Banana Bread

(or, "YOU'VE NEVER EATEN WHAT???")

Before a chance taste of it in my bedroom a few months ago, my friend Damian had never eaten banana bread before. Before she came to Australia at the end of last year, she also had never eaten dumplings, risotto, ice cream sodas, mi goreng, or even a pumpkin before.
There is probably a few other things we fed her that she said "what the fuck is this" to that I can't think of. She was also quite fascinated in learning about all the different things I can't eat because of being a coeliac.

For all fairness, before I met Damian I had never had partaken of, nor heard of a sandwich cake before (if you ever befriend a Swede and they offer to make this for you, PARTAKE OF IT!!! Damian's friends Stina and Karin came and made some vegan versions for our house and one especially for me with gluten free bread a month ago, I get cravings for it once a week now).
Damian was so amazingly stoked on any cake she had a piece of that I had made whilst she stayed at our place, especially of banana bread, that I couldn't resist but make a loaf for her especially for her bon-voyage. Damian left this afternoon to return to Gothenburg.

I have a few recipes that I use/mix up between when making banana bread, but decided to go with a variation that Alex and I have agreed on based on this one from theppk.com.
This recipe is very easy but we found the original to be a bit too sweet and "cakey" for our taste and have settled on this adaptation for less-fuss bananabread. It has had a history in our trials of being able to withstand many different combinations of gluten free flours, which is probably the ultimate test of my trust in a baking recipe. I also like this one ebcause it can get quite "bready" sometimes and is delicious toasted, and has an incredibley good crust.

I myself didn't get to partake of this batch as I had to work when everyone was being Damian's company for her last hours in Sydney, but I heard incredibley encouraging reports of its worthiness for the blogosphere (also it photographed well).

• 1 cup raw sugar
• 1/3 cup margarine
• 4 overripe ladys finger bananas, mashed
• 1 cup plain flour (gluten free generic mix)
  
• 1/4 cup self raising flour (this is a gluten free thing that I do, the original recipe shouldnt need the extra boost that gf flours often do)
• 3/4 cup chickpea flour
• 1/2 t bicarb soda
• 1/4 cup rice milk mixed with 1 teaspoon apple cider vinegar
• 1/2 teaspoon vanilla essence
• 1/2 teaspoon vanilla
• 1/2 teaspoon nutmeg
• 1/2 teaspoon allspice
• 1/2 teaspoon salt.

Cream the sugar and margarine, fold in the bananas and milk/vinegar mix and then the vanilla essense. Sift in the flours baking soda, salt and spices. Pour batter into a greased loaf tin and sprinkle extra sugar and cinnamon on top (this helps the crust to get all sweat and caramelised and rustic. it helps if you do this step before you put it into the oven but I forgot this time until the bread only had 15 minutes left) hour, and let cool and rest for at least half an hour before eating the fuck out of it.

Look at the crust! So crusty! So crusty it has an I ♥ D-BEAT tattoo!**








**sorry for the personal joke, another friend of ours who has an I HEART DBEAT tattoo left for Sweden today as well, on the same flight as Damian, and there was much discussion of his tattoo last night.

Let's Cocoa

Melissa Stringer is an old darling friend of mine who draws for dreams.(click image for adorable comic!)

For a couple of years, I have been obsessed with, though had never done anything about the idea of using chocolate and cocoa in savory dishes. The closest thing I've ever been served is a kind of mole-sauce. Chili and beans and cocoa, y'know, for dipping or as a sauce or side with other Mexican cuisine. Sort of a stock thing to do.

I had read about the luxury designer chefs that would pour chocolate over steak and chicken. Amazing. They probably use red wine in those sauces too. If nothing else I will adore anyones food if it has done well in sneaking booze into it. That's some sexy stuff.

Today I took the day off from my 11 hour school days I have on Thursdays and lay around imagining lunch. I wrote a couple of shopping lists and then I thought about astral-travelling to the store to make purchases.

I have never made a Shepherd's pie so why the fuck wouldn't i totally fuck up my own perception of what that meant.

I soaked some TVP with stock and sesame oil and mushroom sauce and chopped some red capsicum, leek and mushrooms and an onion. oh and lots of garlic. cooked it all and then. whole peeled tomatoes? done. tomato sauce? okay! gluten free gravy? sweet! sage, rosemary, thyme, coriander, a splash of cider vinegar and.

A TABLESPOON OF COCOA! fuck yes.

mashed what left i had of my butternut pumpkin and lopped it into a casserole dish into a preheated 180c oven for 20 minute and let the air-humping begin.

what was revealed was a big sloppy kiss of really earthy steak-like deliciousness. purple-brown and pumpkin yellow. my favourite colours in food. oh and there was cayenne pepper, i just remembered. fuck yes. will make this a recipe and force Riva to photograph it's worth and feed it to my love.