Olympic Food Challenge: African Banana Coconut Bake - Equatorial Guinea

With a population of just 676,000 - making it the 166th biggest country in the world, Equatorial Guinea actually has the 29th highest GDP per capita due to recently discovered oil reserves boosting its economy.  Sadly, like most countries, the majority of the money lies in the hands of just a few.

Given the size of the country, I was unsurprised to learn that they sent just two competitors to the main London 2012 event (they left empty-handed) and they didn't field any athletes at the Paralympics.

So on to the foodie bit.  The detail from Wikipedia is as small as the country and gave me little help at all.  It did indicate that meat is very prevalent - specifically game, chicken and bush meat.  Knowing that I was unlikely to be able to source chimpanzee from Ocado, I went with fish.  Next problem, recipes are few and far between but eventually I happened across one for Pick a Pepper Stew which is basically fish cooked with peppers and herbs and served with rice.  Simple.

Well you'd think.  The recipe called for snapper but after a lot of effort by the fishmonger at my local Morrisons, they were unable to source any and recommended Tilapia instead.  I collected said fish yesterday afternoon and although it was gutted and descaled, I was left to my own devices to fillet the fish.  I should never have let the thought of 'how hard can filleting a fish be?' float through my head.

I've always had a bit of a fear of fish with their eyes in ever since my mother terrorised me with a dead trout when I was a child.  And then I owned a psychotic goldfish that kept jumping out of its bowl onto the kitchen floor.  I'm sure this is why I have a phobia of swimming in the sea. I really don't like fish.  Seriously. Unless they're battered with chips; in a fish finger sandwich; or in a meuniere sauce.

Tilapia must have the measliest amount of flesh to bone ratio of any fish ever.  Seriously, it's like a goldfish on steroids.  I managed to scrape two two-inch square bits of fish from it and was left with a massive fishy carcass, which I'm sure would make some fabulous fish stock if I didn't live in a house where the chief resident complains of any non-Captain Birds Eye fish smells.

So I ended up having to think on my feet and with a lack of bananas, I made Chef Jeena's onion bhajis. Fast forward to today and rather than doing the fish thing again with different fish, I settled on making African Banana Coconut Bake.  It's about the only dessert I can find with any reference to Equatorial Guinea.  The other choice was something containing raspberries and bread which sounds suspiciously like bread pudding.  At least this is vaguely exotic with its citrus fruits and coconut.

It's a really simple and scalable dish.  I made it just for me so rather than baking it in a dish, I just wrapped it all up in foil, a bit like a Cornish pasty, and baked it for ten minutes.  The sauce was amazing - although it made the coconut soggier than I would've liked.  Definitely one for the barbecue if we ever have sunny weather again.

And that is definitely the end of my Olympic Food Challenge contribution.  I only hope we finally hit the 204 mark on Sunday.  I'd like to say a mahoosive thanks to the team Coach - Ewan Mitchell - for letting me join his 'games'.

Banana, Maple Syrup and Pistachio Bread

With my mind on the idea of having a picnic, I totally disregarded the local weather forecast's doomsaying that it was going to be at best cloudy in Wiltshire today.  I have mentioned my love of picnics before.  It's another one of those family-oriented activities that the husband can't stand.  He gets twitchy the moment I mention the idea and I'm sure he prays for the weather to turn before we make it out the door.

Completely unfazed by all the potential pitfalls, I chose to have a go at Jamie's Banana Bread.  I should've stopped when I read the name 'Jamie Oliver'.  I have had zero success with his recipes this year (aside from Mulled Cider, which doesn't really count).  I should also have re-read my Mulled Cider post about how pictures of his recipes on the web look nothing like they do in reality - even factoring in the fact that I don't cook for a living.

Tin-bound

I came across the recipe when researching breakfast recipes for this week.  I'm on a pretty intensive course and have been warned by my boss that it's going to be a tough week and if I don't do well and have spent the week responding to work email, tweeting and blogging then I won't be very popular on my return to work.  So I have decided to go with breakfast recipes to get things over and done early in the day, short posts like I did on holiday and blind panic that I'm going to fail and it will all go horribly wrong.

Anyhow, this recipe looked like the perfect picnic food.  Soft banana bread, studded with nuts and glazed with honey.  Not being a honey fan, I replaced it with maple syrup and used pistachios instead of almonds for the lovely green colour.

If you look at the picture on the website, the bread actually looks like one of those soft mini bread rolls that you might buy from M&S or Waitrose.  The husband likes really soft bread and I was slightly ignorant of the fact that basic bread doesn't bake into a finished product like that.  To do soft rolls properly, you need to use something like Dan Lepard's Soft White Baps

My finished bread was slightly grey inside (understandable with the banana content, but not at all visible in Jamie's picture) and soft, but not all spongy like the picture seems to indicate.  I also have issue with the size of the bread in the picture.  Jamie says to use his basic white bread recipe and divide it into ten balls.  I used half of the bread recipe and managed eight gigantic rolls.  With his cheeky chappie 'bish, bash, bosh' approach to writing, he also neglects to mention what size and shape tin to put them into.  I put my eight into my 9" springform tin and they filled it nicely.

The taste was okay even if the texture was a little disappointing based on the picture on the website.  But it was chewy, they are nice warm, Miss A loved them and I think they'd work well in the winter with a big mug of hot chocolate.

I like the concept and will try adapting the recipe further in the future - but from now on, I'll stick to Dan's baking recipes.  As pretty much everyone I know who has tried a recipe from Short and Sweet or his Guardian recipes will tell you - quite simply they do what they say on the (baking) tin.  Stick to real food Jamie and leave the baking recipes to the experts.

Dan Lepard's Dark Banana Ginger Cake

I first came across this recipe a couple of months ago when I was looking to make a banana cake for my then mentor at work.  Dan had published a pair of bare banana cake recipes in his weekly column for the Guardian.  Last time I went for the first recipe.  Today it's the second recipe from the column.

183 cals of yumminess

At the time the recipes were published, I was trying to convince my mother that Dan is a bit of a baking deity.  She wasn't convinced despite me raving about all the recipes of his I've baked during this journey.  The weekend the column was published was the first time she'd had a chance to taste one of my Lepard bakes when I made his Cinnamon Cake with Blackberries.  She'd raved so much to her work colleagues about it that they asked for pictures and they then insisted that she try one of his recipes and bring it in for them to test.

In a bout of spooky coincidence, we both made banana cakes on the same day although she made both, I only made the Melted Butter Banana Cake.  Given that it was a week when I was pretending to diet, I didn't actually try my own cake but that weekend, she bought me a small sample of both of hers to try.

Her taste testers, like mine, had wolfed down the Melted Butter one, but were less enthusiastic about the Dark Banana Ginger Cake.  I tried both and had to agree with them.  The dark cake was lacking in something but I wasn't quite sure what.

Queen Abigail, chief banana masher

Until I made the cake myself that is.  Although the husband is on a diet (as am I), he decided that he quite fancied a banana cake.  I used to have a diabetic-friendly recipe that I found on the BBC Food (not Good Food) website from Diabetes UK, but no amount of Googling could turn up the original one and I know my handwritten notes got lost when we moved house.  But Dan's recipe ticked a lot of the boxes.  It uses oil rather than butter and is made from wholemeal rather than plain flour.  Two ticks in the 'vaguely healthy cake' box.

At the outset, I figured the 'healthy' bit was why this cake was less successful in my mum's taste test than the buttery one.  But I have a feeling she possibly tampered with the recipe.  Unlike her own mother, my mother doesn't like ginger.  My grandma adored the stuff.  For me, it's one of those things that I suddenly started liking when just after my grandma passed away.  It was really spooky.  I'd never liked smoked salmon or ginger before then.  And yet around that sad time, I became addicted to those things.

So I think mum omitted the ginger and this recipe absolutely needs it.  I bet if I ask her she'll probably deny it and say she stuck religiously to the recipe.  Maybe she did, but I don't remember chunks of ginger in the sponge.  Plus I cheated and modified the recipe a little myself, adding a teaspoon of ground ginger and a half teaspoon of salt to the batter to bring out the flavour.  And I used stem ginger rather than glace ginger so I poured in the last spoonful of ginger syrup for good measure (the rest having been used in the triple ginger butterflies from Saturday afternoon).

Lots of cake!

If you've read any of my other posts, you'll know I've labelled my husband as having a 'discerning palate'.  When it comes to cake, he's my harshest critic (see some of his other feedback here).  And his scathing Ramsay-esque criticism is no longer exclusively reserved for me.  He recently ate some cheesecake (I won't say where it came from but it wasn't mine) and declared that it was vile and he could make something ten times better.  I'm still waiting to see evidence of his culinary genius - personally, I thought it was one of the nicest homemade cheesecakes I've had in ages, but I'm willing to be dazzled by the husband's cheesecake prowess.

Anyhow, he declared this to be the best banana cake he's ever eaten and that he wants to eat it every day forever.  High praise indeed.  And it comes in at just 183 cals per piece - made in a 20cm square tin and cut into 16 pieces.

Verdict from work colleagues to follow tomorrow.

The original recipe can be found here (it's the second one down)

Wahaca: Easy Horchata

As part of my new diet, one meal a day is either a protein bar or a protein shake.  I feel a little guilty about consuming both of these products as they contain a ridiculous number of ingredients that I have never heard of and are produced in a laboratory rather than grown in the ground.  This goes totally against the principle I've been trying to adopt of only eating things that you know where they come from (and I don't mean you can eat something because it comes from Waitrose - other supermarkets are available).

But that's what the meal plan says and so that's what I've been trying to do in my last-ditch, desperate attempt to get back to my happy weight so I can wear my favourite two outfits once more this Christmas.

The only thing these products have going for them is that they're pretty filling.  And because, since having Miss A, I tend to get the munchies at 4.30pm, I have one or other of these 'meal replacements' to banish my grazing needs once and for all.  I have tried Graze boxes, but they don't work - I'll just end up eating two or three if I'm that kind of mood.  But the protein stuff seems to be the solution.

Leafing through my new copy of Wahaca: Mexican Food at Home this week, I found two potential replacements for the protein shakes.  Although not scientifically balanced and guaranteed to help me lose weight (provided I eat nothing but lettuce and exercise seven hours a day, seven days a week), they're made using simple ingredients, packed full of all the good stuff that you're supposed to eat.

A drink that knows where it came from - my kitchen!

I tried the Horchata first.  This is a blended mixture of rice milk, almonds, oats, cinnamon, honey, banana and yogurt.  I chose it because I thought I could share it with Miss A.  Unfortunately whilst I liked mine, she wasn't a fan and insisted that she wanted a chocolate milkshake.  I ended up re-blending hers with a teaspoon of cocoa powder - it was then consumed in about five seconds flat.

The one thing I didn't do was serve it over ice as recommended.  I thought it would be okay because some of my ingredients were chilled and we had no ice, but on reflection I think it would've been far more refreshing served that way.  I think it would also work well blended with some soft summer berries.  If the sun ever comes out and ripens my raspberries, I'll definitely be making this again with some of those thrown in.

I would definitely recommend buying the book.  Although this is the first recipe I've tried, based on my experience of Thomasina's last book - Mexican Cooking at Home (the recipes I've tried from it can be found here), it will be jam packed with amazing recipes.

There are loads of variations for Horchata on the web so give it a Google.  Next up - Avocado Milkshakes!

Good Food Channel Real Banana Custard

With only seven more sleeps until holiday time, I've started the annual ritual of house cleaning.  I'm rubbish at cleaning and will do just about anything I can to avoid it.  But I hate coming back to a messy house so today heralded the start of a flurry of dust bunny clearance.

The husband is a little frustrated because the nice Ocado man didn't visit this week.  Seeing as how we're on a wind down - and the freezer is crammed to bursting - I've not done a big shop this week and will just buy essentials as we need them.  Most of this weeks recipes will be using up stuff lurking in the back of the fridge to save it being binned.

I was supposed to be making black pudding potato cakes today but after boiling and mashing the potatoes, I got peckish when Miss A had her lunch and ended up with a peanut butter sandwich instead.  Then in a fit of domestic goddess-ness, I decided that her pudding should be home-made banana custard.

I only ever eat custard at my mother's house.  It's always Birds and unless we're having banana custard, I have to have my custard and pudding served in two separate bowls.  I call it a foible.  Everyone else says I'm fussy.  But my grandmother used to indulge this habit and now my mum continues pandering to me because she wants to prove she's just a good a mother as my grandmother was a surrogate.  Although I know she secretly gets frustrated that I make her wash up an extra bowl each time.

Miss A loves custard.  I had a tub in my cupboard which I had in reserve for topping my rhubarb and custard cupcakes and would've used to make Miss A custard, but she decided one day that it made a good floor covering and I've never replaced the tin.

A quick Google came up with the recipe for real custard - or creme anglaise as I prefer to call it.  What surprised me is how simple it is.  I know that Birds custard is a faff of heating the milk, whisking it into the powder and then reheating the mixture until it's thick.  The only difference with real custard is that you have to put a spoon of sugar, a couple of egg yolks and a spoon of cornflour in a bowl, whisk them and then proceed as above.

Birds custard has been around since 1837 and was created because Mrs Bird was allergic to eggs (it says so on Wikipedia so it must be true).  That's one advantage.  The other being that you don't end up with two left over egg whites or a toddler throwing a tantrum because you won't let her crack the eggs.  She's fantastic at getting them open, but I'm not quite sure she's ready for separating them just yet.

In all it took longer to get the ingredients out of the cupboard than to make.  I loved that the recipe also had a twist with chocolate and nuts on the top.  Miss A stirred her chocolate in and ended up with tasty brown sludge.  I then realised that we could also make Tubby Tustard (you'll know what this is if you've ever watched the Teletubbies) with the same recipe and a bit of strawberry puree.

Next time I make meringues, I'll definitely use my egg yolks up to make real custard.  It's a really special treat and with vanilla bean paste mixed in and chocolate on top, I can see this becoming a favoured dessert in our household.

You can find the recipe here.

Dan Lepard's Melted Butter Banana Cake

This is my second Dan Lepard recipe this week.  Don't pull me up for not being able to count because Saturday's Simple Wholemeal Loaf was Felicity Cloake's recipe and was merely inspired by Dan Lepard so that doesn't count.  Or at least it doesn't in my book.

Going against all my good willpower in my desperate attempt to fit into the lovely vintage dress I have snaffled from the LCC Photography wardrobe for my cousin's wedding in August, I made a cake late yesterday because I had a little bit of grovelling to do to my project manager (and more importantly mentor).  I'm only blogging about it today because I was waiting for the taste test verdict.  More on that later.

Why was I grovelling?  Well you know how sometimes you say something in an email that might have been a bit of jokey banter if you were sat in the same room together, but once you've hit Send, you suddenly think that maybe it wouldn't be construed as funny?  Well that happened yesterday.  I've known R for a while now and I think we just about get each other's weird sense of humour.  It certainly helps to relieve some of the frustration that work can entail.  But we've not quite hit that point where you can be totally assured that you haven't offended.

Luckily he replied quite quickly to the first email with an appropriate response so I happily went about the rest of my work day, happy in the knowledge that all was well.  However, a bit later, I got another email from him taking a bit of a dig at me.  And then he backed it up with an email asking if I knew he was only joking.  Which suddenly worried me that maybe my original dig had hurt.  So I then emailed and asked if he minded what I'd said.  He was fine with it - allegedly.  But that's the trouble with electronic communication.  It's so easily sent and without facial expressions and the inflection of voice, it can be taken totally out of context.

If you don't know me, you'd think that I can't stand my husband from some of the things I've shared on this blog.  Well you should read my diary!  (JOKE!!)  To me, and people who know me and hubs, some of the stories are funny.  I've recently come to realise though that someone who doesn't know me and happens across a single post from this blog without having read the rest of my missives might think "She is a right cow!".  Which could be true.  Sometimes I'm sure I can be.  And I know that very occasionally, I definitely am.  Nobody's perfect.

A very bare banana cake

Back in the days of pen and paper, nobody would have had the opportunity to read about my relentless year of recipe trying.  I might have kept a little diary with notes on the recipe and bits cut from magazines (assuming this scenario is pre-internet) but I certainly wouldn't have banged on about how fussy hubs can be.  Or if I did, the only people who would've read it would be me, and maybe Miss A when she discovered it years after I'd shuffled off from this mortal coil.

But there's something about electronic media that means that boundaries are sometimes misplaced and without a smile or a wink to back them up, people can see a seemingly innocuous joke as something that offends.  And if, heaven forbid, you put a comma in the wrong place, the entire context of that joke changes whereas if you were speaking out loud and laughing with someone, it would be (hopefully) appropriate.

Which brings me round to my bout of obsequiousness late last night and early this morning as I presented my super lovely, highly intellectual and all-round good-guy mentor with a beribboned box containing the aforementioned banana cake.  Despite having foisted baked goodies on him for weeks now, I've only just gotten the message that he's rather partial to fruit-based cakes so Dan's recent banana cake recipes fitted the bill really well.

I'd already picked the recipe when out of the blue I got an email from my mother saying she'd made both banana cakes on Monday and her work colleagues picked the butter one (the one I chose) as the favourite.  I was so happy to get that email as I've been pestering her for months to try out Dan's recipes and so far she's managed to resist.  But I think she was sold the other weekend when I made the Cinnamon Cake with Blackberries.  And her work colleagues coerced her into it by telling her not to keep showing them pictures of my baking and to take them some actual cake.  Whatever it was that got her to this point, I don't mind. But Dan has another fan.  I know she's going to be giving his bagels a go soon.  If she's lucky I might just buy her her own copy of Short and Sweet.

Finally onto the recipe.  It was really easy to make and perfect if, like me, you find yourself trying increasingly imaginative ways to soften butter when you've forgotten to take it out of the fridge hours before you're ready to bake because it uses melted butter.  I also love that it can be easily hand mixed so I got not argument from the husband about having the Kenwood on and actually, a bowl and wooden spoon can be flung in the dishwasher so it was even easier.

The batter tasted great and it baked well although mine took about fifteen minutes more than the recipe says but that's probably just my pants oven.  Sadly, due to a ridiculously long workshop, the cake was still sat in its red-ribboned box when I left work this evening.  I told R to not stand on ceremony and dive in after I left.  Whether he did or not, I'm not sure.  Because I got an email telling me that he'd chosen to eat the Flake I'd left on my desk instead.  Followed by another email with lots of 'Hahahahahaha'-ing.  And another one telling me that it was supposed to be evil laughing.  See what I mean about the difficulties of electronic communication.  I got the evil laughing thing when the email arrived but he still had to check I knew he was only joking and that I wasn't crying buckets over the loss of my prized chocolate bar.  I'll get my revenge, don't you worry!

You can find the recipe here.

Banana Toffee Pudding

Today's recipe is another from CBeebies 'I Can Cook'.  I know certain people will be horrified by my choice of this recipe as it is rather heavy on the sugar content.  But, because I am a sensible mummy and feed my child a healthy, balanced diet (when I can!) and as a reward for her choosing to eat the remainder of yesterday's Flash Loaf (another Dan Lepard recipe), I let Miss A loose in the kitchen to make Banana Toffee Pudding.

Not the most photogenic pudding ever

It's basically a take on a traditional sponge topped pudding - the kind of thing I used to get as a child for pudding on a Sunday.  It makes me a little sad that life has changed and we don't have a traditional family dinner around the table at Sunday lunchtime.  That said, I don't really like roast dinners enough to eat them every week and it's a lot of effort to do for just two - especially with all the washing up.  We probably have about two roasts a year in this house - one of them being Christmas dinner.

So as a little family bonding exercise, I decided to allow this treat.  Because it's a kids recipe it makes four small portions and with the high sugar content I don't think even an adult could eat that much (well there are times when I probably could eat the whole thing myself!).  To balance all the naughtiness out, I served it with low fat Greek yogurt (good source of calcium for my milk-hating child) and fresh strawberries - one of the five a day and the slight acidity worked well against the sickly sweet pudding.

Had my sous chef not eaten one of the bananas during prep, I'd've also served some fresh chopped banana with it.  But I could hardly complain, could I?

Pass me a spoon, someone!

The base of the pudding is toffee sauce.  My latest and greatest food find is Bonne Maman Confiture de Caramel.  Basically Dulche de Leche or Toffee Sauce but in a screw top jar rather than all those annoying tins of caramel that the shops seem so keen to peddle.  They're fine if you need the whole lot for a recipe, but if you only need a spoon or two, as in this case, you have that old half-opened-tin-of-something-stuffed-in-the-back-of-the-fridge-and-then-it-eventually-gets-knocked-over dilemma.  Or is that just me because I'm a bit of a slummy mummy?  Anyway, caramel in a glass jar is a winner.  I just have to resist taking the jar and spoon to a secret corner when I'm having a bad day.

My sous-chef's new skill of the day is banana chopping.  I love watching her develop her fine motor skills.  To start with, the poor bananas were just bludgeoned to a pulp but a bit of input from mummy and we ended up with arty chunks.  In they went on top of the toffee.  The sponge is a simple, even mix of flour to butter to sugar to egg (70g of each).  I adapted the recipe slightly to fill my pie dish so used 100g of each, an egg and 30ml of milk to slacken the batter off.  Then it's just into the oven at 180c for 35 minutes (in my case as I used a deep dish).  And out came a light, fluffy sponge with a banana flavoured toffee base.  Perfect.

This is a lovely little recipe to make with little ones as a special treat.  There are loads of different skills involved and the result is a definite crowd pleaser.  Well for most of the crowd.  Someone actually only managed three toddler spoonfuls of pudding because she actually preferred the strawberries.  Big respect to my child and her good food choices :o)

One small point of note.  If cooking several things at the same time, make sure the pudding is on the lower shelf with a tray underneath as the toffee in mine tried to make an escape.  Miss A had toffee flavoured Pussy Pieces (home made fish fingers) for her tea...

Recipe - adapted from CBeebies I Can Cook

Serves 4

• 100g butter, softened
• 100g caster sugar
• 100g flour
• 1 egg, beaten
• 1 tsp mixed spice
• 30ml milk
• 2 bananas
• 3 tbsp toffee sauce

1. Preheat the oven to 180c/160c fan/Gas 4.
2. Oil the sides and base of an oven proof dish.  Place on a baking tray and add the toffee.  Lay the banana slices on top.
3. Cream the butter and sugar together.  Add the beaten egg and mix well.  Mix in the flour, mixed spice and the milk until well combined.  Scoop the sponge mixture into the dish on top of the bananas and smooth out with a spatula.
4. Place the dish in the oven for 25-35 minutes (depending on the depth of your dish) until the sponge is well risen and springs back when touched.  I turned the heat up for the last five minutes of cooking to get a nice crispy top on mine.
5. Serve with fresh fruit and yogurt.

Eric Lanlard's Banana Fritters

My fridge is currently full of half opened jars and packets and little bowls of leftovers.  I really need to get better at using stuff up.  And saying that this challenge precludes me from doing so is a really lame excuse.  But sometimes, blue tinged buttercream isn't particularly useful.

With being thrifty and not wasting things in mind, I decided to tackle the issue of a ramekin full of chocolate ganache from last week's Hummingbird Bakery Cupcakes.  I probably should've turned it into truffles or just frozen it.  But it has been sat in the fridge and the cream it was made from goes out of date today so I have had to force myself to find a recipe to use it up.

Two of my five a day?

Said recipe is from an episode of Baking Mad with last week (although personally, I don't class this as baking).  Eric had me rapt the second he mentioned banana fritters.  This is something that my mum used to make for me as a child at Easter when she was making home-made fish and chips on Good Friday.  She always used a fresh yeast batter for this but thankfully Lanlard's recipe uses store cupboard ingredients.

Because I was only making this for myself, I had to reduce the recipe down (it serves six and I'm sure I could've managed the lot) and used just a sprinkle of the spices.  The flavours worked really well with the rum in the sauce.  I'm wondering what it would be like with malice instead of plain rum.  I feel more testing coming on!  

I did find I needed more milk in the batter, but this may just be because my flour was 'thirsty'  The test fritter was really stodgy.  Tasty, but stodgy.  So I added probably added another 2 tbsp of milk (I made half the quantity of batter).  

The dipping sauce used the same ratio of ingredients as I already used for my ganache so I just warmed what I had in the microwave until it was runny and then stirred in a teaspoon of rum.

Seriously, this is a really simple and decadent dessert and great for anyone who loves bananas.  And it's great for sharing.  The warm sauce was lovely with a couple of strawberries dipped in too - just for that healthy factor.

The recipe can be found over on the Channel 4 website, but I'll post it here because I know sometimes their recipes disappear after a show has ended.

Serves Six

• 200g self-raising flour
• 2 tsp baking powder
• ½ tsp ground cinnamon
• ¼ tsp ground nutmeg
• 30g golden caster sugar
• Zest of 1 lemon
• 1 egg
• 300ml milk
• 1 litre vegetable oil, for deep-frying
• 6 bananas
• Golden icing sugar, to dust

For the chocolate dip

• 125g dark chocolate
• 125ml double cream
• 25g unsalted butter
• 2 tsp dark rum

Method

1. In a large bowl combine the flour, baking powder, spices, sugar and lemon zest. Make a well and add the egg and the milk a little at a time, mixing well until you get a smooth batter. Leave the batter to rest while you make the chocolate dip.
2. To make the chocolate dip, place the dark chocolate in a bowl and heat the double cream in a saucepan. Pour the hot cream over the dark chocolate and stir gently until the chocolate has melted. Add the butter and keep stirring until glossy, then add the rum and mix well.
3. Heat some vegetable oil for deep frying in a deep fat fryer or wok to 180°C. Cut the bananas in half lengthways and half again horizontally. Dip the banana pieces into the batter and coat well.
4. Gently place the battered banana pieces into the hot oil and fry until golden brown. Lift out and drain on kitchen paper, then dust with icing sugar and serve with the chocolate dip.

Updated: Skinny Peanut Butter and Banana Bars

You win some, you lose some.  And for me, this recipe is definitely a lose.  A couple of weeks ago I was in conversation with another blogger about writing a guest series of posts.  The series had to have a theme to it and I had a rough idea of what I wanted to do and what my first recipe would be.

Doing a bit of idle research a little later, I happened across this recipe which I hoped would be an inspiration for my first post.  I had really been looking forward to giving it a go but days turned into weeks and suddenly nearly a month has passed without me making it.

Today, however, despite the husband insisting on an impromptu shopping trip (I'm rubbish at shopping in company), I still found time to finally whip up a batch of these healthy little treats.

And I wish I hadn't bothered.  The ingredient list had it all.  Nuts, oats, honey (I substitued maple syrup), brown sugar, spices, rice krispies, peanut butter, chocolate.  And still less than 150 cals per piece.  Bargain.

Ugly blighters didn't photograph well...

I even got a kick out of using my finally procured set of measuring cups - I hate American recipes the way they measure everything in cups.  Is it a tightly packed cup or a loose cup?  I know it's a throw back to the days before scales were invented.  But seriously?  With baking being such a precision art, surely in this day and age you would think that scales would be the order of the day.  But thanks to Sainsburys, I have my own set of cups, thus opening up a whole new world of recipes to me.

The end result had a disappointingly soggy bottom.  I know not why.  I followed the recipe.  It said they'd be moist and chewy.  Which they were.  But the bottoms are resolutely banana-soggy.  I don't see the point of the puffed rice as the sog from the bananas has obliterated it.

I think it's something that I might become accustomed to if I ever get my sorry backside back on the diet wagon (severe relapse into piggy-hood this week in response to a ridiculous bout of endometriosis pain - won't go near the scales for at least two weeks now!)

I was looking for a healthy snack.  I think I'd rather stick the component parts (minus the egg whites) into a little tub and just eat them as they come rather than all mushed up and cooked together.  Instead, I shall just stick with my rather over-priced little Graze snack pots that arrive through my door on a weekly basis.  I've now fallen in love with the giant plain chocolate buttons that ocassionaly find their way through my letter box.  There's something rather decadent about eating chocolate in amongst all the healthy snacks that they send you.  And not that I've been paid for this, but if you use this code (2DF7LP8D), you can get a free Graze box from them.

If you do want to give the recipe a go, then you can find it here.

Personally, I'd rather stick with the Guilt Free Brownies.

Update 13th Feb 2012 - well after dissing these little bars, I did a 9.5 mile run yesterday morning.  Came in, the child was awake so after a quick shower and change, I got up and into a round of making everyone breakfast, whilst slowly expiring from lack of carbs myself.  So I picked up one of these and honestly, it is the best post-run food ever!  Exactly what the doctor ordered with the combination of carbs and fast and slow release sugars and protein (bananas, peanut butter, brown sugar etc).  Going to try to refine the recipe and maybe drop the bananas as I wasn't a fan of the strong banana taste.  They're down, but definitely not out!

Boozy Baked Bananas

I don't know what it is at the moment with me and filo pastry but we're just not bonding.  My choice of recipe for tonight was doomed from the start.  Last night, a fish-based dinner seemed like a good idea.  I got the fish out to defrost.  By the time I got home tonight, I just couldn't face making the recipe of choice as it was a bit fiddly and I've been up since 4am.  I then searched BBC Good Food for an alternative recipe and came up with their fish pie slice.

Nice idea, simple recipe but for me it didn't work because firstly my filo wouldn't brown nicely and it was so insipid looking, I couldn't be bothered to take a picture of the finished dish (it had been in the oven for twice as long as suggested and I was worried the fish would dry out).  And to add insult to injury, the boneless fish that I purchased was absolutely riddled with the blighters.  *Unimpressed Face*

If you want a quick, easy, fishy recipe then this is really good.  You simply top fish fillets with a mix of cream cheese, herbs and prawns (I used smoked salmon); pop some scrunched up filo on top and bake for ten minutes.  Even after twenty minutes, my fish was beautifully moist.  But the bones just got to me and I didn't enjoy it as much as I could've as every second mini-forkful required eagle-eyed inspection prior to consumption.

To make up for it - and as a reward for dragging my sorry backside out for a run at 4am this morning - I made use of the pile of bananas in my fruit bowl that are slowly heading towards cake-making territory.  The recipe comes from my Ultimate Barbecue Book and I was wanting to make it all last summer.  The last time I'd made baked bananas was in the Guides over a camp fire about twenty years ago (showing my age).

But we never had any decent weather to barbecue.  Or rather I couldn't convince the husband it was worth him being paranoid about burning the garden down in order to have a barbecue.  Instead, we did the Hyacinth Bu-cket thing and had 'Indoor-Outdoor' barbecues where I cook everything under the grill and we eat outside.

Surely at least two of your five a day?  No?

Anyhow, I also conveniently had some passionfruit left over from New Year so it made sense to use them up.  Really simple.  Stick a banana on a piece of foil.  Squeeze over the innards from half a passionfruit.  Add a tbsp of orange juice (I used lime) and some orange liqueur (I used rum).  Wrap up into a parcel, bake for 10 mins (I did this on 180c (fan) as there are no temperatures for a barbecue).  I then whipped up some marscapone (they used whipped cream) with lime zest and juice and a touch of icing sugar to sweeten (they used orange) to serve as an accompaniment.  Lush.

Based on the quantities below, MyFitnessPal.com calculates it to be 160cals per portion - depending on how big your bananas are of course and what type of cream-based accoutrement you choose to go with it.

A lovely taste of summer in the depths of winter.  Well okay it's spring-like at the moment.  But you get my drift.

Recipe - serves 4

• 4 medium, ripe bananas, peeled
• 2 passion fruit
• 4tbsp orange juice
• 4tsp orange liqueur or rum (optional)

• 4tbsp whipped cream (or marscapone)
• 2tsp icing sugar
• 4tsp orange juice 
• zest of half an orange

1. Preheat the oven to 200C/180 fan or cook on a preheated barbecue.
2. Place each banana on a sheet of foil.  Halve the passion fruits and squeeze one half over each of the bananas to get the juice and the seeds out.  Pour 1tbsp orange juice and 1tsp of the alcohol (if using) over each banana.  Fold up the edges of the foil to make a parcel and if using an oven place the parcels on a baking sheet.  Bake or barbecue for ten minutes.
3. Meanwhile, put the cream icing sugar, orange juice and zest in a bowl and mix until combined.
4. Put each banana on to a serving plate, peel back the foil and place 1 tbsp of the cream mixture onto each plate.  Serve.

Nutella and Banana French Toast

Bridestock Bride, look away now!  In fact, don't read my blog at all today.  I'm suffering from a mother's guilt today so I don't want to also feel really bad for you breaking the engagement photos diet.

The plan for later today was to make Mojito cupcakes, but I have a poorly bubba on my hands and wanted to make her something for breakfast that she might eat as she's not eaten anything other than grapes for the past couple of days.

What could be more tempting to a toddler than chocolate, bananas and strawberries?  And with some wholemeal bread and eggs cunningly disguised as French toast, we are on to a winner.  Well except that she will need another bath when she's finished.

And a small note to any other mummys trying this - make sure you're not wearing a white top when your toddler eats this!

The recipe is courtesy of Food.com.

It reminds me of another favourite recipe of mine - Elvis' Peanut Butter and Banana sandwich from the much-thumbed but rarely used Nigella Bites.  In fact, although I've salivated over the book on many occasion, this is the only recipe I've ever tried (so another book that needs to be used this year!)  I've only ever made this sandwich once, but it tasted like Manna from heaven after a week of sobbing into my pillow and not eating after I split up from my first long term boyfriend. I still can't believe that I was *that* upset that I didn't eat for a week, but it was worth it to eat this sandwich.  Apparently the recipe is a cut-down version of what The King consumed.  Much respect to him for managing more than the recipe - I think I only got through about half of it!

Banana and Oat Muffins

In go the oats

"What would be the first thing you'd buy if we won the jackpot on the Euromillions?" I asked the husband today.  "A Ferrari, of course" came the reply.  "Do you know what I'd buy?" I asked.  Silence.  "I'd buy a really big kitchen and hire a cleaning lady."  Cue bemused look.

Stirring is hard work

Because as a responsible parent, I can no longer dream of jetting off to laze on sun-drenched beaches for the rest of my days - there's a hole in the ozone layer, didn't you know and I can't be dealing with the 'I'm not wearing suncream' tantrums from Crowdey snr and Crowdey jnr on a regular basis.  So my next best dream is to have a big house, with a big kitchen and someone to clean up behind me - because I'm never going to have a figure like Kylie and my people would never spontaneously burst into song and dance around me (I always wanted to live in a musical when I was a kid), no matter how rich I may be in this fantasy.

My little monster mash(ing)

And I'd learn to cook lovely things, every day.  I'd hire someone like James Martin to come and teach me to be an amazing chef.  I've got the sweet-front covered but I still need to work at the savoury side of things.  Difficult when you're feeding fussy eaters who will only eat chicken and rice (Crowdey snr) or pasta and cheese (Crowdey jnr).  And then I'd hire 'friends' like Nigella does to come and sit at my dining table and coo over my culinary prowess...

Making her own mini muffins

Enough rambling.  On to today's recipe.  Over-ripe bananas in the fruit bowl and a Saturday with nothing to do with the child so I decided we'd make banana muffins.  She was actually quite good at it.  Stirring and mashing and spoon licking and waving goodbye to the muffins as they went into the shiny new oven and proudly showing them to daddy as they were cooking as we actually have a light in our cooker for the first time in about four years!  It's the small things.

The big ones - finished

But oh.  Mr Ramsay.  Banana muffins need mixed spice in them.  What were you thinking?  I faithfully followed your recipe because you are a mega-celebrity, multi-Michelin-starred chef and I am, but a mere housewife and what would I know?  That bananas and mixed spice work far better than bananas and salt.  You might want to edit that recipe for the next edition of your book?

Despite this, they were a hit with Miss Abigail and she is FUSSY.  So top marks to you from her, but a thumbs down from me and the hubby.

PS: This recipe was from Gordon Ramsay's Greatest Hits but I understand it was also published in his 'Healthy Appetite' book meaning it's probably good for brides who are trying to fit into their wedding dresses ;-)

Makes 12

• 200g plain flour
• 1.5tsp baking powder
• 1tsp bicarbonate of soda
• 0.25 tsp salt
• 100g oats
• 100g light brown sugar
• 4 ripe bananas
• 60g melted butter
• 1 large egg
• 75g chopped walnuts

1. Preheat the oven to 180c (160c fan).  Put muffin wrappers into a 12-hole muffin tin.
2. Sift the flour, baking powder, bicarbonate of soda and salt into a mixing bowl.  Add the oats and sugar and mix well.
3. In a separate bowl, mash the bananas with a fork (we used a potato masher - easier with a toddler!) and then mix in the egg and the melted butter.  Add to the dry ingredients.
4. Spoon the mixture into the cake cases and bake for 25-30 minutes until golden. Best served warm.