Banana Bread With Dessert Wine
/A good banana bread recipe is something that will serve you and your loved ones well over the years. When my youngest daughter was little she could hardly wait for me to miscalculate (sometimes on purpose) the amount of bananas that we would eat that week. That meant that there would be two or three overripe, mushy bananas, perfect for banana bread. For breakfast, she loved a warm slice with a little butter or cream cheese melting on it. She still loves banana bread, and at any time of day.
The Late Harvest Grand Cru 2009 Pinot Gris from the Alsacian producer Francois Baur was the perfect accompaniment to a warm slice of Banana Bread heaven!
When a friend of mine was in college, his mother mother once sent him a loaf of banana bread to help get him through those long nights in the library. Little did she know, on the way to the library, he ran into a buddy holding a full pitcher of beer (don’t ask!) and within a few minutes, the two of them were sitting in the warm autumn sun devouring banana bread with beer.
Most recently, I discovered the delights of drinking wine with banana bread, specifically a Vendange Tardive (which means late harvest) from Alsace in France. The grapes used for this type of dessert wine are left to hang on the vine until they start to dehydrate and shrivel up. The grapes’ juice becomes very sweet and concentrated, and the flavors become more intense. Serving the banana bread with a late harvest pinot gris makes it more like an evening dessert, rather than a breakfast item or an afternoon snack. You could even toast a slice and serve it with vanilla ice cream with any number of dessert wines: port, sauternes or cream sherry.
No matter how you eat it, or what you drink with it (perhaps an ice cold glass of milk?), you will be left with a big smile on your face, along with a glow from the love that was put into it.
MY FAVORITE BANANA BREAD RECIPE
I discovered this recipe several years ago in Martha Stewart's Entertaining Cookbook. Over the years, I have adapted it and made it my own.
Makes one loaf
1/2 cup butter, at room temperature
3/4 cup sugar
2 eggs, at room temperature
1 1/2 cups unbleached flour
1 teaspoon baking soda
1 teaspoon salt
2 medium sized bananas, mashed with a potato masher
1/2 cup sour cream
1 teaspoon vanilla
1/2 cup chopped walnuts
1) While preheating oven to 350 degrees, cream butter, sugar and eggs.
2) In a bowl, whisk together flour, baking soda and salt. Mix together well with butter, sugar and egg mixture. Stir in bananas, sour cream, vanilla and walnuts.
3) Pour into a buttered 9x4x3 inch loaf pan and bake for 50 minutes. Test for doneness by inserting a bamboo skewer or wooden toothpick and checking that it comes out clean. You may need to bake an additional 10-15 minutes. The loaf should be lightly browned.
4) Turn out onto a wire rack.
Wine Pairings:
In additon to the Francois Baur late harvest Pinot Gris, following are a few other suggestions for sweet wines to go with the banana bread:
Lustau "Solera Reserve" East India Sherry - $27
Fonseca 10 year tawny Port - $30
Chateau Suduiraut Sauternes - $75
Graham'sVintage Port 2000 - $125
