18 November 2008

Banana O'Rily

I've started full-time work this week, so you'll have to forgive me if I get a little drunk on my own power and come over all megalomaniacal at you. I'll try to keep it in check. Leonard Cohen tickets were selling on Trademe today (NZ's Ebay-lite) for over $600, so as yet it looks like I'm really not going, and thus my dream of seeing my Canadian triumverate (Leonard, Neil, Rufus) is not quite going to come to fruition. No need to go listening to "Who By Fire" on constant loop just yet however, because I found out on the weekend - care of a certain lovely father of mine - that I'm going to be seeing The Who in March, and I am just ridiculously excited. For those of you who have been so unfortunate not to have had your ears blessed by their music...think of the CSI theme tunes. The original and the Miami and New York spin-off themes are all Who songs (who? I hear you say...)
We went to visit Tim's parents over the weekend and they sent us back to Wellington with a large bag of ripe bananas, with which I decided to do the obvious thing and use them in some kind of cake. I made banana bread using a much-repeated recipe from Nigella Lawson's How To Be A Domestic Goddess, a book so imbued with the spirit of baking that its very pages, were you to lick them, taste of cinnamon and nutmeg. Although that could well be because I'm so messy and schmeer batter everywhere.



It's a non-threatening but diverting recipe, the batter spiked with luscious, rum-soaked sultanas (although I use Marsala al'uovo for preference, it's flavour is impossible to better) and irregularly sized chunks of chopped chocolate folded through at the end. Rustic but elegant, easy to make but looks like you put in lots of effort...


Banana Bread


100g sultanas
75ml bourbon or dark rum (or Marsala, which makes it smell heavenly)
175g plain flour
2 t baking powder
1/2 t baking soda
125g melted butter
150g sugar
2 large eggs
4 small, very ripe mashed bananas (about 300g when peeled)
Optional - about 60g dark chocolate, chopped roughly



Put the sultanas and chosen alcohol in a small saucepan and bring to the boil, then let cool. Or, if you're lazy like me, just zap them in the microwave. Mix the butter, sugar, eggs and bananas together, then fold in the dry ingredients. Finally, fold in the drained sultanas and chocolate and pour into a well greased and floured loaf tin. Bake at 170 C for about an hour, although it may need longer. I reserved the remaining dribble of Marsala that the sultanas had been warmed in and poured it over the cake as soon as it emerged from the oven.




Eat by the generous slabful. Not that I'd know or anything, but even if you overcook it slightly so it's a bit too dark on top, it doesn't seem to do any harm. In fact this cake stays serviceably moist for a couple of days after baking.




Surprise! A short, succinct post. It's so short and lacking in banter that I don't quite know what to do with myself, but since I'm not feeling overwhelmingly zany right now I might as well not try and force it. To be honest I'm pretty exhausted from travelling two weekends in a row and then starting full-time has been taking a lot of my brain-space. ("just because I get around") I haven't had any time to cook from the gorgeous Nigella Christmas yet - have hardly had time to cook at all to be honest - but I can't wait to start chutneying it up - her chapter on homemade gifts is seriously inspiring!

11 comments:

  1. Banana bread looks great and I'm eyeing up some sad-looking bananas thinking almost-thoughts of baking. Welcome to the work force! First time since 1991 that you haven't been in an educational institution.

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  2. Laura, your banana bread looks good - I've always meant to try this recipe, but never got around to it.

    Have you tried the banana breakfast ring in 'Feast'? That's delicious too.

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  3. Omigod! I'm very excited about this. Always looking for new banana bread recipes!

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  4. Enjoy the Who. I remember when they started out LOL. Funny I made that banana bread last week too. Really nice. It was my first attempt at banana bread. Yours looks lovely
    xxx

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  5. Gorgeous-looking banana bread Laura! Yum! I have Nigella's book How To Be A Domestic Goddess too, but I've never made this banana bread (I make banana bread all the time but have about 3 or 4 different recipes that I tend to use), will have to give this one a go.

    Hope your transition from uni to working full time is smooth. I'm sure you will enjoy earning the extra dollars.

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  6. Mum: 1991? Well now I feel old! This recipe is really easy if you just microwave the sultanas for a bit.

    Anna: Thank you - you should definitely try it. I haven't made the banana ring but I know the recipe you mean - will have a look at it next time I have a glut of bananas!

    Redmenace: Thanks for stopping by, glad to have helped you on your quest for banana bread LOL.

    Rhyleysgranny: I'm really looking forward to it :) Loving your snazzy new pic by the way!

    HayleyB: Thankyou, it's going pretty well so far at work, and yes, being on a salary will be nice. HTBADG is such a good book - always something new to discover in it.

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  7. Hi
    Congrats on joining the full time work force though there is a lot to be said for staying in the educational system LOL. Never got past banana choc chip muffins (
    Alison Holsts Muffin book) for tired, nearly ex bananas - have got a couple wilting away at the moment so may try something when I get back to base from the school trip to Sydney and Canberra.

    Love Lynn

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  8. You have such a way with words, I probably say that every time! But besides being a baking genius, I come around to see what new gems I can add into my vocabulary to pass off as my own.

    Thanks for reassuring me about the photos, I still think Dog food, but it would at least be a NICE dog food like Fancy Feast...

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  9. You mean there are people out there who have never heard The Who? Come on now, we know that's impossible...

    But much congrats on going to see them. I hear they still bring it hardcore, even nowadays. I just wonder who the drummer is now. And sadly, bassist too.

    And nice touch with the rum soaked goodness :)

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  10. Lynn: But those muffins are great too :) Hope you get back safely from your huge trip! :)

    Hot Garlic: What a nice thing to say! :) And about 0.4% of the stews I make over winter actually get blogged about because I still haven't found the trick for photographing them. LOL @ the Fancy Feast :D

    Adam: And I am pretty sure they all have tinnitis :)

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  11. Hey, I made the banana bread - used some sweet dessert wine leftovers and raisins, in the absence of said ingredients, and used 4 small eggs instead of three large eggs.... but result was semi-excellent. Could possibly have cooked it for a bit longer but didn't like the burned look on top. Might be ok after it sits for a while and some of the excess moisture evaporates. Didn't use chocolate chips - and all of the raisins sunk to the bottom corner but - Mark and and Julian liked it.

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