Banana pudding has a long history dating back to the 19 century, there isn’t much information available. What I did find is that bananas began to be marketed in the United States around the 19th century. Cooks were fascinated by this exotic fruit and began using them in existing recipes of cooked puddings and baked custards topped with meringue. A 1902 cookbook contains recipes for fried bananas, baked bananas, banana pudding, and banana cake in a section called Hawaiian recipes.
In 1901 Nabisco began marketing vanilla wafers. No one seems to know which cook was the first to line the pudding dish with vanilla wafers but it caught on quickly, especially after Nabisco began printing the recipe on their vanilla wafer package. Banana pudding is a dessert common in the Southern United States.
I personally do not care for the vanilla wafers so I use chessman cookies.
Spanish food is quite different from that of many other European countries in that it makes heavy use of rice; a staple that is more commonly associated with Asian countries. In order to understand exactly why the Spanish use rice so much in their cuisine it is beneficial to recount the history of Spanish rice. Spain was ruled by the Moors, who in turn were heavily influenced by the cuisine and culture of Muslim Arabs form the Middle East. It is widely believed that it was the Moors who laid the foundation stone in the history of Spanish rice by introducing it to the local population. By the time the Moors were expelled from Spain more than 700 years after they first arrived, rice had already developed a long established history among the Spanish people who were not prepared to abandon it.
The fact that rice came to the Spanish from the Moors is supported with linguistic evidence. The Spanish word for rice is ‘arroz’ which seems to come directly from the Arabic word for rice which is ‘al- ruzz’.
Spanish Rice Today
Today the term Spanish rice is often used to denote a specific dish that is served as a side dish made from white rice, tomatoes, garlic, onions, parsley, cilantro as well as a few other ingredients. One common cooking method for Spanish rice is to saute the rice until golden brown and cook it in chicken broth. Vegetables including carrots and peas or corn may also be used depending on the recipe.
Spanish rice is a popular dish in the Southwest of the United States, where it often features liberal portions of grilled and stewed vegetables. The version of Spanish rice cooked throughout South America tends to be more standardized, often with just enough tomato and chili to provide the characteristic reddish orange color and a smoky, garlic and onion taste. It is frequently served as a side dish alongside other Venezuelan and other South American Cuisine.
My sisters came to visit me last year and my sister Martha made this Dutch Apple Cake for us. She gave me her recipe and I made a few changes to the ingredients, just added cinnamon, vanilla and lemon extract.
Ingredients
4 small apples (you need 3 1/2 but you can eat the rest) 1 cup sugar plus 3 tbsp 2/3 cup unsalted melted butter 4 eggs 2 cups cake flour 1 tsp cinnamon 1/2 tsp vanilla extract 1/2 tsp lemon extract 1 tbsp lemon juice 3 tbsp apricot jelly
Instructions
1. Put parchment paper underneath the circle of the spring form and draw a circle. Cut out the circle and spray the springform with Pam. Put the parchment circle on it and spray it again with Pam. so the cake won’t stick to the bottom.
2. Peel the apples and take the core out. Cut the apples up in 4. Add 1 tbsp of lemon juice, 3 tbsp of sugar and 1 tbsp of cinnamon to the apples. Mix it up and set aside.
3. Add the melted butter to the sugar and mix well. Add one egg to the butter sugar mix, alternate with 1/2 cup of cake flour. When you used up all the flour and the eggs, add the vanilla and lemon extract.
4. Pour in the prepared spring form and top it off with the apples. Cook in a preheated oven of 300F oven for 1 1/2 hour. The last 10 min top the cake with the apricot jelly and cook 10 min more. Take the cake out of the oven and put on a wired rack, let it cool for about 10 min then you should be able to take the cake out of the spring form.
*Arrisje’s Recipe Card. Right Click on the pic below, save to your hard drive and print as a 4×6 pic*
Dutch Apple Cake
My sisters came to visit me last year and my sister Martha made this for us. She gave me her recipe and I made a few changes to the ingredients, just added cinnamon, vanilla and lemon extract.
4small applesyou need 3 1/2 but you can eat the rest
1cupsugar plus 3 tbsp
2/3cupunsalted melted butter
4eggs
2cupscake flour
1tspcinnamon
1/2tspvanilla extract
1/2tsplemon extract
1tbsplemon juice
3tbspapricot jelly
Instructions
Put parchment paper underneath the circle of the spring form and draw a circle. Cut out the circle and spray the springform with Pam. Put the parchment circle on it and spray it again with Pam. so the cake won't stick to the bottom.
Peel the apples and take the core out. Cut the apples up in 4. Add 1 tbsp of lemon juice, 3 tbsp of sugar and 1 tbsp of cinnamon to the apples. Mix it up and set aside.
Add the melted butter to the sugar and mix well. Add one egg to the butter sugar mix, alternate with 1/2 cup of cake flour. When you used up all the flour and the eggs, add the vanilla and lemon extract.
Pour in the prepared spring form and top it off with the apples. Cook in a preheated oven of 300F oven for 1 1/2 hour. The last 10 min top the cake with the apricot jelly and cook 10 min more. Take the cake out of the oven and put on a wired rack, let it cool for about 10 min then you should be able to take the cake out of the spring form.
Recipes for Dutch apple pie go back centuries. There exists a painting from the Dutch Golden Age, dated 1626, featuring such a pie.
The basis of Dutch apple pie is a crust on the bottom and around the edges. This is then filled with pieces or slices of apple, usually a crisp and mildly tart variety such as Goudreinet or Elstar. Cinnamon and sugar are generally mixed in with the apple filling, and lemon juice is often added. The filling can be sprinkled with liqueur for taste. Atop the filling, strands of dough cover the pie in a lattice, holding the filling in place but keeping it visible. Though it can be eaten cold, most people crave for the warm version, with a dash of whipped cream or vanilla ice cream.
Meatballs gehaktbal “Woensdag, gehaktdag!” (“Wednesday, minced meat day!”That is how it used to be up until the 1960s: on Wednesdays, virtually every Dutch housewife would serve minced meat for dinner. Even today, more traditional families and elderly people eat minced meat on Wednesday. Now why would a whole country eat the same food on the same day?
