
35. Tourtiere
36. Flapper Pie
37. Jellied Moose Nose
38. Saskatoon Berries
39. Fish and Brewis
40. Screech Pie
41. Fiddleheads
42. Montreal Smoked Meat Sandwich
43. Flipper Pie
44. Montreal Bagels with Smoked Salmon
45. Toutins
46. Jam Busters
47. Bakeapple Pie
48. Bridge Mixture
49. Canadian Style Pizza (bacon, pepperoni. Mushrooms)
50. Shreddies
51. A cone from Cow’s Ice Cream
52. Lumberjack or Logger’s Breakfast
53. Jigg’s Dinner
54. Rappie Pie
55. Pemmican
56. Lake Erie Sturgeon Caviar
57. Belon Oysters
58. Brome Lake Duck(in a way…)
59. Beer from a stubby bottle.
60. A beer from Unibroue or Phillips Brewery.
61. Salt Spring Island Lamb
62. Fry’s Cocoa
63. A bag of Old Dutch Potato Chips
64. Every Flavour of Laura Secord Suckers
65. Chicken Dinner from St Hubert’s or Swiss Chalet
66. Hickory Sticks
67. An entire box of Kraft Dinner
68. Candy Apples (NOT caramel apples)
69. Corn from a roadside stand
70. A meal at Eigensenn Farm
71. Okanogan Peaches
72. Berkshire Pork
73. PEI Potatoes
74. Something cooked in Canola oil
75. Figgy Duff
76. Blueberry Grunt
77. High Tea at the Empress Hotel
78. Fresh maple syrup hardened on the snow
79. Oreilles de Christ
80. Nova Scotia Beer Warmer
81. A cheese plate containing Bleu Bénédictin, Friulano, St. Maure and Oka.
82. Black or red currant jam
83. Maple glazed Doughnut from Tim Horton’s with a Large “Double Double”
84. A glass of Mission Hill’s “Oculus”
85. Alberta Pure Vodka
86. Chokecherries
87. Canada Day Cake
88. Boulettes
89. Canadian Iced Tea
90. Mead
91. Fricot
92. Grandperes
93. Local honey
94. Creton on toast
95. Glen Breton Rare
96. A whole box of Smarties, where the empty box is then used as a kazoo
97. Grilled cheese made with Canadian Cheddar
98. A meal from Harvey’s
99. Lake Erie Perch
100. Red Rose Tea

Looks like I’m 54% Canadian-foodie. How’d you do?

Oh! And don’t forget the giveway, two posts down. Just one more day!

It’s difficult to make a bad banana bread. They’re a very forgiving quickbread, but that doesn’t mean they’re always excellent. This one, however, is. It’s my banana bread go-to recipe.

The original recipe asks for pecans, which I have used, and loved! They become crunchy and almost candylike in the bread. This time, I had some leftover hazelnuts, so I used those instead. Pretty much any nut, dried fruit or chocolate can be thrown in here, and the end result will be fantastic.

My favourite thing about this recipe is how some of the bananas are barley mashed, so they’re still quite lumpy. Then they’re added at the end, so it gives the bread chunks of moist bananas throughout.

Banana Bread with Hazelnuts
adapted from Tyler Florence’s Banana Bread with Pecans

2 cups all-purpose flour
1 1/2 teaspoons baking soda
1 teaspoon cinnamon
1/2 teaspoon salt
4 overripe bananas
1 cup sugar
3/4 cup (1 1/2 sticks) unsalted butter, melted and cooled (I used 1/4 cup butter, 1/2 cup vegetable oil)
2 large eggs
1 teaspoon pure vanilla extract
1/2 cup hazelnuts, finely chopped (the original recipe calls for pecans, which I also love!)
Confectioners’ sugar, for dusting

1. Preheat oven to 350 degrees F and lightly grease a 9 by 5-inch loaf pan.

2. In a large bowl, combine the flour, baking soda, and salt; set aside.

3. Mash 2 of the bananas with a fork in a small bowl so they still have a bit of texture. With an electric mixer fitted with a wire whisk, whip the remaining bananas and sugar together for a good 3 minutes; you want a light and fluffy banana cream. Add the melted butter, eggs, and vanilla; beat well and scrape down the sides of the bowl. Mix in the dry ingredients just until incorporated; no need to overly blend. Fold in the nuts and the mashed bananas with a rubber spatula. Pour the batter into the prepared loaf pan. Give the pan a good rap on the counter to get any air bubbles out.

4. Bake for about 1 hour and 15 minutes, until golden brown and a toothpick inserted into the center of the loaf comes out clean. Don’t get nervous if the banana bread develops a crack down the center of the loaf; that’s no mistake, it’s typical. Rotate the pan periodically to ensure even browning.

5. Cool the bread in the pan for 10 minutes or so, and then turn out onto a wire rack to cool completely before slicing. Toast the slices of banana bread, dust with confectioners’ sugar, and serve.

Do you have a favourite banana bread recipe? I’d love to put another good one on the banana-roster!

Oh! And don’t forget the giveway, one post down. Just two more days!