Cookbook Review: Skye Gyngell – My Favourite Ingredients

‘Cooking is not about being the best or most perfect cook, but rather it is about sharing the table with family and friends’

The quote above, which I completely agree with, comes from Skye Gyngell’s latest offering, ‘My Favourite Ingredients’. The book was released in hardback last year; however, it has just been released in paperback. I have been very lucky and have received a copy to review from Quadrille Publishing.

My first impressions when I received the book were excellent. The layout and the photography are beautiful and it is well written, with simple and clear recipes. The quote above struck a chord with me, as that is how I feel about cooking. Cooking does not need to be complicated or turned into a work of art; cooking is simply about sharing food with your family and friends and having a good time.

The book has lots of sections in it. Each one dedicated to one of Skye’s favourite ingredients, which include; garlic, olive oil, cheese, fish and shellfish, and nuts. Recipe highlights from the book include; monkfish and coconut with curry leaves and lime, fried egg with sage, chilli and garlicky yoghurt, and chocolate and hazelnut cake. 

I believe the only way you can review a cookbook properly is by actually cooking a recipe from it. I could just tell you about how beautiful the book is, but if it’s not going to help you in the kitchen, then there is not much point. You need to know if the recipes actually work and I can now tell you, that the one I tried, does.

I decided to cook chicken with fennel and garlic, as it looked quite simple and all the ingredients are in season at the moment.  I adapted the recipe slightly as it was designed for 4 people and it was only the two of us. Instead of a whole chicken, I used boned chicken thighs and halved the quantities of everything else. I also added a small bit of water in to make more stock to cook the chicken in. I cooked mine in the oven and make it a bit thicker than the book suggests in the picture.

The original recipe (reproduced in full with permission from Quadrille Publishing) is below. Overall, it is a very simple and straightforward dish to make. It is excellent dish to make at this time of the year, with the continuing cold and wet weather. Stuart described it as ‘excellent winter grub to warm you up on cold day’.  Please have a go at making the dish and let me know how you get on and if the recipe works for you, as well as it did for me.

If you would like to purchase the book, you can get it from Amazon here.

Many thanks to Mark at Quadrille Publishing for sending me the review copy. It is much appreciated.

Chicken with Garlic and Fennel

Ingredients

• 1 organic free range chicken, about 1.4kg, jointed into 8 pieces
• Sea salt and freshly ground pepper
• 2 tbsp olive oil
• 1 tsp fennel seeds
• 1 tsp coriander seeds
• 2 red onions, peeled and finely sliced
• 1 dried red chilli
• 1 tsp saffron threads
• 4 garlic cloves, peeled and crushed
• 2 fennel bulbs, trimmed and fibrous outer layer removed
• 250ml white wine
• 2 x 340g jars (or tins) good quality peeled plum tomatoes
• Pared zest of 1 orange
• 3 bay leaves
• 5 thyme sprigs
• 1-2 tbsp extra virgin olive oil (optional)

Method

Season the chicken well all over with salt and pepper. Put the olive oil into a flameproof casserole (large enough to hold all the ingredients comfortably) and place over a medium heat. When hot, brown the chicken in batches, turning to colour them all over- they should look really golden and pleasing to the eye. Once browned, remove the pieces and set aside. Pour off any excess fat from the casserole, leaving around 1 tbsp or so.

In a separate pan, gently warm the fennel and coriander seeds until they release their fragrance, then tip into a mortar and pound with the pestle to grind finely.

Add the onions to the casserole and cook over a low heat until sweet and translucent, about 5 minutes. Crumble over the chilli and add the ground spices, saffron and garlic. Season with a good pinch of salt and a little pepper, and stir well to combine. Cut the fennel bulb into quarters and add to the pan.

Pour in the wine, turn up the heat a little and let it bubble and reduce for a minute or so, then add the tomatoes. Return the chicken to the pan and add the orange zest and herbs. Turn the heat down and put the lid on the casserole. Cook very gently for 40 minutes or until the chicken is cooked through and started to fall off the bone.

Taste and adjust the seasoning. If you’re like me, you’ll want to add a splash of extra virgin olive oil to bring the whole dish together. Serve with bread – or something else to mop up the delicious juices.

Until next time,

Happy Cooking!

Guest Post from Nora: Spanish bean stew

Hello Jo fans, I’m Nora from Nora the Kitchen ‘Splorer. After Jo very kindly did a post for me, I’m returning the favour. This is my very first guest post, so I’m just hoping I can keep up with Jo’s high standards.

So, for this post I decided to revisit an old favourite. A few years ago, I lived in Spain, working as a English teacher, trying to teach the present perfect tense to shouty Spanish kids in exchange for very little money. But of course the upside was easy access to delicious Spanish ingredients, such as Serrano ham and chorizo. As I was a feckless youngster, my mum was in the marvellous habit of teaching me easy and tasty meals to keep me going and this was one of them. A really flavoursome, comforting stew that’s really easy to make, as long as you have a little patience.

However, I wasn’t optimistic about recreating the taste of one of my favourite dishes in my British kitchen. Especially as chorizo is a lot more expensive here so I used quite a bit less, and I replaced the big white Spanish fava beans (made famous by Hannibal Lector!) with small white Italian cannellini beans. But actually it had the exact same intense, smokey flavour – and was perfect for a dark and dreary winter evening. So, here’s the recipe:

250g white beans, either cannellini or fava, if you can find them

1 large onion

2 cloves of garlic

2 carrots

125g chorizo (more if you’re feeling rich!), chopped into small pieces

250ml passata

1 tsp paprika

1 bay leaf

salt and pepper

a slug of red wine

Cover the beans with water and soak for at least 5 hours, ideally overnight. Bring them to the boil and simmer until soft, about an hour and a half.

Peel and chop the onion, garlic and carrots. Add to the beans in the saucepan along with the other ingredients. Simmer very gently for about 2 hours. And that’s it!

Serves 2 very generously.

Fresh from the Oven: Chocolate Buns

This my first Fresh from the oven challenge and it forms one of my new years resolutions that I posted earlier this month to bake more often and more adventurously. This month’s challenge was chosen by Chele of Chocolate Teapot and she decided that we should make Chocolate Buns from Richard Bertinet’s ‘Dough’. I have never made a sweet bread before or crème pattissiere so I was slightly nervous before I begun.  I adapted the recipe slightly as I had some dried yeast and did not want to make a special trip out, just to get some fresh yeast. This did not seem to affect them in any way and they still rose really well. I also adapted the method slightly as I do not have a plastic dough scraper so I just kneaded the dough like I would any other type of bread and it did not seem to affect the finished result. My colleagues at work loved them, however they said that they were too big and many did not eat lunch after having one. Therefore, if I was to make these again, I would cut the dough the half once it has been rolled out and make smaller one’s and I would make the crème pattissiere a bit thicker as it went everywhere except for in middle of the dough. Overall, I enjoyed the challenge and I eagerly await the next one.

Chocolate Buns

Ingredients

• 250g full fat milk (250ml)
• 15g fresh yeast
• 500g strong bread flour
• 60g unsalted butter at room temp
• 40g caster sugar
• 10g salt
• 2 large eggs
• 25g good quality coca powder
• 200g chocolate chips, milk or plain, or a mixture
• 2 eggs beaten with a pinch of salt for an egg wash
• Crème Patissiere (recipe follows)
• 15g cocoa powder

Method

1. Pour the milk into a pan and warm gently until it is about body temp – it should feel neither warm nor cold when you dip your finger into it.
2. To mix by hand, rub the yeast into the flour using your fingertips as if making a crumble. Rub in the butter, then add the sugar and salt, then the eggs, milk and cocoa powder. With the help of a plastic scraper, lift the dough onto your work surface. Even though the dough will feel quite soft and moist (and look like thick, sticky porridge) do not add any flour to the work surface.
3. Begin to work the dough, slide your fingers underneath it like a pair of forks, with your thumbs on top, swing it upwards and then slap it back down, away from you, onto your work surface (it will almost be too sticky to lift at this point). Stretch the front of the dough towards you, then lift it back over itself in an arc (to trap the air), still stretching it forwards and sideways and tucking it in around the edges. Keep repeating this sequence.
4. As you work the dough it will start to come together and feel alive and elastic in your hands. Keep on working until it comes cleanly away from the work surface, begins to look silky and feels smooth, firm but wobbly and responsive.
5. Now you can flour your work surface lightly, place the dough on top and form it into a ball by folding each edge in turn into the centre of the dough and pressing down well with your thumb, rotating the ball as you go. Turn the whole ball over and stretch and tuck the edges under. Cover with a clean tea towel and leave to rest for 45 mins in a draught free place.
6. Make the crème pattissiere.
7. Once the 45 mins are up, use the rounded end of a scraper, transfer the dough to a lightly floured work surface and, with a rolling pin, gently flatten it into a rough rectangle. Spread the chocolate creme patissiere evenly over the dough and sprinkle on the chocolate chips. Starting with one of the longer edges, roll the dough up until it resembles a Swiss roll. Using a sharp knife, cut the roll into 2cm slices and place them on their sides on a baking tray. Glaze with a little egg wash and leave to prove for 1 1/4 – 1 3/4 hours until the buns have roughly doubled in size.
8. Preheat the oven to 250C.
9. Glaze again and put into the preheated oven, turning the heat down to 180C. Bake for 10-15 mins. As the chocolate dough is quite dark it can be difficult to tell when the buns are properly baked, and you need to take care not to under bake them – the best way to tell when they are ready is to lift one gently with a spatula and check that it is firm underneath.
10. If you don’t want to bake the buns all in one go, you can freeze some. When they are cut, just before proving, put them on a small tray in the freezer and when they are hard put them into a freezer bag. To use them, take them out, leave to prove overnight and bake in the same way

Crème Patissiere

In a bowl whisk together 6 egg yolks, 70 g caster sugar and 50g sifted flour. Put another 70g sugar into a saucepan with 500g (500ml) full fat milk, a vanilla pod split lengthwise and seeds scrapped in and the remaining cocoa powder. Place over a low heat. Leave until the first bubble appears, then remove from the heat. Whisk 1/3 of the milk into the egg mixture, then add the remaining 2/3 of the milk and stir again. Pour back into the pan and put back on the heat. Bring to the boil and simmer for a couple of mins, stirring constantly to ensure that the cream does not burn on the bottom. Pour into a dish to cool. Sprinkle a little icing sugar or flakes of butter on top to prevent a skin forming.

Using A Mixer With A Dough Hook

Put the flour into your mixer bowl and rub in the yeast. Rub the butter into the flour using your fingertips. Switch the mixer onto the slowest speed, add the sugar, cocoa and salt, then the eggs and milk and mix for 2 mins, then turn up to the next slowest speed and mix for a further 6-7 mins until the dough becomes smooth and elastic. Remove the dough from the bowl, transfer to a lightly floured surface to mould into a ball before placing in a tea towel to prove for 45 mins. Then follow the rest of the instructions as listed above.

From ‘Dough’ Richard Bertinet

Happy Cooking!

Easy Comfort Food

Good afternoon everyone. Sorry for the delay in between posts, I was away with work last week in Edinburgh and was away again this weekend in Chester with Stuart. Posts about both will follow shortly. Today, I would like to discuss a couple of my favourite comfort food dishes with you. The first is my version of Cottage Pie and the second is the Hairy Biker’s Mince Beef Stew and Dumplings.

Cottage Pie

Cottage Pie should traditionally be made with leftovers, the same as Shepherd’s Pie, however, I think it is a simple easy to make Sunday lunch dish when you have time to spend in the kitchen but do not want anything to complicated to make.

Ingredients

• 1 large or 2 medium white onions, chopped finely
• 500g lean steak mince
• 3-4 carrots, depending on size, chopped smallish
• 1 tin chopped tomatoes
• 8 average sized potatoes, peeled and chopped
• 250 ml beef stock
• Few drops of Worcestershire sauce
• 1 teaspoon Tomato Purée
• Pinch of sugar
• Big knob of butter
• Salt and pepper (white pepper is best for the mash)
• Olive Oil

Method

1. Put carrots into a saucepan with some water and salt and boil until tender. Drain and set aside.
2. Put olive oil in a saucepan with the onions and some salt and allow them to soften. Once softened, add the steak mince and brown all the meat.
3. Add the chopped tomatoes, stock, Worcestershire sauce, tomato purée and sugar. Season with salt and pepper, stir and let it simmer for 5-10 minutes until it has thickened. Pour into an oven proof dish (a nice as you will be serving it in it) and leave in the fridge for an hour or to set slightly.
4. Go and get a glass of wine!
5. Put the potatoes with some water and salt in a saucepan and boil until cooked through. Drain and put back in saucepan, put back on stove for 20 seconds to get rid of any excess water from the potatoes.
6. Put lots of butter into the potatoes, with salt and pepper and mash until smooth. Put mashed potato on top of the mince mixture in an even layer (a palette knife seems to be the best), decorate with a pattern if you like and put into the oven at 180° for 40 minutes to one hour until golden and bubbling. Take to the table, serve and enjoy!

Hairy Biker’s Mince Beef Stew and Dumplings

I have recently brought a copy of the Hairy Biker’s new book called ‘Mums Know Best’ which accompanies their current BBC TV series. I was very eager to try one of their recipes straight away and this one jumped out at me, as another easy comfort food Sunday lunch dish.

The mince beef stew part of the dish is very similar to my cottage pie mince recipe above, except their recipe has the addition of a bay leaf in it. The dumplings are simplicity in themselves too. Its only half suet to flour with some water added. Parsley is an optional extra too. I recommend that you buy their new book as it is full of traditional simple and easy to make recipes and no, I am not being paid to say that! Let me know what you think of the book if you have brought it, I would like to hear your opinions.

Rediscovering Food & Flavours – Kidney Care Cookbook

I have been asked by Jacqueline from Mccann who is working with Shire to tell you about a new cookbook that had been produced by Lawrence Keogh (from BBC One’s Saturday Kitchen and head chef at Roast restaurant in London’s Borough Market) for sufferer’s of Chronic Kidney Disease (CKD). CKD sufferers have strongly regulated diets as they are restricted by the amount of salt, sugar and fat they can have. In a bid to vamp up the quite often dull and boring foods that CKD sufferers are allowed, Lawrence has taken his knowledge and passion for food and worked closely with Renal Dietician, Diane Green to develop a cookbook specifically for kidney disease patients – Rediscovering Food & Flavours.

Rediscovering Food and Flavours consists of 16 recipes that are healthy and safe for kidney disease patients. Dishes include Pea and Ham Frittata, Spice Baked Salmon with Spelt and Beef Rump Steak with Cream Onions and Tarragon Sauce. It is not only CKD sufferers that need to watch their sugar, salt and fat intake, if you are on any kind of diet or just trying to be generally healthier; these are the things you need to watch. If you would like a PDF copy of the cookbook, please email joskitchen@hotmail.co.uk and I will email one to you.

Blog Awards

Recently, I have been awarded two blog awards from Helen of Helenthornber.com and Charlene from No Love Sincerer. I just want to say a big thank you ladies and I will pass them onto other bloggers soon.

That’s it from me today. I will be back with my first Fresh from the Oven challenge post on Thursday.

Happy Cooking!

Wednesday round-up of deliciousness

Hello everyone,

Today I am doing a guest post on Nora the Kitchen ‘Splorer blog, so why don’t you pop along and say hello!

Thanks

Happy Cooking

Jo

Happy New Year 2010!

Happy New Year everyone. Hope you had a great time whatever you were doing- we stayed at home with a bottle of champagne and a Chinese takeaway and watched the fireworks. This is a short post to tell you about my New Year foodie resolutions and to give you a simple comfort food recipe to start the year off and give you a suggestion of something to eat in this continuing cold weather we are having.

To begin lets starts with my New Year foodie resolutions:

1. Try and post on the blog more often (at least once a week)
2. To get more people doing guest posts and guest post on other people’s blogs
3. To be more adventurous in my baking and make more bread (I have joined the Fresh from the oven group to see help with this. I will be blogging my first challenge at the end of the month)
4. To arrange meeting(s) with West Midlands based Food bloggers on UKFBA. (I will be in touch later this week with everyone in the group to arrange first meeting)
5. Meet other foodie bloggers from the UK and hopefully, beyond
6. Go to my first Michelin starred restaurant
7. Make cupcakes (I have been inspired by my friends Caroline and Louise (check out Louise’s website here) to have a go at making cupcakes. I have brought ‘Cupcakes from the Primrose Bakery’ book and intend to start using it as soon as possible)
8. Make more use of the lots of cookbooks that I already own
9. Expand my cooking repertoire
10. Get better at food photography

These are my foodie related new year’s resolutions. What are yours? Can anyone help me with my resolutions?

Cheese and Potato Pie

Here is my simple recipe for cheese and potato pie, which is possibly some of the best comfort food you can get.

Ingredients

• 3 average sized potatoes per person (or 4 if you are greedy like me!)
• Lots of grated cheese (I prefer cheddar- a generous handful per person)
• Big knob of butter (Hairy Biker’s sized big knob of butter)
• Salt and white pepper

Method

1. Peel and chop the potatoes and put into a saucepan of water, bring it to the boil and simmer until the potatoes are cooked. (Usually 10-20mins depending on size of your chopped potatoes)
2. Drain the potatoes and put back in the saucepan and put back on stove and apply gentle heat on your smallest ring to remove excess water from the potatoes for 30 seconds or so.
3. Now remove from stove and add butter, salt and white pepper and mash until desired consistency. You may need to add more of butter, salt and white pepper to get it right, but do the mash until it is how you like it.
4. Stir in some of the grated cheese and place mash into an oven proof bowl, put more grated cheese on top and then grill until the cheese on top is melted and golden. Then serve and enjoy.  You can serve it with sausages, pork chops, chicken, ham and vegetables unless you are classy like me and serve it with baked beans!

I will be back soon but until next time,

Happy Cooking!

Christmas Cooking

Hello Everyone. Hope you all had a fantastic Christmas with lots of lovely food and drink. I did and I have some good news to tell you as well. Stuart and I are now engaged. He proposed to me on Christmas morning. We are going out tonight for a meal at The Fountain At Clent (where I went a couple of weeks ago with the girls) to celebrate it. We have not set a date or anything yet but I will keep you all informed, I promise.

Anyway, back to the food. This year, I did not have to cook Christmas dinner which was a relief. We all went round to my Auntie Ann’s and she did a fantastic job. Well done Ann and thank you for your hard work. Christmas dinner was great! Instead, we had everyone round to ours on Boxing Day and I did Hot Roast Pork sandwiches, with stuffing, homemade apple sauce and gravy. I did not take any pictures of the main event, I am afraid, it was a bit crazy, however, I have some pictures of other things I made to go with the pork sandwiches.

I have a confession to make: I did not make the pastry and the mincemeat for the mince pies. I did not have the time to make either. Its awful I know. Pastry and I do not get on. It is the one thing I cannot make. If you have any tips, please let me know!

I have blogged about Rocky Road and Toffee on here before. Please find the posts here and here. They are great for parties and loved by kids and adults alike.

Do you still have leftovers from Christmas? I do. Here is  a couple of ways that I have used to get rid of them. First of all, is pizza. Pizza is great for using up leftover cooked meat and cheese. Just make the pizza dough (my recipe is here), put on a tomato sauce and the toppings that you want and you have a reasonably quick and simple meal for all the family.

My second way of using up leftovers is curry. In this case, I had leftover pork from Boxing Day but any leftover cooked meat will do. Just follow my recipe from here. However, when you make the curry using already cooked meat, do not add it in at the same time as you do the uncooked meat, otherwise it will fall apart and you will have no chunks of meat left in the sauce when you come to eat it. Add the meat in after you have added the tinned tomatoes and stock. Meat that has been left in the fridge can go dry (Jamie Oliver told me that on his Christmas show), however, by reheating it in the curry sauce, the meat will go moist again. I have also started cooking my curry in the oven as it requires less stirring and you don’t need to watch it as much. It is up to you though – whatever you want is fine with me.

Do you have any ideas what I can do with leftover mincemeat? What else can you do with leftovers? I would love to know.

I will be back early in the New Year with a post about my foodie goals for 2010 as there are a few thimgs I would like to learn/do.  See you next year.

Happy New Year!

Fröhliche Weihnachten!

 

Today is my first day off of the Christmas holiday season and this afternoon, I decided after wrapping lots of presents and battling my way around Tesco, that I would treat myself to a visit to the Frankfurt German Christmas Market in Birmingham. Today was the last day of the market for this year, however it returns every year at the same time and I thought I would tell you about a few highlights of the market to encourage you to visit it next year, if you have not already.

By the way, the title of this post translates to Merry Christmas if my A Level German is correct! There are many things sold at this market and I have listed a few of them below:

• Crafts/candles and other assorted similar stuff
• Cider, both hot mulled and normal
• Mulled wine (Gluhwein)
• Hot Cherry Beer
• Bratwurst (sausages)
• German Beer
• Mushrooms and chips in a creamy garlic sauce
• Fresh baked bread and cakes
• and so on…

I think you get the idea. I also think that you get that what I really like is the food! It is fantastic, cooked fresh everyday and is delicious. It is slightly on the expensive, but what the hey, it only comes once a year. The last couple of years, the German market has been joined by a craft market with local UK producers in it and this year, it was bigger than ever. When I went a couple of weeks ago with some family and friends, one stall took my interest and it was called Dutch Pot (Sorry unable to find its website) and it sold Jamacian dishes, like Jerk Chicken and Ackee and Saltfish. However, the one dish I really wanted to try was Curried Goat and this is what I went back to try today.  I have never tried goat before and I will always try anything once and I do not really expect to be cooking it at home, anytime soon either.

I was unable to get a picture of the Curried Goat as lighting conditions were poor. It was served with Rice and Peas and some sort salad thing with carrots, peas, sweetcorn and some sliced white thing that I could not tell what it was.  The goat was lovely, very tender and it tasted a bit like lamb. The curry sauce was yummy. I was not to sure about the rice and  peas to be honest, not much flavour there, nor in the salad thing. I could not see what the salad thing added to dish. On the other hand, I loved the goat and would like to have it again.

After trying the Curried Goat, I went and had a mug of mulled wine and while drinking it, it started snowing! How much more Christmassy can you get? I am now geared up and ready for a few days of eating, drinking and being merry! Please let me know in the comment, on Twitter or on Facebook, your experiences of Christmas Markets, not only the Birmingham one, I would love to hear them.

I will be back again sometime between now and the New Year to tell you about the Boxing Day Feast I am hosting for my family. Until then,

Happy Christmas and I hope you have a wonderful New Year!

Festive Foodie Fun!

Tis the season to be jolly! (and drunk, full to bursting and hungover the next day!) It is Christmas party/dinner season and I have four Christmas meals to attend this year. I am halfway through them now. Today, I would like to tell you about a Christmas meal that I had with my friends last weekend at The Fountain At Clent in Worcestershire. It is a place that I have been too many times and I have wanted to tell you all about it for ages.  It has won many awards for its food and drink and is featured in the Good Pub Guide.

When we arrived we were given the choice of having the fixed price (£25 per head) Christmas Fayre menu or choosing from the A La Carte menu. I decided to have the A La Carte menu has it offered more choice than the Christmas menu, which was the same thing but with less options to choose from. My friends split 50/50 with menu choices. However, it did not really matter as we had a fantastic time anyway.  Starters and puddings average around £6-£7 and mains were around £13-£17.

For the starter course, I had their homemade plant pot cooked granary bread split in half and covered in cheddar and mozzarella. It was delicious – creamy, crunchy, garlicky, and cheesy all at the same time. My only complaint about the whole meal was that this and my main were topped with cress of some sort as a garnish. It did not really add anything to either dish and should not of been there in my opinion.

My main course was a whole locally shot braised pheasant in a rich stock sauce with root vegetables and finished with port and cranberries. All mains are served with chips, potatoes of the day (it our case – potato dauphinoise) and a selected of five steamed vegetables (we had cauliflower, broccoli, leeks, peas, carrots and fine beans – I think)   It was first time I had ever tried pheasant and I very impressed. It was like chicken but had a much richer and deeper flavour. It was a massive portion though. It would have fed three people, not just one. It was one of the best dishes I have ever had. It was that yummy!

For pudding, I had warm compote of winter fruits which was a Kilner jar filled with the compote and it was accompanied by a raspberry cappuccino with a mint chocolate straw. It was the perfect combination of sweet and sour. I loved it, especially the presentation. Apologies for the photos, I was trying to take them quickly as I just wanted to dig in and eat the food! Overall, we had a lovely time at The Fountain and I urge you all to go and give it a try, especially if you are local to the Midlands. Please let me know in the comments if you have ever been there and want you thought. I welcome your opinions.

I will be back before Christmas with a post about the Frankfurt Christmas Market in Birmingham.

Happy Cooking!

Guest Post from Mapperz: Banana Bread

Hello everyone. This is Jo. Today I am taking the day off and handing over control of my blog to Mapperz, who has excellent blog on Mapping, GIS and Cartography stuff. You can find him on Twitter and the link to his blog is here.  Mapperz enjoys cooking as well. Therefore, I asked if he could share his banana bread recipe with you as it is something I will never make. Stuart and I dislike bananas. However, I hope you will all make it and come and let us know how it went. Happy Cooking!

Okay

What do you do with those bananas beyond normal ripeness?

Well you can make bread with them

“in between during blogging about maps and gis related stuff, the hands of a cartographer can make rustic things in the kitchen.”

On a request from a person close it was put upon me to make a cake, a cake that can be toasted and eaten warm of just sliced and enjoying consumed (or scoffed in west country terms) and enjoy with homemade wine

The recipe is simple just produces some good aromas and very nice taste -

You will be surprised.

Preparation time (including, weighing dry and wet mix) 10 mins

Cooking/Baking time 55 mins (pre-heated oven – or just pop after the oven has been on.

Consuming time – less than a 1 minute.

Banana Bread

Serve warm or cold, plain or toasted with butter.

Ingredients

• 3-4 medium bananas – the older the better.
• 1 tsp baking powder
• ¾ tsp bicarbonate of soda
• 250 g plain/strong bread flour
• 180 g White Caster Sugar
• pinch of salt
• 125 g walnuts nuts (Optional)
• 2 eggs
• 75 g butter
• 75g shortening
• 1 tsp ground cinnamon
• 3 tbsp warm milk

Method

Dry mix first

1. Sieve the sugar, flour and baking powder add pinch of salt
2. Mix by hand air the ingredients

Wet mix last

1. Hard shortening can by used to oil baking tin, dust with flour.
2. Butter and shortening (lard can be used) – 30 seconds in the microwave, mix in bowl to a liquid
3. Then mashed bananas. Add the eggs & cinnamon beat together then add to main mix.
4. Toss the walnuts in a little flour before adding to the mixture.
5. This will prevent them from sinking.
6. Mix with dry mix – mix well but do NOT over mix.
7. add milk last and then final mix.
8. Pour into baking tin
9. Bake for 55mins at 190° C (375° F ) – use a toothpick or thin knife to check, it come out clean when cooked.

Boffin Stats

• Calories: 335kcal, 17% of your GDA
• Sugar: 22.3g, 25% of your GDA
• Fat: 17.2g, 25% of your GDA
• Saturates: 6.1g, 31% of your GDA
• Salt: 0.6g, 10%

Tips

• Mix all dry ingredients in together first.
• Rack to cool tin and to cool out of tin.
• Allow to cool completely before storing in an airtight container