Some food signals more than just another thing to eat. Some food carries memories. Some food offers comfort. Some food brings us back to the kitchen of our childhood.
That food for me is Mom's Lemon Bread.
We ate it at Easter and Christmas, found it some mornings for breakfast or afternoons for a snack. My mom is known for her lemon bread, but it's difficult to duplicate because she doesn't use a recipe anymore. She just knows it by feel because of familiarity honed in repeated batches through the childhoods of five boys and now 11 grandchildren. Linda's Lemon Bread. It's how my family does comfort food.
In my first attempt at cooking on the hilltop, I made some lemon bread. The process, the aroma, the taste -- everything about lemon bread makes me feel at ease. At home. At peace.
I threw in a big plate of Funfetti cookies just because they are easy, and I could hand them out around campus. Who doesn't like a good cookie?
Most of my friends from St. Elizabeth Ann Seton have at some point eaten a Funfetti cookie at a meeting or gathering. They were my go-to dessert because they are fast, easy, require few ingredients, and are generally enjoyed by all.
I thought of many things I could write about this experience -- the challenge of buying just the right amount of ingredients for a recipe; using all the sugar by accident when I needed more for the glaze and having to open 30 sugar packets; bringing all the right tools down two levels to the only kitchen in our building (and then remembering the other tools I needed); skipping homework for an afternoon to cook; the unbelief by some seminary brothers that I actually made the cookies myself -- but the soothing power of lemon bread stands out. Food can be a powerful experience.
Perhaps that's why the Eucharist evokes the depths of our humanity. It's food at its best, sacred and divine, the meeting of mere mortals with immortality, and the gathering of the whole Church, past, now, and to come. Whatever separates us, we can be united in the blood and body. It's the ultimate comfort food.
My mouth is watering. Will you share your recipes? Please.
ReplyDeleteGlad to share. I hope you enjoy it as much as my family. Here's the recipe for lemon bread:
ReplyDelete2 C. flour
2 eggs
1 C. granulated sugar
1 t. baking powder
1/2 C. buttermilk (or add some lemon juice to regular milk)
1/4 C. applesauce
1/4 C. margarine or butter
Zest of one lemon
For the glaze:
1/4 C. granulated sugar
Juice of one lemon
(1) Whisk together flour and baking powder. Set aside.
(2) Cream butter and sugar until light and fluffy. Add eggs, applesauce, lemon zest, buttermilk.
(3) Combine with flour and baking powder until a thick, cohesive mixture forms.
(4) Pour into well-greased bread pans (usually makes five or six medium loaves, two large loaves or eight to ten small loaves).
(5) Bake at 350 degrees for 45-50 minutes or until tops are golden and knife comes out clean.
(6) Within five minutes of removing bread from the oven, poke 30-40 holes in the top with a toothpick.
(7) Combine 1/4 C. sugar and juice of one lemon to make glaze. Pour glaze over the top of loaves, distributing evenly among them. Glaze should drip down the sides and seep into holes poked by toothpick.
(8) Let cool another 20-30 minutes, and remove from bread pans.
Thank you!
ReplyDelete