Bananas With Maple Syrup ©
Celebrating the beginning of the “Maple Syrup” Season in Canada!
This is a delicious recipe for all those who like ‘Bananas’ and ‘Maple Syrup!’ The bananas need to be very ripe and their skins some what blackened, as they then cook beautifully and give a smooth final result. Sauté the bananas in butter, maple syrup, brown sugar and lemon or orange juice and the result is an unusual dessert, which is quick and easy to make.
In Canada ‘Maple Syrup Season,’ begins the fourth week in March, when the nights are still cold, but it is warm during the day. This year this has been a little delayed do to extreme weather, but the parties have begun!
http://www.bbcanada.com/bb_traveller/edition112/
For Henry, my followers in Canada, and all those who love “Maple Syrup!”
Quick and Easy
4 Persons
Ingredients
2 very ripe bananas cut in half long ways
1 tbs Canadian Maple Syrup or Honey or Golden Syrup
1 tbs light brown sugar
1 juice of lemon or Orange
Finely grated lemon or orange zest
25-50 g butter
Method
Buy your bananas well ripened and yellow. Leave in a bowl on your kitchen counter for another few days, until their skins begin to blacken. The riper the better, as long as they don’t begin to brown inside.
1. Peel bananas and cut carefully in half, long ways.
2. In a glass, measure out maple syrup, light brown sugar and lemon juice or orange juice.
3.Melt your butter in a large enough, non stick frying pan, to take all your banana halves. Add banana halves and fry for at least five minutes on each side, browning them slightly. Turn over carefully with two forks.
4. Once browned pour over contents in glass and as it melts spoon over bananas. Gently cook for another five minutes, until the sauce is thick and syrupy.
5. Serve straight away, sprinkling with finely grated lemon or orange zest.
This is what you are aiming for!
There is Maple Brown Sugar on the market too!
Peel bananas and cut carefully in half longways.
Measure out Maple Syrup or honey and golden brown sugar.
Add lemon juice or orange juice.
Melt butter in large enough frying pan, to take all the bananas at once.
Place bananas in frying pan and fry until brown on both sides over a medium heat. About five minutes each side. You can’t over cook this, so take your time.
Turn carefully using two forks, add more butter if necessary. It depends on the size of your bananas.
Do not hurry this process.
Grate the zest of the lemon or orange on a fine microplane or grater.
Grated lemon zest……
Once the bananas are nicely browned, pour over maple syrup, brown sugar and lemon juice or orange juice. Allow to reduce until a thick syrupy consistency. The whole cooking process can take up to 20 minutes, there is no hurry!
Serve straight away, sprinkling over your lemon or orange zest at the last minute.
Delicious!
These are two of my favorite Greek lenten recipes. They are full of goodness and make excellent vegetarian meals.
For my ‘learning cooks’ out there, you can start learning with any recipe, any time. Each recipe cooked is a learning process and they are written especially for my cooking students. Slowly you will build up the skills and your repertoire will grow, so don’t feel overwhelmed and not know where to start. My eldest son the other day tried out my chocolate biscuits. They were a great success. He is 24 years old and I was thrilled with the result…… so were his Canadian flat- mates!
Four tips to remember when planning to cook.
1. Buy ingredients the day before cooking. Prepare anything you can before hand. Wash vegetables, reserve whole in plastic bags in your refrigerator.
2. Read the recipe always through to the end, to get the full picture of what is involved.
3. Get out all your ingredients and cooking equipment BEFORE you start cooking. Prepare everything before you turn on the heat!!
4. Always taste just before serving for seasoning!!
This results in a smooth flow and gives you full control over what you are cooking and you therefore achieve a better result. This may seem obvious to some, but often, people go off looking for the ingredients, while cooking and end up burning the food 😉
****Lessons In Preparing And Cleaning Spinach And Leeks.
Easy
4 Persons
Ingredients : Spinach And Rice/ Spanakorizo
1 kilo fresh tender small spring spinach leaves
6 spring onions sliced
1 bunch of fennel roughly chopped
3 tbs brown rice
3 tbs olive oil
1/4 cup water, if required
1 tsp salt, freshly ground black pepper
1 lemon cut into quarters
Ingredients : Leeks And Rice/ Prasorizo
3-4 medium sized leeks
6 spring onions sliced
1 bunch of fennel roughly chopped
3 tbs brown rice
3 tbs olive oil
1 tbs tomato purée
1-2 tsp salt, freshly ground black pepper
Method : Spinach and Rice/ Spanakorizo
Cooking The Rice.
In a small saucepan, cook rice, adding enough water to come at least 3 cm above the rice. Add 1/2 tsp salt and simmer until al dente/ just cooked. This can take up to half an hour. Drain in sieve until ready to use. I always cook the rice first, so as not to overcook the spinach and using brown rice gives the dish more consistency and is healthier than ordinary white rice. Basmati rice could also be used.
1. Take each spinach plant, cut away root and discard yellow leaves. Soak in salted water for five minutes. Then wash each heart directly under the tap, opening it up to dislodge any earth. Wash spinach in several waters, until there is no earth visible in the rinsing water. A big washing up bowl or sink is the best way to do this.
2. Wash spring onions by cutting off roots first, then trimming green leaves. Slice into 1 cm pieces, adding some of the green leaf as well. Soak fennel leaves in slated water, rinse again, drain and chop roughly.
3. Using a medium sized saucepan, add oil and sliced spring onions. Cook over a medium heat for 3 minutes. No need for them to brown.
4. Add spinach and fennel press down with wooden spoon, the spinach will soon wilt and reduce in volume. Mix with onions and add pre-cooked brown rice. Season and add a little water, 1/4 cup, if necessary and cook with lid on for five minutes, or until spinach stalks are soft.
5. Serve straight away in warmed serving bowl. ( If there is too much liquid, pour it off.) Serve with lemon quarters. Don’t add the lemon beforehand or the spinach will blacken.
Leeks And Rice/ Prasorizo
1. Follow rice cooking procedure as above.
2. Using a sharp knife, cut off leek roots, trim leaves and slice half way through leek longways. Remove outer leaf and open up under tap to remove any earth.
3. Slice into 2-3 cm pieces.
4. Wash and trim spring onions the same way and slice roughly.
5. Wash fennel, by soaking in salted water first and then rinse again. Roughly chop.
6. In a medium sized saucepan place olive oil and sauté leeks and onions for five minutes. Add pre-cooked rice and enough water to three quarters cover your leeks. Add tomato purée, stir and and season. With lid on cook until leeks are tender when pierced with a sharp knife. This will take about 20 minutes over a medium heat. Check for water, so that it does not dry out. The leeks do not want to be under cooked and in any way crunchy. Check seasoning again.
7. Serve straight away in a warmed serving dish.
Preparing And Cleaning Spinach : This is important as it takes several rinses to remove all the earth. I usually rinse at least six times! You don’t want crunchy Spanakorizo!
Place spinach in large basin and cover with water, soak for five minutes.
Cut off root.
Rinse heart directly under running water.
Whistling clean !!!
Soak in salted water to dislodge garden snails and the like. Go on rinsing until water is completely clean.
I always wash pre-cleaned spinach too, just to be sure. Frozen spinach can be used, but fresh garden spinach is the best.
Cut roots off spring onions, trim leaves and wash thoroughly. Soak both onions and fennel in salted water.
Measure out 3 tbs brown rice.
Place in small saucepan cover with water at least 3 cm above the level of your rice. Add 1/2 tsp salt and simmer for about half an hour until just cooked. ( The rice will be cooked some more in the recipe, so don’t over cook it here.) Add more water during cooking time, if it begins to dry out. ( Here I have double the quantity of rice as I made enough for both recipes.)
Try the rice towards the end of the cooking time to gauge when it is ready. It should be just firm inside.
Leave to drain in sieve until ready to use.
In medium sized saucepan, add olive oil and spring onions. Sauté for three minutes.
Add washed spinach, which at first will fill all your saucepan, but it soon wilts and reduces in volume.
Add rice, salt and pepper and mix lightly with two forks. Cook over a medium heat, for five minutes, until spinach stalks are tender. During cooking check the base of your saucepan in case it is drying out and needs a little extra water.
Serve in pre-heated bowl with lemon quarters. It is best not to add the lemon juice earlier, or the lemon blackens the spinach.
Leeks And Rice : Prasorizo
Preparing And Cleaning Leeks.
Cut off leek root just above where the roots sprout.
Trim away the leaves. Some recipes use only the white part of the leek. In a White Vichyssoise Soup for example. But in this recipe all the leek is used.
Remove outer layer. This usually has the most earth trapped under it.
Cut your leeks longways 3/4 way through with a sharp knife.
Open out……
…..rinse thoroughly under running water.
Sauté Spring onions for three minutes, do not brown.
Add leeks and chopped fennel.
Add enough water to three quarters cover the leeks.
Add tomato purée.
Mix tomato purée in and add pre-cooked rice. Cover with saucepan lid and simmer for 20 minutes, or until soft when pierced with the point of a sharp knife. Taste for seasoning.
Final result.
Delicious!
Fresh Spinach, Bulgur Wheat and Lentil Salad ©
This is an excellent wholesome healthy salad and a suitable for Lent.
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Lentil
Especially for Amalia who requested this recipe.
Easy
4-6 Persons
Ingredients
1 cup small sized brown lentils
1/2 cup ‘coarse ground’ Bulgur Wheat
2 Bay leaves ( fresh or dried )
500g Baby Spinach leaves
1/2 Red sweet pepper either fresh or preserved
Bunch coriander leaves, stalks removed
Dressing
4 tbs Virgin Olive Oil
2 tbs Balsamic vinegar
1 tsp ground cumin
1 tsp salt or more
Freshly ground black pepper
Method
1.Measure out lentils and spread out on a tray, or white dish. Check through carefully for stones. Place in sieve and rinse under the cold tap. Place in small saucepan and add double the water, together with 2 bay leaves. Bring to the boil and simmer until soft, but not dissolving. This takes about 1/2 to 3/4 hr, depending on lentils. Do not add salt to the water, this makes lentils tough. Once cooked place in sieve and rinse under the cold tap. Leave to drain.
2. Measure out Bulgur Wheat, place in small saucepan and cover with water. Bring to the boil and simmer for 15- 20 minutes until firm, but soft enough to eat. Remove and place in sieve and rinse under cold water. Leave to drain.
3.Wash spinach leaves in several waters, especially if gathered from the kitchen garden, in which case the spinach needs several rinses to get rid of all the earth and soaking in salted water. On the market you can also find packets of ‘Baby Spinach’ leaves, which need much less washing.
4. Remove a piece of grilled pepper from the preserving jar.( In Greece use Florinis.) Dice into small cubes. Otherwise use a fresh red pepper, cut in half, seeds removed and then cut into small cubes.
5. Make up your dressing and beat together with a fork until emulsified.
6 Shortly before serving place your ingredients in a large bowl, drizzle with dressing and very gently mix together with two large forks, just enough to combine.
Cook’s Note : Bulgur Wheat is cut in different thicknesses. Fine , Medium Coarse and Extra Coarse. This recipe uses Medium Coarse.
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Bulgur
This is what you are aiming for.
Spread out lentils onto a tray or white dish.
Check through carefully for stones, or other grains.
Place in a sieve and rinse under the running tap.
Place lentils in small saucepan and add double the volume of water. You can see the water comes up about a 3-4 cm above the lentils. Add bay leaves for flavor. No salt! Salt makes lentils tough. Cook until tender, but not disintegrating. 30-40 minutes, depending on lentils. Drain in sieve and reserve.
Measure out Bulgar Wheat into small saucepan add double the volume in water, bring to the boil and simmer until just cooked. This takes about ten minutes. You want it to be a little chewy, not completely soft. Drain in sieve and reserve.
Wash spinach leaves in several waters, especially if collected from the garden and full of earth. It takes 5-6 changes of water for all the earth to be washed out. If using packeted baby spinach leaves, one rinse is enough.
Grind Cumin seeds until they are a fine powder.
When you freshly grind spices from seed the flavor is more aromatic, than ‘ready ground’ powders.
Make up salad dressing and add cumin powder. Beat with a fork to emulsify.
Cut sweet red pepper into very small cubes, a little larger than a match head.
Just before serving combine ingredients in large salad bowl and drizzle with dressing.
Using two large forks, mix together very lightly until just combined.
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