Little Old Lady

There is a Netflix series called Chef's Table that you should watch immediately after reading this post while baking the banana bread recipe below.  Each episode is dedicated to a different Michelin star chef.  In the first episode, they interviewed Massimo Bottura from Modena, Italy and he described one of his earliest memories.  As a child, he would hide under the table while his grandmother rolled and shaped fresh pasta.  He remembered eating tortellini moments after his grandmother formed it with her hands and explained that the goal of his whole career has been to try and ignite that moment of child-like discovery and curiosity that he remembers for the people that eat his food. 

 I explained to a friend recently that what I connected with the most as Chef Bottura spoke was the thought of his grandmother.  I imagined her slightly bent over a wooden work bench, a light dust of flour in the creases of her hands.  I could see her as the sheets of pasta became exquisite origami; every fold completed with energy and love that poured forth into the forms she learned to make from her mother, and her mother learned from hers. A vessel that carried parts of the past, she fed her family by way of the old.  In my mind, she is an artist just as much, if not more, as he is.  

Perhaps I connected with the story of Bottura's grandmother because I am comfortable with the fact that I am an the path to being a little old lady.  I may be only 28 years old, but I am 78 at heart.  I would rather stay in than go out any night of the week, sitting in a recliner with a wool blanket.  I could easily watch The Golden Girls all day with the occasional flip to check the weather channel.  I have many curmudgeon moments - just ask my farmer.  He calls me Gram.  Don't worry, I call him Pap.  He has many of the same tendencies, like complaining about the temperature.  

Anything antique or "old fashioned" makes my ears perk up; I have fantasies of finding one of those old metal egg poaching pans at a thrift shop.  I find so much fulfillment in the exchange of family histories and stories about so-and-so's second cousin twice removed who did this or old Mr. Such-and-Such down the road who's actually distantly related.  

Afghans, egg creams, cast iron, crotchet, bone china, cardigans, quilts, checkers, cards, soup, everything from scratch, save your bacon grease, hand written cards in cursive, pull out the old photo album...these are a few of my favorite things.

And every Nana needs a good banana bread recipe.  Even if you're just an aspiring one.

Banana Bread
Makes 1 - 9 x 5" loaf cake

I love this recipe because it really celebrates the banana.  There are no additional spices, so the flavor of banana really comes through; therefore, it's important to use very ripe bananas, since they will have the sweetest, most distinct flavor.

Ingredients

1/2 cup (1 stick, 4 oz, 113 g) unsalted butter, room temperature
1 cup (198 g) brown sugar
2 large egg, room temperature
5-6 (2 cups, 16 oz, 454 g) mashed bananas
2 1/2 cups (9 3/8 oz, 265 g) pastry flour
1 tsp (5 g) baking soda
1/2 tsp salt

Method

Place a baking rack in the center of a conventional oven and preheat it to 350 F.  Grease a 9 x 5 loaf pan and set aside.

Cream the softened butter in the bowl of stand mixer for 3 minutes.  Add the brown sugar and continue to beat for 2 more minutes.  Next, add the eggs, one at a time.  Scrape the mixture down and then mix in the mashed bananas.

In a separate bowl, sift together the flour, baking soda and salt.  Slowly add them to the wet ingredients.  Scrape the bowl with a spatula to make sure the mixture is evenly combined.

Pour the batter into the prepared pan and bake for about 45-50 minutes, or until a cake tester inserted into the center comes out clean. Let the bread cool for about 15 minutes in the pan then turn it out and let it finish cooling on a rack.