We are in a drought, but things are growing and pretty much on schedule for the past three years. I spend a lot of time watering the important plants inside the garden walls. And it is paying off, see my favorites the miniature daffodils......
We enjoyed the second Christmas Stollen for Valentine's Day, it was even better than the original as it was frozen before it had even cooled. So moist and delicious.
However, I can't get away with not baking the occasional sweet bread and I had a big bunch of very ripe bananas, some coconut and always pecans. So what to do?
Found my old recipe for Banana Nut Bread and off I went. Here is a quick picture I took when it came out of the oven.
If this recipe intrigues you, do as I do, toss the coconut in a heated cast iron pan until it starts to crisp up and color to a lovely tan color. Cool immediately to a plate. I also don't pulverize the banana to a pulp, leave some small lumps, they are a wonderful surprise and help to keep it moist longer.
Since I couldn't be outside playing in the garden (too cold) I got into sous vide cooking!
What a fun challenge.
My first attempt was two chicken legs, I figured they were cheap enough for a possible disaster. And here they are! The top photo is of them when they came out of the sealed bag, as you can see all of the juice had jelled with the seasonings and was sitting on top of the leg on the left.
The one thing about sous vide cooking is one has to plan ahead, as a PRIME short order cook I
find it hard to do it frequently! (As in what's in the frig, we have to eat!) This weekend I'm going to make Lamb Shanks, sous vide.
Stay tuned.
