banana bread - cake really

This is an easy cake to make, and a simple way to use up those bananas you've forgotten to eat.

3 very ripe bananas
butter or marg
soft brown sugar
3 eggs
self raising flour
1tsp bicarbonate of soda

you might add
spice:
chocolate:
raisins or sultanas

butter a 7" tin or in preference a bundt tin (tin with a hole in the middle) and dust with flour

beat butter and sugar together
peel the bananas and beat into sugar/fat mixture
add the eggs and beat some more
stir together flour, bicarb and spice if used
add flour and beat mixture together

don't worry if there are some lumps of banana, as long as the banana is mostly mashed in. The mixture usually ends up in a loose speckled batter

if you are adding sultanas or chocolate thrown them in now

cook at gas mark 7 for 40 minutes

chocolate fudge icing

150g icing sugar

25g cocoa powder

50g thinly sliced butter

2x 5ml tsp honey

2x 15ml tbsp milk

1/4 tsp vanilla essence

• sift icing sugar and cocoa into a bowl 
• put butter, honey and milk in pan on low heat, stirring until melted
• pour into sugar mixture immediately and beat until smooth
• leave to cool

spread on cake using knife

enough for inside of 7" cake

lemon granita or sorbet

I eat it looking at this view from my hammock

On a hot day this ice will make you happy, it's softly sweet and has a refreshing bite. Actually it's a recipe for happiness in any weather, I have been known to eat it until my tongue goes numb. 




When made, this concoction may look like ice cream, but there is no milk in it. It uses a syrup and adds a tantalising teaspoon  of orange blossom water. You don't need an ice cream machine to make it either, you can freeze it in a container and as it freezes smash it up a bit, several times with a fork. Low tech is good.

3-3/4 cups water

1-1/4 cups sugar

1 T. orange blossom water

1-1/4 cups lemon juice

• Put water in a pan with the sugar and boil together for a few minutes, stirring until the sugar has dissolved. It doesn't take long - don't let it turn to caramel. 
• Leave to cool and add orange blossom water and lemon juice. 
• Stir well and pour into a fridge container or ice trays. 
• Cover with lid or foil foil and place in the freezing compartment of the refrigerator, set at the lowest setting. 
• As the ice freezes a little, mash it up lightly with a fork without removing it from the trays,  to reduce the size of the crystals. Repeat a few times at 1/2-hour intervals. 
• Transfer from the freezer to another part of the refrigerator about 20 minutes before serving. 

You can fill scooped-out lemon halves with the sorbet to serve. Or use bowls.


Serves 6. Or fewer if you are greedy.


This is something you can serve in small amounts between courses, to clean the palate. Only if you are feeding people with vast appetites of course.


You can make an excellent slushy with this sorbet. Put the ice in a glass and add a shot of water, stir and consume using two straws in the traditional manner.


Also delicious with a ginger biscuit - recipe to follow.

I use an ice cream machine and it makes a beautiful smooth white sorbet. It is also kind enough to roll it into four portions, that look like ghostly tennis balls.

If you keep it frozen for more than a day then it'll need to soften longer before eating, or you will break spoons.



I also make it with alcohol - two tablespoons added to the ingredients is plenty, if you use more it will make the whole less icy. If I use whisky I leave out the flower water, with rum and vodka I leave it in.

University diet

When I started this blog it was after I had found my oldest child gazing happily into a well-filled fridge on a recent visit home. She explained that until she left home for university she hadn’t realised how much shopping was needed to keep it stocked up. It’s the porridge pot principle – your world-weary teen may cast a cynical eye over most fairy tales, but once they’re buying their own food they find that their faith in the pantry’s endless bounty gets tested.

Five kids, limited budget and restricted access to supplies, coupled with a touch of sadistic control, meant that access to food was restricted when I grew up in the 1970s. We were allowed three biscuits a day, there was no eating between meals and one sweet after lunch at the weekend was a longed for treat. In addition, meals had to be eaten, even if what was on the menu wasn’t to your liking. These days I know of just two families who restrict their kids food intake between meals, and neither of them is mine. I decided it was one battle I wasn’t going to take on.

When I left home I specialised in preparing a range of quick, cheap and tasteless meals. Pasta sauces made from soup mix, a speciality. My food obsessive parents ensured that these ‘naughty’ foods appealed to me. Flavour was secondary to MSG or effort. I progressed, through poverty, to conjuring up a dish that made the most of what food was consistently left to rot in my fridge. A saggy head of celery and a pint of milk with lots of pepper, cooked down with some seasoning, made a tasty slightly nutty pasta sauce. I may revisit this recipe in time, right now I am still shuddering at the thought. Other than that it was onion sauce all the way, truly delicious with baked potatoes and other veg. Occasionally I paired it with liver, as a treat.

So, this blog was started in an effort to teach my teenage daughter to cook. It was her idea, when she was living in halls, and wanted to enjoy some tasty homemade food.

The starting point was vegetable dishes, starter cooks are mostly not ready for meat. Aside from family classics, including caramel carrots, cabbage and bacon and a coconut dhal she’s also interested in onion sauce.

Taking tips from my younger self, economy of time, money and effort are the greatest influence on the recipes tackled. I also started trying to limit the need to wash up.

Imagining she’ll be happy to have the same meal twice in a row, or may invite others to join her to eat, so the recipes are for two, or can simply be scaled down.

one pan coconut dhal

Coconut dhal
This dhal is a staple in our house, it is the first recipe I wrote out for my darling daughter, it's cheap and easy to make and delicious. I included the ingredients when I sent a care package after she told me she'd been living on pot noodle alone, along with a savoy cabbage and a cake. 

Ingredients	Equipment needed
Orange split lentils Water/stock 1 onion 1 carrot Garlic Curry powder Fresh coriander 1” Creamed coconut Salt, pepper 1 Tomato Optional extras Potatoes or 1 apple	Wooden spoon Medium sized saucepan Mug Chopping board Knife
Peel onion and chop up roughly Peel carrot and slice up Take one or two cloves of garlic and crush under flat of knife and peel Take 1 mugful of lentils, put in pan Add two generous mugfuls of water or stock to pan Bring to boil and simmer over low heat You may see some scum start to bubble up – just remove it with the spoon – if you don’t everything will still taste fine Add chopped onion and carrot Add 1 tsp curry powder, pinch of salt, pepper and tomato Cook over low heat until the lentils are getting soft, about 15m Add creamed coconut, check that there is still enough liquid, if it’s getting dry add some more water and cook 5m more Add chopped coriander leaves and stir through – check seasoning and add salt if needed You might like to add a squeeze of lemon Eat with rice or on its own.

If you want to make this into soup use three mugfuls of water.

My aunt cooks this and eats it with rice. Any leftovers she puts in a pot and then eats spread on toast as pate. Sounds a bit weird? I thought so, and ate it out of politeness, only to discover it is really delicious. She chops everything up much finer than me. Just a little tip. 

Sticky date cake

Delicious sticky date cake, egg free, fat free

20 stoned dates

1cup milk

¼ cup water

¾ cup demerera sugar

¾ cup wholemeal flour

1 ½ tsp bicarb

Small pinch salt

Fat to butter pan or use baking parchment

Butter or line the pan. I used a  buttered 10” Bundt spring-form cake tin (round cake tin with a hole in the centre and a removable base).

Set oven to Gas Mark 5/375C

Put dates with milk and walter in a pan, and bring to the boil. Take off heat and set aside. 

When cooled put soaked dates with sugar in blender and blend to fine paste.

In pan mix together sugar and date paste with cooled milk and water.

Stir in flour, pinch of salt and sifted bicarb.

Mix well and pour batter into prepared tin.

Cook for 25 minutes – when cooked cake is firm to the touch. A skewer inserted comes out clean.

Leave to cool before removing from tin.

Makes a lovely sticky cake.

For variety add:

Handful of walnuts

Stem ginger, cut into pieces (if you add syrup reduce sugar in recipe) husband likes this, but I think it gives a strange soapy taste

grilled marinated chicken strips that make you overeat

Four skinless chicken breasts, cut into strips.

2 med onions
1 clove garlic
2.5cm/1" ginger
1tsp thai green curry powder*
5cm/2" cream coconut
generous handful of powdered coconut
juice of 1 lemon
fresh coriander - approx 1/3 generous bunch - incl. leaves, stem and washed root

good pinch of salt

1 mug water

With blender	Without blender
Grate or chop up cream coconut and add ½ mug boiling water – leave to melt	Grate or chop up cream coconut and add ½ mug boiling water – leave to melt
Peel onions.	Peel onions.
Roughly chop onions, coriander, garlic and ginger, put in blender jug. Add ½ mug water and coconut cream mixture. Blend.	Grate onions, put grated onion into bowl. Finely chop coriander, garlic and ginger and add to bowl. Add ½ mug water and coconut cream mixture and mix.
Add lemon juice, salt, thai curry powder and powdered coconut and mix to a paste.
Mix  chicken strips with paste until they're well covered. Leave for at least two hours or overnight. Thread onto skewers – makes about 8 large skewers. If you haven't got skewers or don't want to use them, you can cook the chicken without, but you'll need to cook the strips in batches and turning them takes longer.
Cook under preheated grill for 10-12 minutes, turning once. Wrap cooked chicken strips in tin foil and leave for at least 10 minutes. Eat hot or cold.

* If you can't find it, try this combo

2 Tbsp fish sauce OR 4 tinned anchovies OR omit

½ tsp ground cumin

½ tsp ground coriander

½ tsp chilli powder, or one seeded green chilli

ground lemon grass or zest of a lemon or lime


other chicken recipes: flattened chicken roast chicken chicken of forty cloves of garlic 

birthday lemon cake

ingredients

170g butter, softened, plus extra for greasing
170g caster sugar, plus extra to serve
Finely grated zest of 1 lemon

Juice of 1 lemon
4 eggs
120g plain flour, sifted

50g fine cornmeal
Pinch of salt
3/4 tsp baking powder

method

1.                 Preheat the oven to 170C/gas mark 4.

2.                 Butter a 225g non-stick loaf tin (about 12 x 20cm) or a 20cm-diameter round cake tin and line with greaseproof paper.

3.                 Beat together butter, sugar, and lemon zest in a food processor and until fluffy.

4.                 Add one egg at a time, waiting until each is fully incorporated before adding the next.

5.                 Add the lemon juice, then the flour, salt and baking powder

6.                 Spoon the mixture into your prepared tin and bake for about an hour or until golden and springy. If the cake is browning too quickly, loosely cover the top with foil but remember to remove it shortly before the end of cooking. Test the cake by inserting a skewer into the centre. If it comes out clean, the cake is cooked.

7.                 Put the cake tin on a wire rack and leave for 15 minutes. Then remove the cake from the tin and sprinkle with caster sugar. Leave to cool.

Keeps well, so if not eaten on the day of cooking, when cold, tightly wrap in foil and leave for a day or two.

falafel recipe - simpler to buy a packet of mix...

Claudia Roden: "A Book of Middle Eastern Food"

1 lb dried white broad beans ("ful nabed") 
2 red or Spanish onions, very finely chopped or grated, 
     or 1 bunch spring onions [scallions], finely chopped 
 2 large cloves garlic, crushed 
 1 bunch parsley, finely chopped 
 1-2 teaspoons ground cumin 
 1-2 teaspoons ground coriander 
 1/2 teaspoon baking powder 
 oil for deep-frying 

The dried white beans can be found in all Greek stores and in many
delicatessens. Buy them already skinned if possible. 

Soak the beans in cold water for 24 hours. Remove the skins if this has not
been done. Drain, and mince or pound them. Mix this with the onions,
garlic, parsley, cumin, coriander, baking powder and salt and cayenne
pepper to taste. 

Pound the ingredients together to a smooth paste. This will take a long
time and much effort, so if a mincer [meat grinder] is available, put the 
mixture through the fine blade twice before pounding it. 

Let the paste rest for 1/2 hour at least. Take walnut-size lumps and make
flat, round shapes 1-1/2 inches in diameter. Let them rest for 15 minutes
longer, then fry them in deep hot oil until they are a dark, rich golden
brown.

marmalade

I finished the last jar of mum's marmalade about six months ago. It was very good. Luckily I'm the only one who likes it in the house, so I managed to eke it out. It was a rich dark colour with a clear jelly and had a wonderful flavour. Tangy, with large bits of peel.

So now I have to make my own.

Back to the source: using the inherited The Times Cookery Book 1960 (ten shillings and sixpence).

The recipe I'm following is for Dark Chunky Marmalade. Fingers crossed. In the usual style I have read this recipe carefully. I've also read my edition of Mrs Beeton's Cookery, New Edition, Ward Lock and Co. I've talked to friends who have experience making marmalade. I've checked out a variety of marmalade recipes and tips on the www.

Also I like chopping. I like the process. I’m not trying to do it quickly, so I'm disregarding recipes that claim to be labour saving, or that cook the oranges whole, since I don't have pans as big as bungalows, or oven dishes either.

Now I will follow the traditional cook's method and pretty much ignore them all and use them all, creating my own version.

I’m aiming high: to make marmalade with a clear-ish jelly that tastes fantastic and reminds me of my mother. Not much to ask.

I’ve noticed that some people weigh the fruit, and add a proportionate amount of sugar. I may change the amount of sugar. I’ve seen recipes that use twice the amount of sugar in the Times recipe. Some use white sugar, others sugar with pectin. Hmmm.

Recipe: Dark Chunky Marmalade
Ingredients:
10 Seville oranges
3 lemons
4lb dark brown soft sugar
3lb light brown soft sugar
6 pints cold water

Equipment:
For preparation –
Knife and boards, juicer, two large bowls, large muslin square.

For cooking –
Large heavy-bottomed pan, sieve, muslin square, wooden spoon, saucers, ladle, jam funnel, jam jars

Wash the fruit, wipe dry, cut into halves and squeeze – pour juice into a large bowl.
Put all pulp and pips, together with membranes pulled from inside of squeezed oranges into another large bowl with 1 pint of cold water, leave to soak 24h.

Cut orange rinds into slices – I cut each half into four slices and then cut a stack at a time into short slices. Put sliced peel into large bowl with orange and lemon juice and 5 pints of cold water. Leave to soak 24h.

Get out your preserving pan or a very large heavy-bottomed pan. Put peel and water into pan. Drape a very large strainer with muslin and strain the liquid, pulp and pips into the pan with the peel mixture. Tie the muslin around the pip mixture and add to the pan.

Put pan on heat and bring to a boil and cook fast for two hours,uncovered. Your kitchen will smell better than any fancy candle. Remove the muslin bag of pips etc and set aside in a bowl – be careful, it’s hot.

Chill a couple of saucers in the fridge.

Warm clean jars in a cool oven. Get lids ready, or waxed discs and sellophane to tie on in place of lid.

Squeeze liquid from the cooled muslin bag of pips etc into the pan, and throw the pip mixture away. Add sugar to the pan and stir until it dissolves – keep stirring the base of the pan, to make sure sugar doesn’t stick to it before it’s fully dissolved. Boil quickly for 20 minutes. *

Take pan off the heat, and test mixture on chilled saucer. If it sets, it’s ready to put in jars, if it doesn’t return to heat and cook on high heat a little longer, testing again until it sets on chilled saucer.

Pot the marmalade into warmed jars. Cover at once.

*this is a rolling boil

Using a preserving pan makes sense, because it has a pouring spout and useful handles.
Time for cooking after sugar is dissolved may vary a little; the colour deepens with over-boiling, but the fresh flavour is lessened, and the marmalade will not set.
Taking the pan off the heat when testing makes it less likely that the mixture will over cook.

Makes just over 12 x 8oz jars