Banana bread – the sequel

Remember “Banana Bread – the photos and what the critics had to say” - I promised I'd let you know what the cake was like from the freezer.

It's Bank Holiday weekend and a teatime treat is called for - the perfect excuse. For once I remembered and took the cake out of the freezer in the morning, ready to slice with a cuppa later that afternoon.

Truth be told I'm not that bothered about cake but, in the interests of research – I'm sure you understand - I felt it only right that I should sample it and report back.

First up the consistency of the cake when cut was as good as it was when baked.

As for my Chief Taste Tester – he said, “beautiful”. Praise indeed!

Even I enjoyed it – the hits of chocolate were delish and above all the cake remained moist – I hate dry cake. The plain chocolate drops I used instead of milk kept their shape – a definite addition to the “here's one I made earlier” collection.

What on earth did we do before we had the luxury of freezers?!

A winter treat

Damson vodka

*600g damson plums

2 tsps cinnamon

250g soft dark brown sugar

Roast the damson plums, then freeze in two portions :

Pre-heat oven 180fan/200c/Gas 6.

Wash the fruit, remove the stones and place halves in a

deep roasting tray – lined with baking parchment if not

using a foil tray

Add the cinnamon to the sugar and sprinkle

over the fruit

Bake for 30 minutes – check after 20 – fruit

should be soft and cooked.

You could pass through a sieve before freezing if

preferred

I should point out that I am just the help in this recipe. I'm providing the damson element!

I have it on good authority from my Editor (who is my Nephew, Lucas) that the following recipe is the one he uses – once again it's only fair to share!

You will need :

**300g fresh fruit of your choice – or you can

use frozen fruit from the supermarket if this is more

convenient, defrosted

450g sugar

1 pint water

1 bottle of vodka 75cl

a potato masher

sieve

bottles for decanting

large saucepan

Sterilise your bottle, use sterilising tablets or powder.

**Place the fruit, sugar and water in a large saucepan and heat gently until the fruit softens and releases its juices. Cool and then strain through a sieve.

If you've roasted and frozen your fruit as above, then defrost it and strain through a sieve.

Add the sieved syrup to the vodka and water and decant into bottles.

You can if you wish pour the liqueur through a coffee filter after a week or so to remove any pips or pulp that escaped!

Leave your liqueur alone for three months if you can – i.e. September ready for Christmas – you'll be glad you gave it a chance to mature a little.

You have three fruit options – roasting the damsons as marked * at the beginning or as marked ** fresh fruit of your choice or frozen and then defrosted.

In the interests of quality control there will be a tasting later on in the year and full and frank feedback given!

Fiddling around …with plums and damsons

What's to come?

My idea using the Asian plum sauce is beginning to take shape in the form of an Asian/Italian fusion. Not everyone is fond of duck so I'm going to try a chicken breast stuffed with an Italian cheese – I'm going to use Taleggio which melts very well, topped with sliced damson plums and wrapped in pancetta. Roasted and served drizzled with the Asian plum sauce – hold that thought!

I did warn you that I was going to bore the pants off.

Have you ever fancied a plum pizza? I suppose a lot depends on whether you like the combination of sweet and savoury but hey, this could be a learning curve – what's the worst that can happen?

Who fancies a Croque Pruneau?

In the meantime :

A different Crostini topping anyone?

Remember, you can make Crostini as small or as large as you like. A smaller version is ideal for a canapé and sliced baguettes are perfect, part baked or toasted. You could use larger slices of soda bread or sour dough – sliced and toasted for a snack, lunch or supper.

The world really is your lobster here but, here are my first thoughts :

Bake slices of prosciutto or serrano ham or smoked

bacon if you prefer – you want crisp and flat!

Line a baking tray with baking parchment, then lay

the slices, add another layer of parchment and then

another baking tray on top.

Bake in a hot oven – 180fan/200c/Gas 6 -

check after 15 minutes. May need another 10

minutes – depends on the thickness of the slices.

Set aside to cool and then snap into small pieces.

Box and fridge.

This element can be made ahead.

Damson plums from your open freezing stash, defrosted,

sliced and sautéed lightly in a frying pan with a knob of

unsalted butter (25g) – be gentle, you want the slices

to keep their shape. Set aside.

This element can be made ahead.

Assembly

Use tapenade to spread on the base of your

Crostini

Add cheese of your choice - Goats' cheese, cubed or sliced

Parmesan or Pecorino - grated – Mozzarella, torn or

Taleggio sliced

Add your sautéed plums

Cook in a hot oven until golden and crispy – 3-4 minutes

at 180fan/200c/Gas 6.

Sprinkle with the baked “bacon” pieces and serve

with a drizzle of the Asian plum sauce that you've

pulled from your freezer and defrosted – warmed if you

prefer.

If I had one suggestion to make it would be don't overload with toppings – less is more and you don't want one flavour to obliterate another.

Use ingredients that you love and enjoy or may be live dangerously and try something new!

The last kilo …

I have all sorts of ideas floating around - one in particular uses a classic Asian plum sauce, traditionally served with duck.

So, using 400g, here it is :

Asian plum sauce

400g plums, stoned and quartered

50g demerara sugar

75ml (3fl oz) white wine vinegar

pinch of chilli flakes

1 whole star anise or ½ tsp of ground star anise

Cook for 20/25 minutes until the plums are soft. Leave to cool and then pass through a sieve – reserve the sauce. The recipe will give you 200ml of sauce. I have frozen it.

Here are two photos – the beginning and the end, before passing through a sieve.

How luscious does it look?!

Moving swiftly on, I now have 600g of plums left so I'm going to “open freeze” the plums – like I did previously in “Share the spoils” it's always helpful to include a method.

Open freezing plums/damson plums

Wash them and pat dry. Halve the plums and remove the stones. Place them on a shallow tray – try and make sure they aren't touching and then place in the freezer. Leave them overnight – you'll then finish up with perfect frozen plums, to use whenever the mood takes. Bag the frozen beauties and pat yourself on the back.

It's so satisfying.

You do realise that I'm going to bore the pants off you with all sorts of recipes using plums and damsons for the foreseeable future!

Share the spoils!

1kg down, 5kg to go – I gave 1kg to my mate Shirl and another 1kg to another friend. It's only right that you share the harvest!

I'm going to roast the remaining 2kgs and then separate the roasted fruit from the syrup and then freeze both.

The tree is still loaded and I refuse to waste the fruit – another 4kg today!

I ask Shirl if she'd like any more – I know she's already made jam. Shirl is juggling stuff that would put circus plate spinners to shame – you know what I mean, where they spin plates on poles and the object is not to let them fall. 30 portions of shortbread – 50 cheese biscuits plus a panna cotta – that's apart from routine meals I might add! So, have offered to open freeze 1kg in halves – my good deed for the day!

1kg down, 3kg to go and I decide to follow suit for myself. The great thing about open freezing is it takes no time at all – I am going to save some for our friend who has arrived from the USA this week and is due to visit this afternoon. I know how much he misses puddings like crumble and so reserve some fruit for him to take home in the hope that his Daughter will transform into just that!

A good days work.

The damson jam photo guide

The beginning.

The scum is easy to identify and easy to remove.

You can see the wrinkling on the right hand side of the “set”.

The end product - definitely worth all the effort!

My damson plum harvest …

Just for those who may not know, damsons are tiny sour plums too bitter to eat like you would a plum - but they do make great jam and other stuff too.

Delightful damson plums – I have never seen so many in all the years I've had this tree – not that old really – 20 years or so. Have a look at these :

You have to be quick – those that fall - “windfalls” are easy prey for the wasps - the first yield weighs 6kgs! There's only so much jam you can make – I think a little more thought is required.

Here's the jam recipe I used, taken from GoodtoKnow :

Damson jam

1 kg damsons

300ml water

1.3kg jam sugar

Wash the damsons and remove any stalks. Place them in a large wide pan with the water and simmer gently until the fruit is soft. Press the damsons against the side of the pan as they cook to help the fruit give up the stones. Use a slotted spoon to remove the stones from the pan.

Simmer the jam until it has reduced by approximately half.

Add the sugar, stir until dissolved. Bring the jam to the boil and boil rapidly for about 10 minutes until the jam sets when tested.

Allow to cool for 10 minutes then remove the scum with a slotted spoon. Pour into warmed sterilised jars, fill right to the top then cover immediately with waxed discs and cellophane tops or lids.

To test for a setting point you can be fancy and spend money if you like and buy a sugar thermometer, boiling the jam until it reaches 105c or, the old fashioned way, place a saucer in the fridge. When the jam has boiled for 5 minutes place a teaspoon of jam on the saucer and return it to the fridge. After a couple of minutes, run your finger through the jam, it should wrinkle and feel thicker. If it's runny then continue boiling and test again. Don't continue to cook the jam whilst testing – you can overcook it, so turn the heat down as low as it will go.

The jam will keep in a cool, dark place for up to a year – if it lasts that long!

Back to the new book: Banana Bread – the photos …

… and what the critics had to say

This is an excellent recipe and one that I'll use again.

Dessert after supper on cake making day JJ and Grandad were given choices – bizarre though it may seem they asked for a slice of the banana bread with a scoop of cherry ice cream.

It takes all sorts!

As is my usual practise it's in the freezer – I'll report back and let you know how it fares.

So far so good – “The Little Book of Chocolat” is the best investment I've made in a long time.

Back to the new book … Four down, five to go!

Here's the next choice from “The Little Book of Chocolat”.

It wouldn't be right not to bake a cake for JJ so, here's :

River-Gypsy Banana Bread

Takes 1 hour / serves 8

butter for greasing a tin or a cake liner

200g self-raising wholemeal flour

1 tsp baking powder

100g unrefined brown sugar

100g milk chocolate, broken into small

even pieces

2 eggs

100ml vegetable oil

3 ripe bananas, mashed

Pre-heat your oven 160fan/180c/Gas 4. Grease a 1kg loaf tin and line with baking parchment or use a cake liner.

Place the flour, baking powder, sugar and chocolate in a mixing bowl and mix well. In a jug place the eggs, oil and bananas and whizz until smooth – use a hand-held blender or hand mixer. Pour into the flour mix and blend quickly until stiff.

Pour the mixture into the prepared tin, sprinkle the top with some extra brown sugar and place in the middle of the oven and bake for 45 minutes. Test for readiness by inserting a skewer into the middle of the cake – it should come out clean when it's ready. Turn out the cake onto a cooling rack. Eat warm or cold.

The nitty-gritty!

I didn't use milk chocolate, I used plain chocolate chips. The result is that because plain chocolate has higher cocoa solids it does not melt like milk chocolate does - so, when sliced, you got perfect little hits of melted chocolate with the banana – yummy!

This is in no way any reflection on the recipe proper – if you're going to tip your hat at “sort of” healthy by using wholemeal flour using milk chocolate seems to cancel it out if you know what I mean. It's whatever makes you happy.

Back to the new book ... the spread … the verdict

If you ever want an honest opinion ask a young person!

Here's JJ with her breakfast toast :

... actions speak louder than words.

Here's the spread in the processor :

and finished in its jars.

Guess who wants to take it home?

P.s. Try the spread on toasted crumpets for lunch – another thumbs up!

Back to the new book - Hints, tips and notes on the recipe

I found another use for the Kenwood mini – not only is it useful for whizzing nuts but also blitzing small amounts of icing sugar to get rid of the lumps that always seem to be there – I did exactly that before I added it to the whizzed hazelnuts. Worked like a dream, no problem with white blobs of icing sugar that refuse to disperse no matter how long you blitz!

I used 100g milk chocolate and 150g of plain chocolate chips. 250g of milk chocolate would give too sweet a flavour but as usual it's personal choice. I also used unsalted butter.

When the recipe says in the last sentence “... best used at room temperature … stored in the fridge...” it means it. It sets well but if you're using it on hot toast for example it melts and spreads quite easily. You could decant a portion into a small container, covered, overnight. It may seem a bit of a faff but it's well worth it.

I think it's worth pointing out that the reason that you can spread the commercial versions is that they contain emulsifiers to keep them soft hence they say the product should not be stored in the fridge.

I think it's good to know what you're eating – it's a holiday treat – not something you'd eat every day. If chocolate and nuts are your guilty pleasure then this is right up your street!

Back to the new book ... now it's three down, six to go!

Since it's the summer holidays Grandaughter JJ is visiting for a few days. Among other treats we always try and spend some time in the kitchen.

What better way to begin this year than with another experiment from “The Little Book of Chocolat” - I'd earmarked this particular recipe because I thought it would appeal to JJ – in addition to which she could take it home for her brothers and sister too for them to sample.

So, I give you chocolate spread. Underwhelmed – can't say it would be top my list either but if you have Grandchildren of a certain age then I think you'll be a very popular person!

Before we go on – a strong word of warning – ANYONE WITH A NUT ALLERGY STEER CLEAR!

Chocolate and Hazelnut Spread

Takes 1 hour – makes 2 x 250g jars

150 hazelnuts, toasted and peeled

75g icing sugar

250g dark or milk chocolate, broken

into small, even pieces

25g butter

100ml double cream

pinch of salt

Place the hazelnuts in a food processor and whizz until smooth. Add the icing sugar and blend. Warm the chocolate, butter and cream in a bain-marie until smooth and melted, add to the whizzed nuts and icing sugar in the food processor along with a pinch of salt and blend until smooth.

Sterilize the jars – I put mine in the dishwasher – alternatively you can place two clean glass jars together with their lids on a baking sheet and put them in the oven at 120fan/140c/Gas 1 for 20 minutes.

Transfer the chocolate spread to the jars and leave to cool and set. It is best used at room temperature to ease spreading but needs to be stored in the fridge.

This is looking promising!

The kit, the crumble and the ice cream …

… the photos

This useful piece of kit does exactly what you want, takes up very little space and isn't expensive either - it's actually described as a compact mini chopper – model number CH180 – I found it for £19.99.

I hope you're inspired to give one or all of the recipes a try – you won't be sorry – they are all quick and easy and each element can be made when you have time – what did we do before we had freezers?!

P.s. I'd begin by roasting the plums, after that the world really is your plum – sorry.

Plums – the photos!

I know I should get out more but don't you think the plums look delicious?!

Anyway, moving on – as a rough guide, 1kg of plums with the crumble recipe will serve 4-6 depending of course on the size of the tummies! Cook your crumble for 25 minutes in a pre-heated oven 170fan/190c/Gas 5.

Ever practical – I froze the remaining roasted plums in small batches, to use later – an autumn weekend treat sounds like a plan! You never know how many mouths you'll be feeding so it's more economical to pull out two portions of plums if required – it would be criminal to waste them not to mention all that effort!

Enjoy the fruits of your labour!

The latest experiment!

I know I'm always droning on about no-churn ice creams but this one could even persuade you that it's marginally healthy – after all it has got fresh fruit in it – I jest of course!

Plum Ripple Ice Cream

I have lifted the outer skins from the roasted plums in readiness for folding into the ice cream. Remember the piece of kit I mentioned a while back – the small tongs – absolutely perfect for this task – quick and easy – you don't have to remove the outer skin – I just thought it would give a better finished “ripple”.

It goes without saying that the ice cream base is my old faithful no-churn vanilla plus 300g of roasted plums. Make up the recipe as usual but ensure that it's a stiff consistency – you need to make allowance for the fact that you are adding the plums and will therefore loosen the mixture.

Crumble topping

I mentioned that pecans are a perfect partner for plums so I used one of my favourite crumble topping recipes – one of Nigella's – although I blitz the pecans in my tiny Kenwood processor rather than chopping by hand – I just prefer an even “blitz” rather than different sizes – it's personal choice.

Nigella's crumble topping

150g cold unsalted butter, diced

250g self raising flour

150g demerara sugar

200g pecans, chopped finely

or a mixture, some larger or left whole

Rub the butter into the flour using the old fashioned method – your first three fingers and thumbs – back in the day we used to call it “the rubbing in method”. As Nigella says you can use a processor if you wish but it doesn't take long and there's no washing up. You want texture to the crumble topping not fine sand.

I make the crumble topping whenever I have time then bag it and freeze it.

Photos on their way!

More plum stuff … the recipes

… or should I say just the beginning of a long list – this subject could run and run!

First up :

Roasting plums

2kg plums – halved and stoned – prepped as suggested

150 caster sugar

Pre heat your oven 200c/180fan/Gas 6.

Toss the plum halves in the sugar and place in a large roasting tray – the one I used measures 42x30cms and 2.5cms deep.

Roast for 25/30 minutes until the fruit is soft.

Cover and leave to cool before using.

There are heaps of plum recipes out there but for me roasting suits my purpose since a crumble or a pie base is very popular in my house.

I have however reserved 300g of my roasted haul for my latest experiment – I think you're going to like it.

Read on …