You Say Banana

Went out and bought some more asparagus today, for the express purpose of roasting it for tonight's dinner. As I mentioned in the previous post, the weather here is rubbish - and it makes you want to EAT. We had a meatless dinner tonight, (A) because I hadn't defrosted anything and (B) it's good to make the meat go a little further by ignoring it sometimes. Our dinner comprised of roast asparagus, roast pumpkin, and a curiousity found in the Supersavers book called Cauliflower Bread. I have to admit the name drew me in. This oddity in no way resembles bread (it is in fact, gluten free) and is made of mashed potato, steamed, mashed cauli, eggs, cheese and butter all mixed together and baked in a makeshift bain-marie (ie, sit your dish in a roasting pan filled with boiling water while it bakes.) The result is actually really good, gratifyingly stodgy and almost a complete meal - protein, carbs, and veges in one. Didn't take a photo because the batteries for the camera needed charging. But, luckily they were charged in time for dessert...

Kieran had bought a packet of puff pastry for some reason ages ago and admitted he was never going to use it. I acquired it, but decided to bake a pudding for everyone (well, everyone except Emma, luckily she was out.) Had a shmooze through some books before deciding upon the Banana Butterscotch Upside Down Tart from Nigella's Forever Summer. Very simple - slice up bananas and place at the bottom of a pie dish (warning - you need a lot!) Melt butter, and a surprisingly small amount of sugar together, before stirring a scant tablespoon each of golden syrup and cream. Pour this caramelly mixture over the banana, then roll out the pastry, (I got Tim to do this - he actually did all the really hard work for this recipe) tuck over the top of the bananas, bake, et voila!

As you can see below, the pastry puffed up beautifully.

Above - the baked banana tart. Yes, our stove is grimy.

Tim also did the next bit - turning out the boiling hot tart onto a plate. I have to say, he did it without any stress and didn't burn himself with the caramel as I undoubtedly would have...

Above - the finished product. Am not the most die-hard banana fan, and the idea of warm bananas doesn't really light my fire but this stuff was super moreish. You probably don't need me to tell you that it's nearly gone already...