Number 30: Banana Bread!

The annoying thing about bananas is that they are green and starchy for a few days, perfect to eat for about 10 seconds, and then suddenly brown, squidgy and over ripe. It's because of this annoying quality that I found myself today with about 8 brown bananas sitting in the fruit bowl. Usually I freeze them for some future use (banana pancakes, muffins and the like), but - alas - the freezer was full, so I had to use them immediately. A double batch of the banana bread below managed to use up about six of them :)

The recipe calls for 75ml bourbon or dark rum, but we had neither of those. We did, however, have brandy, so I used that. After all, if I had to buy ingredients for a recipe that was meant to be using things up then that would defeat the point a bit really.

Oh, and this recipe is from How to be a Domestic Goddess, if you want to give it a go :)


Ingredients

100g sultanas
75ml bourbon or dark rum
175g plain flour
2 tsp baking powder
1/2 tsp bicarbonate of soda
1/2 tsp salt
125g unsalted butter, melted
150g caster sugar
2 large eggs
300g mashed, over ripe banana (weighed without skin)
60g chopped walnuts
1 tsp vanilla extract

One 23x13x7cm loaf tin, greased and lined


Method

1. Put the sultanas and alcohol of choice into a saucepan. Bring to the boil, then remove from the heat and let the sultanas sit for about an hour to absorb as much liquid as possible.

2. Preheat the oven to 170C (150C in a fan oven). Sieve the flour, baking powder, bicarb and salt into a large bowl, and mix to combine them all.

3. In another large bowl (large enough to put all the flour mix in later), mix the melted butter and sugar until blended.

4. Add the eggs one at a time and beat well; then stir in the mashed banana.

Ignore the fact it looks a bit like vomit. It will be yummy.

5. Now stir in the walnuts, drained sultanas and vanilla.

Ignore the fact it looks a bit like frogspawn. It will be yummy.

6. Add the flour mix, a third at a time, mixing well after each addition. Scrape into the loaf tin.

Ignore the fact it...oh never mind.

7. Bake for 1 - 1 1/4 hours (according to the book, but my loaves took a mere 45 mins each!) Then remove to a rack and leave to cool in the tin a little before removing.

This makes a nice, moist banana bread, and is a great way of using up old bananas! Usually, I like my banana bread unadulterated, i.e. without extra bits like nuts or sultanas. However the boozy sultanas were a really tasty addition! I still maintain it would've been nicer without the walnuts though, but I'm just not really a nut person. I die a bit inside when a yummy brownie is ruined by a crunchy piece of walnut.

But you should definitely try this recipe out, nuts or no nuts. You could swap them for hazelnuts or pecans if you're not a walnut person, or do away with them altogether and use dried cherries or chocolate chips instead! But most of all, have fun :)

Thanks for reading!!!


PS - I gave the second loaf to our neighbour, and a few days later she came round with a bouquet of flowers as a thank you! So it must be good :)

Number 29: Sweet and Salty Crunch Nut Bars

I was invited to a friend's 19th, and decided to make something yummy to bring as my present :) I thought these bars would be great - simple to make, serves quite a lot of people, and they look tasty! (I did of course check that there were no nut allergies at the party before I chose these - killing somebody might have put a downer on the evening...)

The recipe comes from Kitchen, and you can make it in a rectangular tray (approx 30 x 20 x 5 cm), or a 25cm round cake tin, depending on what shape you want the bars to be. I chose the tray because I have some disposable ones left over, which saves me having to remember to ask for the tin back.

For the chocolate component, you can really use any combination of chcolate you want. I used 200g milk and 100g dark, the recipe book suggests the other way around, and Nigella says she often goes for completely milk chocolate. Do as you wil - as long as the total weight is 300g it will be fine.


Ingredients

300g chocolate (mix of milk and dark, or just one kind)
125g unsalted butter
3 tbsp golden syrup
250g salted peanuts
4 x 40g crunchie bars


Method

1. If using a tin or tray that isn't disposable and therefore already made of foil, line it with foil.

2. Break the chocolate into a saucepan and add the butter and syrup.

3. Put on a low heat, and gently melt together.

4. Tip the peanuts into a bowl, and then crush in the crunchie bars with your hands. You want a mix of small pieces and slightly bigger pieces (not too big mind), and also golden dust.

5. Remove the melted chocolate mix from the heat, and stir in the nuts and crushed crunchies. Then tip straight into your tin/tray and smooth down with a spoon or spatula.

6. Leave to cool, then pop into the fridge for about 4 hours to set. Then cut into slices and serve!

These are really simple to make, but very tasty! They went down very well at the party - I left the kitchen for half an hour or so to talk to some friends, and when I came back nearly the whole tray had been snaffled! Yay! :) The only problem is that they melt quite easily - after being out for about an hour they became quite hard to pick up without pieces sticking to the tray and chocolate getting all over your fingers! (Not a bad thing in my opinion but there you go). So I recommend maybe announcing their presence with a fanfare, and then safely depositing them in the fridge - letting everyone know that they can help themselves of course.


Thanks for reading! :)

Number 28: Crustless Pizza

This recipe comes from Kitchen. It's quick, you can quite easily increase the quantities (I doubled them to make 2 pizzas), and you can customise it pretty much however you like!

It may look plain but it's actually really unusual - kind of like a quiche-omelette-pizza hybrid! But don't let that put you off; it's really tasty and worth a try!


Ingredients

(For 1 pizza)
1 egg
100g plain flour
salt, to taste
250ml milk
100g grated cheddar cheese
toppings of your choice - I used chicken and sauteed mushrooms on one, tomato puree and fresh tomatoes on the other


Method

1. Preheat the oven to 200C (180C in a fan oven). Grease a round ovenproof dish, approx 20cm in diameter.

2. Beat the egg, flour, salt and milk to make a smooth batter.

3. Stir in half the cheese, then pour into the ovenproof dish.

4. Bake for around 30 minutes, until puffy, risen and golden.

5. Cover with toppings of your choice, as well as the rest of the cheese, and bake for another 5-10 mins until the cheese is melted and all the toppings are heated through. If you put anything on that needs cooking, like bacon, mushrooms or onion, cook these beforehand as they won't get much of a chance to cook once on the pizza.

6. Cut into triangles and serve!

This is the chicken and mushroom one. Very tasty! Give it a go :)

Thanks for reading!

Number 27: (My take on) Standby Starch

Couscous is such a great side dish, as it cook in literally 2 minutes! It's so easy to do and you can customise it however you like!

The recipe in Kitchen (for 4 to 6 as a side dish) calls for 250g couscous, 1/2 tsp each dried thyme and cumin, and 400ml chicken stock, but you can really put in whatever you feel like! (Within reason - I'm pretty sure coco pops with chicken and chilli wouldn't taste quite right! Then again, you could make a sweet couscous, with cocoa, dried druit...maybe marshmallows, and hot milk instead of stock?? ANYWAY, on with the recipe...)


Ingredients

Couscous (as much as you need)
Stock of your choice (enough to just cover the couscous)
Herbs and spices of your choice
Anything else you fancy - chopped dried apricots, chickpeas....go nuts!


Method

1. Put your couscous in a large bowl and mix in your desired ingredients. I used cumin, ground coriander, paprika, a little mixed spice, salt, pepper and some leftover chickpeas.

2. A few minutes before it's needed, pour enough hot chicken stock over it to cover the couscous by a centimeter or two, and then cover with clingfilm and set aside.

3. When ready to use, fluff up with a fork and pop onto a serving platter. If you want, sprinkle over some paprika and garnsih with fresh coriander before serving.

Enjoy!

Number 26: Chicken with Greek Herb Sauce

When I first saw this recipe in Kitchen, I wasn't particularly tempted so just flicked right past it. But a few months later I was watching Nigella on TV and she made this, and I decided I'd actually quite like to make it!
The recipe below is for 4 - 6 people, but since there were only 3 of us I made less yogurt and cooked 8 chicken thighs instead of 12. Even if you don't intend to eat the skin (we didn't), you should still buy thighs with the skin on, and leave it on during cooking, as it really improves the flavour, AND makes the chicken more juicy. Yum. And another thing - I omitted the clove of garlic from the yogurt as me and my dad can't stand raw garlic, but put it in if you wish!


Ingredients

12 chicken thighs (bone in, preferably with skin)
juice 1 lemon
4 tbsp olive oil
salt and pepper

For the greek herb sauce:

1 x 500ml pot greek yogurt
4 fat or 6 thin spring onions
1 green chilli, deseeded
1 clove garlic, peeled
1/2 cucumber, peeled and finely diced
3 tbsp fresh coriander, chopped
3 tbsp fresh mint, chopped
salt and pepper to taste


Method

1. Preheat to 200C (180C in a fan oven). Place the chicken thighs skin-side up in a shallow roasting tin, and pour over the olive oil, lemon juice, salt and pepper.

2. Bung in the oven and roast for 45 minutes! Meanwhile, get on with making the yogurt.

3. Tip the yogurt into a large mixing bowl (not the one you want to serve it in as it will get messy) and snip in the spring onions and chilli, cutting both quite finely.

4. Mince in the garlic (if using), with the cucumber and most of the herbs - reserve some for sprinkling on top later - and mix together. Season to taste. When you serve it, put into a nice bowl, top with the reserved herbs, and provide a big spoon for dolloping!

5. When the chicken is ready, transfer to a serving dish.

You can serve this just with the yogurt, but I also made some cous cous, based on Nigella's Standby Starch recipe, to go with it.

Yum yum! This was really tasty and a good combination of flavours and textures. It was also very easy!


Thanks for reading! (The cous cous recipe will follow!)

Number 25: (Failed) Sponge Drops

We're a quarter of the way now! HOORAY! It's a shame this milestone recipe didn't really work out then! Or maybe it did - I don't know how these are supposed to look as there's no picture to go with the recipe. But judging by their VERY flat shape, I'm assuming they went wrong.


Ingredients

2 large eggs
75g caster sugar
50g self raising flour
25g cornflour
1/2 tsp baking powder

And if these work out for you, the filling:
150ml double cream, whipped
5-6 tbsp jam of your choice
1 punnet berries


Method

1. Preheat the oven to 200C (or 180C in a fan oven).

2. Lightly whisk the eggs with the sugar until it becomes pale, creamy and voluminous. This is where I think I went wrong - probably should have used an electric mixer.

3. Sieve in the flours and baking powder, and gently fold in with a metal spoon.

4. Drop dessert spoonfuls of the mix onto 2 lined baking trays. Hopefully they won't be as flat as these!

5. Bake for 5 minutes, then remove with a spatula to cool on a rack.

6. If your's actually look edible, feel free to fill them, when cool, with whipped cream, jam and softly crushed berries.


Thanks for reading!

Number 24: Brownies

Who doesn't love brownies!

Well sometimes the person who has to make them! Too many times I've made brownies that come out too dry, or that taste nice enough but just aren't gooey like brownies should be! I'm glad I finally found a recipe that works - these are SOOOO good. (From How to be a Domestic Goddess)

I used white chocolate chips, which is one of the alternatives Nigella suggests to the walnuts she actually uses in the recipe. You could also use peanut butter chips, dried cherries, raspberries, shredded coconut, granola, other nuts, or even turkish delight!


Ingredients

375g soft unsalted butter
375g good quality dark chocolate
6 large eggs
1 tbsp vanilla extract
500g caster sugar
225g plain flour
1 tsp salt
300g white choc chips


Method

1. Preheat the oven to 180C. This would be 160C in a fan oven but I don't use that one for brownies - I don't trust it as it can overcook them! Grease and line an approx 33cm x 23cm x 5.5cm tin.

2. Melt the chocolate and butter over a low heat until smooth. Then leave to cool a little.

3. In a separate bowl, beat the eggs, vanilla and sugar together really well.

4. In another bowl, mix the flour and salt. When the chocolate mix has cooled a little, beat in the egg mix, and then carefully fold in the flour.

5. Stir in the white chocolate chips, and then pour into your prepared pan.

6. Bake for 25 minutes, but check after 20 as it's so easy for brownies to overcook. You want the edges to be slightly risen but for it to still wobble a little in the middle - it continues to cook once you take it out.

7. I would LOVE to just eat this warm from the pan with a spoon. But, alas, I have friends to share it with. Cut them into squares (48 if you want, but 12 if you're generous...and greedy) and EAT!

I'm really not kidding when I say these have to be the BEST brownies I have EVER eaten. You must make them!! They keep well too - I made them on a wednesday, took some to a friends on thursday, had a friend over on friday and we ate some, had them for dessert with the family on saturday....I'm sure they'd last longer, only we ate them all!!