Banana Bread

To celebrate the acquisition of the Kitchen Aid mixer I've been on a baking frenzy so to start off I thought I'd share the recipe for banana bread. This is a really easy recipe and it lasts really well, I made it the morning I got home from Ibiza and after a week of a vodka & coke based diet a bit of cake was welcomed.

Ingredients:
285g Plain Flour
1 Tsp Bicarbonate of Soda
1/2 Tsp Salt
110g Butter (Room Temp.)
2 Large Eggs (Beaten)
225g Caster Sugar
4 Ripe Bananas (Mashed)
85ml Milk
1 1/2 Lemon Juice
1 Tsp Vanilla Extract

Pre-heat the oven to 180 Degrees. Cream together the butter and sugar and add the lemon juice and vanilla extract. Sift in the flour, salt and the bicarbonate of soda. Mix together and add the milk a little at a time and then the eggs.

Add in the banana and mix together. Grease a loaf tin and fill it with the mixture. Bake in the oven for approximately 45 minutes or until a skewer comes out clean.

Remove from the tin and leave to cool, although personally I think it tastes great slightly warm. I've been having it for breakfast - because banana is a breakfast food right...?

Potato Salad

This dish is probably the most requested dishes amongst my group of friends, I remember making it for countless family barbecues and for a barbecue on the beach on my first holiday away with the girls when I was sixteen. Since then I haven't be able to attend or host a barbecue without making this - otherwise I'll be in big trouble.

I had my Graduation Ball on Friday night, after a week away in Ibiza so I have had a busy few days. Nevertheless,  at 9am on Saturday morning my Dad kindly informed me that he was arranging a last minute barbecue having forgotten it was his wedding anniversary and I had to hurry home to help with the cooking, which of course included making my potato salad.

Ingredients:
500g New Potatoes (Halved)
200g Mayonnaise
150g Natural Yoghurt
1 Bunch Spring Onions (Sliced)
1 Handfull Chives (Finely Chopped)
Salt & Pepper

Put a pan of salted water on the hob and boil the potatoes until soft all the way through, drain and leave to cool (you can run cold water over them to cool them faster). While cooling the potatoes, mix together the mayo, yoghurt, spring onions and chives and season well with salt and pepper. Add the potatoes and mix together - refrigerate for half an hour before serving.

In other news, I got home to a new Kitchen Aid mixer - its not technically mine, its Mum's - but I love it as if it was my own and I've been making so many cakes and puddings with it so I will have enough blog material to make up for my week away on holiday!

Home-made Gnocchi with Roasted Tomatoes & Basil

This is my first attempt at gnocchi so I know they are a bit big, next time I will cut them a bit smaller :) I don't usually like gnocchi when you buy it from the supermarket, but I thought I ought to try to make it - especially since Mum and I raided Lakeland at the weekend and I am now the proud owner of a potato ricer. She didn't give in to my demands for a kitchen aid mixer though - I'm still trying. Anyway, since I don't have to be at work until 4 today I decided to make myself a nice lunch so I attempted gnocchi. This recipe makes loads - probably enough to feed 6 people maybe even more.

Ingredients for Gnocchi:
1 kg floury Potatoes
1 Egg (Beaten)
100g Plain Flour (Sifted)
Salt & Pepper

Boil the potatoes with there skins on until they are totally soft all the way through (for those of you who don't know how to check if a potato is cooked - I'm talking about you Alex Bamford - poke it with a skewer and if it goes through easily, its done). Once they are done, drain and leave to cool for a bit. Remove the skins and mash the potatoes thoroughly - if you have one use a potato ricer (they are great, get one). Once the potatoes are mashed, add the egg and the flour and use your hands to mix together to form a dough.

Turn out the dough onto a floured surface and cut into 4 pieces. Roll out each piece of dough into a sausage shape about 3cm thick and 30cm long. Then cut the dough into smaller pieces about 2cms wide. To cook the gnocchi, place in boiling water until they start to float (approx 5 mins, maybe less).

Ingredients for Sauce:
300g Vine Tomatoes
50ml Olive Oil
4 Cloves Garlic (Crushed)
Salt & Pepper
50g Salted Butter
1 Handful Basil (Roughly Chopped)
Parmesan to grate

Roast the tomatoes on a tray with the garlic, salt and pepper and olive oil. You will need to roast them for abour 30/40 minutes on 200 degrees. Once the tomatoes are done take them out of the oven and leave to cool. Melt the butter in a frying pan, then add the tomatoes. Add the cooked gnocchi to the sauce and mix together. Serve with chopped basil and grated parmesan.




Still holding out hope for that mixer - if anyone is feeling particularly generous I'd like it in cream...

Goats Cheese & Roasted Vegetable Cannelloni

So I got home from work yesterday evening expecting dinner to be ready and waiting. How wrong I was, even a six hour stint running around the pub garden doesn't mean I'm excused from cooking dinner. Gone are the days that a roast dinner is essential on a Sunday night - fortunately I scoffed about 4 Yorkshire puddings and countless roast potatoes at work where the roasts never end. Still hungry when I got home and although  I definitely meant to make gnocchi, I really didn't want to wait around so I made this instead.

Serves 2/3
Ingredients:
1 Yellow Pepper (Diced)
1 Red Onion (Diced)
10 Cherry Tomatoes (Quartered)
4 Asparagus (Roughly Chopped)
4 Cloves Garlic (Roughly Chopped)
8 Cannelloni Tubes

150g Goats Cheese (Roughly Chopped)
1/2 Ball Mozzarella (Roughly Chopped)
100ml Double Cream
Olive Oil
1 Handful Basil (Roughly Chopped)
2 Slices Prosciutto (Fried and Dried, before roughly chopped)

Put a pan of salted water on to boil with a table spoon of olive oil so the pasta doesn't stick together. Roast the vegetables and garlic in the over for 20 minutes on 200 degrees with salt, pepper and olive oil.

Par boil the cannelloni for 5/6 minutes, then drain. Fill each tube with roasted vegetables and put into a baking tray, cover the canelloni with the double cream and the cheese (I never said this was a healthy meal)
. Sprinkle over the dried prosciutto and drizzle a little more olive oil over the top. Bake in the oven for another 20 minutes. Once done, sprinkle over the chopped basil and serve.

Nothing goes with this meal better than rocket and parmesan salad with a drizzle of olive oil and balsamic glaze.

I am currently making gnocchi as I write this, so I will have a recipe for you tomorrow!

Ciao!