Maple olive oil banana bread

This weekend marked the end of Vanier's Maple Sugar Festival that takes place in one of North America's only urban sugar bushes. How cool is it that just a few blocks from my house, maple trees are tapped and real maple syrup is made? Just another reason Vanier's such an interesting place to live.

The festival inspired me to make this banana bread that uses maple syrup. While the syrup is a neat addition, so is the olive oil that makes this bread really moist. And the cinnamon sugar topping adds a nice crunch to each slice. Plus, with some whole wheat flour and Greek yogurt, it almost passes for a health food.

Really, what's not to like?

Maple olive oil banana bread
From Shutterbean

• 1 cup all-purpose flour
• 1/2 cup whole wheat flour
• 1 teaspoon baking soda
• 1 teaspoon salt
• 1/4 teaspoon ground cinnamon
• 1/8 teaspoon ground ginger
• 1/2 cup olive oil
• 1/2 cup brown sugar, packed
• 1/4 cup maple syrup
• 1 1/2 teaspoons pure vanilla extract
• 2 eggs
• 3 ripe bananas, mashed (about 1 cup puree)
• 1/2 cup Greek yogurt

for the topping:

• 2 tablespoons turbinado sugar
• 1/2 teaspoon ground cinnamon

Preheat oven to 350F. Butter an 8 x 4 inch loaf pan. Line pan with a sling of parchment paper, with the long sides overhanging. Lightly butter the parchment, then set the pan aside.

Whisk together the flours, baking soda, salt and spices in a medium bowl. Set aside.

In a large bowl, whisk together the olive oil and brown sugar, breaking up any lumps. Add the maple syrup and vanilla, whisking until smooth. Add the eggs, one at a time and beat until fully incorporated. With a wooden spoon, stir in the bananas, then Greek yogurt. Add the flour mixture to the liquids, stirring until just combined. Do not over mix. Pour batter into prepared pan, evening out the top if necessary.

Mix together the turbinado sugar and cinnamon. Sprinkle the topping liberally over the batter and baked until a cake tester inserted in the middle of the loaf comes out clean, about 60-70 minutes.

Remove from the oven, and leave the bread to cool in its pan for 10 minutes. Using the parchment sling, life the bread out of the pan, unwrap and allow to cool completely on a wire rack.

Rhubarb cinnamon polenta cake

I am a huge fan of rhubarb and have been searching everywhere for a plant to root in my garden. (Okay, so I really haven't looked EVERYWHERE, but I have asked at both local farmers markets and no luck. What more can honestly be expected of me?)

Last weekend, my moaning and whining about my rhubarb-free existence finally paid off and I was lucky enough to received some free rhubarb. I couldn't wait to dig in (pardon the pun), so I immediately turned to my new Nigel Slater book, Tender Vol. II, for his take on the sour stuff. The Brits seem to love rhubarb almost as much as I do, and use it in both savoury and sweet dishes. Of course, theirs sprouts up in February, which would be a welcome sight in any garden.

Anyway, this recipe uses cornmeal, or polenta, which gives the cake a crunchy texture that's rather nice.

I used the wrong sized tin for this, so it came out more tart like than cakey, but it's still good. It keeps well several days after baking, and manages to retain its tenderness too.

Get chopping!

Chop up 500g of rhubarb and place in a baking dish. Sprinkle with some sugar and a splash of water.

While that's baking, you get started on the crust, which comes together quite easily in a food processor. Press into a pan that's actually 20cm and you'll have better results than I did.


When the rhubarb's done cooking, you let it drain and cool for a bit in a colander, then spread it out over the crust.

And top it off with the leftover third of the crust and a sprinkling of turbinado sugar.

The end result looks like this. Slighty more cobbler looking than cake, but again, this would likely be rectified in a smaller pan. Though a bit flat-ish, the cake was remarkably moist.

Serve it with the reserved juices, which thicken once refrigerated. I'll definitely be making this one again, and so should you.

Rhubarb cinnamon polenta cake

From Nigel Slater's Tender Vol. II

Ingredients

For the filling:

500g rhubarb
50g golden caster sugar
4 tbsp water

For the crust:
125g coarse polenta *Nigel explicitly states that you're not to use the fine, sand-like cornmeal, but a coarser variety. I've never seem more than one grind for sale in Canada, so I used some pretty fine stuff and it wasn't a problem.
200g plain flour
1 tsp baking powder
a pinch of ground cinnamon
150g golden caster sugar
grated zest of a small orange
150g butter
1 large egg
2-4 tbsp milk
1 tbsp light muscovado sugar

Method

Preheat oven to 180C/gas mark 4.

1. Cut each rhubarb stem into two or three pieces and put them in a baking dish
2. Scatter over the sugar and water, and bake for 30-40 minutes until the rhubarb is soft but still retains its shape
3. Put the polenta, flour, baking powder, cinnamon and caster sugar in the bowl of a food processor. Add the grated zest and the butter, cut into smallish pieces, then blitz for a few seconds till you have something that resembles breadcrumbs
4. Beat egg and milk in a small bowl and add to the crumb mixture. Blitz until just combined
5. Press about two-thirds of the mixture into the cake tin, pushing it a couple of centimeters up the sides with a floured spoon
6. Place the rhubarb on top, leaving a small rim around the edge uncovered and cover with the remaining batter
7. Scatter over the light muscovado sugar
8. Bake on the hot baking sheet for 45 minutes
9. Leave to cool before removing from tin and serve with the juice left over from the rhubarb