Recipe(tried): Vegetable Fritatta, Gina's Favorite Banana Buttermilk Bread....

Good Morning,

Frittatas have a long history in Western gastronomy, going back to the Italian family-style restaurants and boardinghouses of the Barbary Coast. They are simply, baked, puffed- out omelettes that are baked in spring-form pans and can be filled with anything imaginable.

This particular version is inspired from the combination of ingredients known as Denver or Western omelette, which food historian Evan Jones suggests might have begun as a Chinese cook's variation of egg foo young!! One zucchini-bountiful summer, it evolved to this cheese-rich vegetarian egg cake. (Jane & Michael Stern, Real American Food)

This frittata is the recipe of Jane and Michael Stern's Coast-to-Coast Cookbook, Real American Food and it is included in their west section. The book is divided into 4 sections, North, South, East and West. They have included recipes from their favarite eateries and they are all great recipes....I can't believe I have been making this fritatta since July 1991!! The book is one of my favorite cookbooks and if you can find it, get it, you won't be sorry.

With it I will serve Banana Buttermilk Bread and a fruit cup.

Vegetable Fritatta
serves 6-8

Michael and Jane Stern
Real American Food

1 cup sliced and halved zucchini
1 cup sliced mushrooms
3/4 cup chopped green bell pepper
3/4 cup chopped onions
1 clove garlic, minced
3 Tbsp. olive oil
6 eggs
1/4 cup cream
1 lb. cream cheese
2 cups cubed white bread, crusts removed
1 1/2 cups grated sharp Cheddar cheese
1/2 tsp. salt
1/2 tsp. pepper

Saute zucchini, mushrooms, bell pepper, onion and garlic in oil til barely soft. Cool.

Preheat oven to 350. Beat eggs and cream together in a large bowl. Add cream cheese in pinches. Add bread, cheddar and cooled veggies. Add salt and pepper. Pour mixture into a well-buttered 10-inch springform pan. Bake 55 mts. Let stand 10-15 mts. before serving.

GINA'S FAVORITE BANANA BUTTERMILK BREAD
yields 2 loaves

2 cups flour
1 cup whole wheat flour
1 cup cake flour
1 tsp. baking powder
1 tsp. baking soda
1 tsp. salt
1/2 cup butter
1 cup sugar
4 large eggs
5 med. ripened bananas, mashed
1 cup fresh buttermilk
1 tbsp. vanilla
1/2 cup dried cranberries
6 prunes, chopped
1 cup pecans or walnuts, chopped

GLAZE:
1 1/2 cups powdered sugar
enough half & half to make into a glaze
1/2 cup sliced almonds for garnish

Oven at 350. Mix the flours, baking powder, soda and salt and set aside. In a large bowl, cream the butter and sugar til fluffy. At low speed, add the eggs and mashed bananas. Add the buttermilk alternately with the flour mixture. After each addition, beat just until incorporated. Add the vanilla, fruits and nuts and mix at low speed until fully incorporated. DON'T OVERBEAT AT ANY TIME OR THE BREAD WILL COME OUT DRY.

Pour the batter into two greased and floured loaf pans. Bake for mts. 1 hour to 1 hour and 15 minutes. Cool on a rack. These will keep quite well for up to 5 days at room temp. or 3 months in the freezer.

Mix glaze ingredients together with a whisk til nice and smooth. Drizzle over and garnish with sliced almonds.