Don't Do The Dishes: Banana Bread in Pork Roaster

Waste not, want not. I believe that. Also, I can be lazy. These are the pillars of this post.



I've been testing recipes for our Polynesian supper club coming up next weekend. As part of our soup course, I need to prepare a roast pork shoulder with a papaya seed rub. This past Monday, I was experimenting with my recipe. And I was left over with a glass baking dish with some delicious drippings and grease. I swear, although its horrible for you, there is almost nothing which smells and tastes as delicious as pork fat. You think there is...prove it!


Pork shoulder roast with papaya and sea salt rub. Soooo good!

Anyway, I also had two bananas going bad which I needed to use up. I decided to make banana bread. But...I only have one loaf sized pan and it was currently being used with the small test pork roast. Hmmm....


Yes, I had two bananas, but I already smashed one before I thought to take their pictures. Oh well.

To be lazy, I don't like doing dishes. (WHO DOES??) To waste not, I wanted to use both the delicious pork flavor on the glass dish and the bananas which were going bad. Why not put them together!! I decided to make a banana bread and just put the batter right into the glass dish once the pork roast was done!


A detail of the caramelized pork drippings on the glass dish (left) and the batter in the pork fat (right).

I left some of the pork grease in the bottom and put my banana bread batter right into the dish to bake and fuse with the caramelized porky yum.

The result: banana bread with a slight hint of the savory salty sweet flavor of pork. I also added a lemon glaze. Delish!

Here's the basic banana bread I used:

Basic Banana Bread

• 2 brown bananas
• 1/2 c. butter
• 3/4 c. sugar
• 2 eggs
• 1 tsp salt*
• 1 tsp baking soda
• 1/2 tsp nutmeg
• 1/4 tsp allspice
• 1/4 tsp cloves
• 3/4 c. sour cream
• 1 tsp vanilla extract
• 1 tsp whiskey

Lemon Glaze

• 1 c. confectioners sugar
• 2-3 tbs lemon juice

1. Preheat oven to 350.
   
   
2. Mash bananas in a bowl.
   
   
3. Cream butter and sugar together with a stand or hand mixer until light and fluffy.
   
   
4. Add eggs 1 at a time to butter and sugar and mix.
   
   
5. Mix dry ingredients together.
   
   
6. Add to butter/sugar/eggs and mix together.
   
   
7. Add bananas, sour cream, vanilla and whiskey.
   
   
8. Pour into your pan greased loaf pan (the pork fat is not manditory).
   
   
   
   
9. Bake until tests clean with knife or skewer test. About 45 - 60 minutes.
   
   
10. Prepare glaze by mixing together two ingredients.
    
    
11. Spread glaze over cooled loaf.
    
    
    
    
12. Eat it, obviously!

Brinner: Eggy Eyeball.

Its time for dinner, but you want breakfast. It happens. We can take care of this problem quick and easy.



Uova Di Pomodoro (Eggs Baked in Tomatoes)
From the Silver Spoon Cookbook

• vine ripened tomatoes
• same number of eggs
• 1 tsp of olive oil for each tomato
• dried oregano
• salt and pepper

Preheat the oven to 400 degrees

Cut off the tops of the tomatoes and scoop out the seeds.

Sprinkle the inside of the tomatoes with salt and lay upside down on a paper towel to allow to drain for 10 minutes.

Put 1 tsp of olive oil in each tomato and sprinkle the insides with a pinch of oregano and pepper.



Bake tomatoes for 20 minutes. Remove from oven and add egg to the center of each tomato. The eggs will sizzle in the hot oil.



Place the tomatoes back in the oven for 5-7 minutes.



I sprinkled the tops with Parmesan cheese and dried dill. Don't they look like little eggy eyeballs? Is that unappetizing?



I sided the tomatoes with the left over potatoes and broccoli from our Easter Dinner. Boom, 30 minutes later and its brinner time.

Quick and Fruity Breakfast Pastries

The best way to get everyone to like you is to fill them up with sweet treats. A Sunday brunch seems like the perfect opportunity for bribing people with some sort of delicious breakfast bites except for one thing: I hate getting up early. HATE IT. I also like to go out on Saturday night, so if I am going to make it the day before, it has to be fast and easy.


Black currant and cherry pastries with lemon zest sugar topping.

I've been obsessed with whipping up these quick danishes by stuffing puff pastry with a berry filling. Pre-made puff pastry is a shortcut we approve of, as making puff pastry from scratch is putzy and time consuming. Fresh or frozen berries can be thickened with sugar and cornstarch to create the filling or if you are really pressed for time, you can just open up a can of pre-made pie filling.



Quick Fruit Pastries

• fruit filling
• 1 package of puff pastry
• 1 egg
• 1/2 c. sugar
• citrus zest.

To make your own Fruit filling:

• 2 cups berries or chopped fruit, frozen, canned or fresh (doesn't matter)
• 1 c. sugar
• 2 heaping Tbs cornstarch
• 1/2 c. fruit juice (you can just use water if you don't have juice)

Mix in a sauce pan, bring to a boil and continue to stir until the sauce is nice and thick. You can add some added flavoring to the filling depending on your fruit. Almond extract goes great with berries. Citrus zest can give be fun, but a little goes a long way.



Puff pastry usually comes in a box with two sheets. Defrost dough and roll out each sheet into 12" squares. Cut the squares into quarters and quarter again so you have 16 small squares. Spoon 1 tsp of fruit filling into the center of each square. Brush raw egg along all edges of each square.



Assemble the small pastries by pinching the corners together at the center. Then pinch together the open corners so there are no places where filling can leak out. Pinch tightly with fingers to seal, if the dough is giving you trouble you can twist the dough.



Brush with raw egg and top with sugar. I like to add some fresh lemon or orange zest into the sugar to give some added pep!



Bake little guys for 15 minutes at 400 degrees. Remove from oven when the dough is nice and golden. Allow to cool completely before placing in air tight containers.



The next morning, these pastries are little light crispy bites of fruity friendship. Everyone will like you and you will be happy.