Your Daily Yum Yum: Banana Bread

 I am the first to admit that while my cooking skills may be formidable, I rarely use them for the good of mankind (or my tummy). I learned through osmosis while at Commander's Palace; Tory McPhail was working on his fabulous new book, "Commander's Wild Side" and I did my duty as proofer, assistant stylist and (my favorite part) taster.

Along the lines of my earlier post (half of the world's food supply is wasted every year), I decided to make lemonade out of lemons. Rather, I made banana bread out of overripe bananas. A quick search on Food and Wine (my favorite monthly of mine) found this recipe from Lisa Ritter, which turned out just as they claimed: crispy on the outside, moist on the inside. Really scrumptious, if I do say so myself. 

Old-Fashioned Banana Bread

•  MAKE-AHEAD
•  VEGETARIAN

ACTIVE TIME: 20 MIN 
TOTAL TIME: 1 HR 30 MIN 
ONE 9-BY-5-INCH LOAF

This extraordinarily simple and tasty banana bread (with a moist center and crispy crust) is a Ritter family heirloom. “The recipe has been in our family for generations,” Lisa Ritter says.

INGREDIENTS

• Unsalted butter
• 1 1/4 cups all-purpose flour, plus more for dusting
• 1 teaspoon baking soda
• Pinch of salt
• 2 large eggs, beaten
• 1/2 cup canola oil
• 1 cup sugar
• 2 large, very ripe bananas, mashed
• Confectioners’ sugar, for dusting

DIRECTIONS

1. Preheat the oven to 350°. Butter and flour a 9-by-5-inch metal loaf pan. In a medium bowl, whisk the 1 1/4 cups of flour with the baking soda and salt. In another bowl, whisk the eggs with the oil, sugar and mashed bananas. Stir the banana mixture into the dry ingredients.
2. Scrape the batter into the prepared pan and bake in the center of the oven for about 50 minutes, until the bread is golden and a toothpick inserted into the center of the loaf comes out clean. Transfer the pan to a rack and let cool for 15 minutes, then turn the bread out onto the rack and let cool completely. Dust the top with confectioners’ sugar, cut into slices and serve.

MAKE AHEAD The bread can be wrapped in plastic and refrigerated for up to 1 week.