Banana roll cake

This is my sons favorite, and one of my favorite cakes to eat and make! It’s delicious and pretty too, yet all it takes is decorative assembly of a simple jelly roll, vanilla butter cream, bananas and whipped cream on the top. The recipe is used in many places, so I cannot give credit to one particular person, or site, and it varies a bit. Some people put some eggs in the filling, I don’t, and so on.
It’s a crowd pleaser!

Never fail jelly roll...

For the jelly roll:

6 eggs
6 Tbsp of AP flour
6 Tbsp of sugar
½ Tsp of baking powder

Mix the egg whites with sugar until stiff, then add the yolks, one by one, then flour mixed with baking power. Bake in a jelly roll pan lined with parchment paper, @ 385 F until lightly golden. Transfer onto damp kitchen towel, along with the parchment paper, and roll it up. Let it cool down completely, unroll it, and as you do it peel off the parchment paper, spread your favorite jam or jelly on (not too much, you don’t want it oozing out), and then cut it up into slices.

Now, you make the vanilla butter cream. You’ll need:

1 liter milk
2 packages Dr.Oetker (or some other kind) vanilla pudding
7 Tbsp of finest flour
6 Tbsp of sugar
2 ½ stick of unsalted butter or margarine
Powdered sugar to taste
4-5 bananas

Alternative fillingInstead of vanilla pudding use 5 Tbsp of corn starch and some vanilla extract, and instead of 7, use 5 Tbsp of flour.

Mix all the dry ingredients with some milk (that you take from 1 liter), and put the rest of the milk to boil. Make sure you beat the mixture with the mixer to ensure there are no lumps. Add the mixture to boiling milk, stir for a minute, don’t let it burn, and then transfer to a bowl and cool down completely. When cool, add the butter cut into slices, and as much powdered sugar as you like, adding it little by little until sweet enough o taste. I don’t like it too sweet…

Now, to assemble the cake. Place some jelly roll slices on the bottom of the spring form pan (I did it directly on the plate this time) to create a cake layer. Then put jelly roll slices around the spring form pan, and as you do this you can start adding the cream, because the slices won’t stick to the form.

So, you need to fill half of the cream, then you place bananas in circle, cutting them appropriately to fit them and bending them a little if needed to make the nice circles. In the middle you can put a little piece of banana. Do this fairly quickly, you don’t want the bananas to turn brown, and then put the remainder of the cream on top of bananas. Top with whipped cream.

Once they are stuck in all that cream, they won’t brown, and will be fresh when you cut the cake the next day. I say the next day because this cake is the best next day, as bananas sort of release their flavor, and it smells so good, mhmmmmm, yummy! Enjoy!

Baron Trenk Cutlets

May not be the real deal, but the concept is great, and so is the taste!

I love meals like this, and most of you already know that : )
Just look at my other food photos, right? It just has to have that artistic touch, must be interesting, and of course, taste great! I can’t get the right salami for this cutlet here, the recipe calls for Slavonian kulen, so I hope I am not offending the Croatian traditional dish by substituting it with country ham slices. I wish I didn’t have to. I have other meats in mind for next time. For those interested more in who this Baron was, you can get that info here. Interesting, he is considered to be the father of military music…

Baron Trenk Cutlets

For 4 cutlets you’ll need:

4 pork cutlets (beat them until thin)
1 hard boiled egg, cut into quarters
4 Tbsp of Ajvar (Red pepper spread, I make my own)
8 slices of Slavonian kulen, or something like that
Salt to taste
2-3 Garlic cloves
Some oil for frying
1 hot pepper (optional)
½ lb mushrooms
1 Tsp of Vegeta seasoning
2 Tbsp of sour cream
1 Tsp of corn starch
Some parsley
Some vine if you like at the end

On each cutlet spread a Tbsp of Ajvar, put 2 slices of Slavonian kulen (or what I did, I put the slice of country ham), and a quarter of egg. Roll it up, secure with a toothpick. Season with salt a bit, and fry, turning often to ensure they’re cooked evenly. Add diced hot pepper, and continue to fry adding some water occasionally, until done.

Take the cutlets out on a plate, and in the same pan stir in minced garlic, add Vegeta seasoning, mushrooms, and if necessary more water. Now put the cutlets back in the pan, and stir for a minute or so all together. You can now add some vine, if you like, and then combine it all with sour cream mixed with corn starch. Garnish with parsley - if you like. Serve with mashed potatoes (traditionally served with them), or rice. It is delicious! Enjoy!

Corn bread with cheese - Projara

Projara is a corn bread with cheese in it (can also be with spinach), and it is widely consumed in Serbia, Bosnia, Croatia, and the rest of the formerly Yugoslavia. Here in the United States I make it with feta, and cottage cheese. It is prepared with yogurt and oil, so you get a real nice, yummy, moist corn bread. As with many traditional recipes, ingredients vary from region to region, and so there are many recipes to choose from. I love it because it’s delicious, quick, and easy!



To try it out, you’ll need to mix (with the mixer) the following ingredients in the order given:

5 eggs
¾ of cup oil
¾ of cup plain yogurt
Pinch of salt (feta is salty, don’t over salt)
16 Tbsp of AP flour mixed with 1 Tsp of baking powder
16 Tbsp of corn meal

You’ll get a nice compact mixture, sort of like cake batter, quite thick.



Now, fold in the cheeses. Don’t mix, or you’ll compromise the texture of the cheeses:

1 cup crumbled feta cheese
1 cup cottage cheese

Transfer to the greased and floured baking dish, or lined with parchment paper. Bake in a preheated oven @ 385 F until lightly golden. Enjoy!

Polenta pie

Delicious!

A while back I took note of this great polenta pie @ Culinary in the (desert) country, and I just had to try it.
I have tailored it to my taste a little bit, and made a smaller one ( just for 2 : ), and I love it!
(Great job Joe!!! Thanks for sharing! )
Can’t wait to try it with different cheeses, and spinach. So many different ingredients can be played with, in this polenta pie. There are no limits. I thought of adding eggs for the appearance, and eggs can be added like this to many dishes, as they go well with just about anything. Can’t wait to present this on my next diner party!

Here is how I made it (adapted from Culinary in the (desert) country )

Crust:
1 ½ cup water
1 Tbsp oil
½ cup corn meal
¼ Tsp salt (or to taste)
1 Tbsp parmesan

Preheat oven to 405 F, make polenta on stove top as usual, mix all ingredients in a pot, bring to boil while constantly mixing, reduce heat and keep mixing until it just about starts separating from the pot.

Transfer to a baking dish ( I have used small spring form pan, just love baking in them). Even it out and bake for about 20 minutes.
In the meantime make the filling by combining following ingredients in no particular order.

Filling:
8 oz ricotta cheese
1 cup shredded mozzarella cheese
2 Tbsp parmesan cheese
1 Tbsp all purpose flour
¼ Tsp basil
¼ Tsp salt (or to taste)
Ground black pepper, to taste, I just sprinkled a bit
I have added chopped scallions, this is an option you can change.

Next time I am going to add spinach.



Reduce heat to 350 F, transfer filling into crust, even it out, if you like, embed 5 or so hard-boiled eggs in circle into the pie, sprinkle with some mozzarella, and bake for about 20-25 minutes. Broil for a minute to get a golden top! Enjoy!