Banana, date and walnut loaf!

Honestly, what can I say with this one? It is simply delicious! You simply have to try it!! Below is the recipe...So easy to make, have it hot with a cup of tea! You will thank me!


BANANA, DATE AND WALNUT LOAF

Preparation Time
15 minutes

Cooking Time
45 minutes

Ingredients (serves 6)
Melted butter, to grease
150g (1 cup) chopped dried pitted dates
200g (1 cup, firmly packed) brown sugar
250ml (1 cup) water
320g (2 cups) wholemeal self-raising flour
260g (1 cup) mashed ripe banana
55g (1/2 cup) chopped walnut halves
1/2 tsp bicarbonate of soda

Method
Preheat oven to 180°C. Brush a 14 x 21cm loaf pan (base measurement) with melted butter to grease.
Combine dates, sugar and water in a saucepan over low heat. Cook, stirring, for 2 minutes or until sugar dissolves. Increase heat to medium and bring to the boil. Remove from heat.
Add flour, banana, walnuts and bicarbonate of soda and stir until combined. Spoon into prepared pan and smooth surface with the back of the spoon. Bake in pre-heated oven for 40 minutes or until a skewer inserted into the centre comes out clean. Remove from oven and set aside for 5 minutes to cool before turning onto a wire rack. Serve warm or at room temperature.

Silverside with mustard sauce (Recipe #17 + 18 from Stephanie Alexander's cooking companion)

Grandpa arrived, the candle was lit, the table set, the plates dished up...and the moment arrives...the first bite...the first chew....and then the reaction...'hmmmm it's ok'..."yeah the mustard sauce is not like your's Mum, not even close"...."yeah the meat is good"....."yeah but the sauce is just lacking something"...

But what could beat Mum's mustard sauce and silverside? She has these recipe's that are just the best the way she does it, and she doesn't even know how she does it..she just does it! Like her meat loaf, or sticky date pudding..classic Mum recipe's..so this was a big challenge..attempting the silverside..probably a challenge I would not of attempting if I hadn't won a meat tray at the club. But regardless I did attempt it and was surprised at the amount of work that goes into making silverside. The broth has many many components and has to cook for a few hours at least, then you drain out the chunky parts of the broth and put it on to boil again. Meanwhile you have to make the other components to the dish. The mustard sauce seriously makes this dish so there is a lot of pressure on the poor mustard sauce. I think the problem was the recipe used mustard powder which turned out being quite bitter, Mum normally just uses mustard from a jar and mixes it with a white sauce. Next time I will do that! Overall though, a very flavoursome dinner..especially the meat and I definitely enjoyed the leftovers the next day! Yumm!

PAW PAW CAKE!

So growing up in Vanuatu meant I absolutely adore paw paw! It is one of those nostalgic memory-prompting fruits that make you go 'aaaawwwww'. So I had high expectations for this cake, not to mention I was very excited when Mum came home with paw paw she collected from a friends kitchen (her farmer friend grows them although they don't turn out very well)..Anyway so high expectations and high hopes. WHICH WERE TOTALLY CRUSHED! I mean yes the cake was yummy, moist, fruity, loved by all..only one problem: You couldn't even taste the paw paw..the paw paw was killed and failed to get a word in in this cake, even though there was almost two whole paw paw's in there. Anyway we enjoyed the paw paw in other ways, such as a paw paw salad and just eating it on it's own.
So my advice is eat paw paw and lots of it, but not as much paw paw cake (unless you want to eat a fruity cake with no paw paw flavour which is still yummy)
Anywho took it to uni for a picnic with the girls and we all enjoyed eating it anyway and eating the other baking the girls made. Lovely picnic with friends on a spring sunny day..