Banana Bread With Walnuts - Jon B. Tumpey

Ingredients:

• 2 cups all-purpose flour
• 1 1/2 teaspoons baking soda
• 1/2 teaspoon salt
• 4 overripe bananas
• 1 cup sugar
• 3/4 cup (11/2 sticks) unsalted butter, melted and cooled
• 2 large eggs
• 1 teaspoon pure vanilla extract
• 1/2 cup walnuts, finely chopped
• Confectioners' sugar, for dusting

1. Preheat oven to 350 degrees F.
2. Lightly grease a 9 by 5-inch loaf pan.
3. In a large bowl, combine the flour, baking soda, and salt; set aside.
4. Mash 2 of the bananas with a fork in a small bowl so they still have a bit of texture.
5. 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.
6. Add the melted butter, eggs, and vanilla; beat well and scrape down the sides of the bowl.
7. Mix in the dry ingredients just until incorporated; no need to overly blend.
8. Fold in the walnuts and the mashed bananas with a rubber spatula.
9. Pour the batter into the prepared loaf pan. Give the pan a good rap on the counter to get any air bubbles out.
10. Bake for about 1 hour and 15 minutes, until golden brown and a toothpick inserted into the center of the loaf comes out clean.
11. Rotate the pan periodically to ensure even browning.
12. Don't get nervous if the banana bread develops a crack down the center of the loaf; that's no mistake, it's typical.
13. Cool the bread in the pan for 10 minutes or so, and then turn out onto a wire rack to cool completely before slicing.
14. Toast the slices of banana bread, dust with confectioners' sugar, and serve.

JON’S FRENCH ONION SOUP - Jon B. Tumpey

Ingredients: 

• 3 Tbs. Butter 
• 4 cups Vidalia, sweet, or yellow onions, thinly sliced (about 3-4 large onions) 
• 6 cups Le Gout Condensed French Onion Soup, make your own “Le Gout " type broth (see recipe below) or you can use canned beef broth (if using cubes, granules or concentrate, use half beef and half chicken) 
• 1 cup dry white wine or Sherry (optional, but preferred).
• ½ tsp. Salt 
• Freshly ground pepper, to taste 
• 4 Slices French bread, dried until crisp in a 250°F oven for 30 minutes 
• 1/2 cup Gruyere cheese (grated) 
• 1 Tbs. Parmesan cheese
• 1/2 cup Mozzarella cheese (grated) 

Directions: 

1. Heat the butter in a large heavy saucepan. 

2. Add the onions, cover and cook over very low heat for 20 minutes. 

3. Stir until the onions are lightly browned. 

4. Add the Le Gout French Onion broth, salt and pepper. Simmer, uncovered, over gentle heat for 30 minutes. 

5. Preheat the broiler. 

6. Ladle the soup into soup crocks. 

7. Place on a baking sheet. 

8. Put a round of French bread in each crock. 

9. Mix the cheese and sprinkle over the surface. 

10. Place 4 inches from the broiler flame and cook for 4 minutes until the cheese is bubbling and lightly browned. 

Makes 4 servings. 

NOTE: You can get Le Gout soup from – Wenning’s Wholesale Meats - 7 Pearl St, Long Branch, NJ 07740, (732) 222-3085 or find a store that carries it near you.

Also you can make your own “Le Gout” type broth by following this recipe:

Homemade “Le Gout” type broth

• 2 Large Vidalia (sweet) onions, sliced not diced
• 3 Tbs. (give or take) olive oil
• 2 Tbs. flour
  
  
• 4 cups beef stock (hey just cause it's onion soup doesn't mean it's vegetarian)
  
  

Seasoning (you can use freshly minced garlic and coarsely ground pepper, rosemary, sage, or you can cheat and use some of that Montreal steak seasoning, it works good, just don't go over board with it.)

Preparation:

Place a shallow saucepan over medium heat and pour in your oil. Let the oil heat up a bit ( you want it hot but not smoking, smoking oil... you can tell it's hot by slowly adding a little bit of the onion, when it starts to sizzle the oil is hot. When the oil is hot, go ahead and add the rest of your onions, be sure to stir or shake the pan fairly frequently (the idea is to caramelize the onions not burn the crap out of them) add your seasoning. When the onions have caramelized take a whisk and your wine, add a splash or two of the wine to the pan and then use your whisk to scrape the bottom of the pan to break loose anything that might be stuck down there (this is called deglazing, it's where a lot of good flavor comes from). When you've got that done next you wanna whisk in your flour, you just want a little bit, the soup is supposed to be a little on the thin side, whisking in the flour just gives it a little body. After you've got your flour whisked in then you want to add your stock slowly while stirring the pan. Let simmer